Marcus Rashford walks off the field at Old Trafford after suffering an injury in a 2-0 win against Everton Credit. : PA/Mike Egerton
If there's a player Eric ten Hag has been praying for to come through this season unscathed, it's Marcus Rashford.
The Manchester United manager has had to deal with the loss of Christian Eriksen for 10 weeks due to injury, while another influential midfielder, Casemiro, has missed half of the club's last 16 home matches through suspension.
But overall the team relies heavily on a small core of players, no one has proven more important than Rashford and the prospect of a striker who has scored almost a third of United's 91 goals this season and missed a vital streak with a groin problem is a huge setback and a headache for Ten Hag.
To the annoyance of United fans, Ten Hag did not give a time frame for Rashford's absence on Wednesday, only confirming that he expects his top scorer with 28 goals this season, will miss «a few games» after a 2-0 win on Saturday. over Everton.
At a minimum, United will be without an England striker in both legs of the Europa League quarter-final against Sevilla and Sunday's trip to Nottingham Forest next week. especially for explosive players like Rashford, he could play again this month. United will play six games in just 18 days, starting with Sevilla's visit to Old Trafford on Thursday night and including the FA Cup semi-final against Brighton at Wembley on Sunday and a trip to Spurs four days later.
As important as Rashford is, Ten Hag can't risk throwing a player back and risk losing him for even longer. «I can't give more details because we don't know,» Ten Hag said when asked how long he expected Rashford to be out. “We have to see how the trauma develops.
«Of course it's a setback and he's disappointed by it, but he's not completely broken because he knows he's coming back soon so he's optimistic and he started his recovery and rehab right away so it helps to get back soon. .”
Ten Hag: When Martial is in the team, we play our best football
A statement on his United website says Rashford is «expected to return ahead of the season» and said that «there will be relief at the prospect of him returning to important games in the final weeks of the season», which sounded particularly optimistic.
So, with Rashford out and young Alejandro Garnacho also injured, the onslaught now falls on a rather mixed line-up of Anthony Martial, Anthony, Jadon Sancho, Vought Weghorst and Anthony Elang, none of whom are in this didn't look particularly convincing or reliable this season.
It's no surprise that Ten Hag has prioritized hiring an experienced centre-forward like Harry Kane or Victor Osimhen this summer: the need for quality offensive reinforcements is urgent.
Martial is the best bet on goals among this quintet, but the mercurial France striker has endured an injury-ridden season and has yet to prove he can stay fit. He came off the bench in United's last three games and scored against Everton but hasn't started a game since 14 January, when he lasted just 45 minutes against Manchester City. Nevertheless, Ten Hag hopes that he can make a difference. “Statistics tell you that the moment he is on the field, the time he needs to score is really less,” said the coach. «And when he's in the team — I mean the games against Manchester City and Liverpool — we play our best football and get the best results as a team.»
Weghorst scored just two goals out of 20. Since joining Burnley on an emergency loan in January, Elanga has hardly appeared and Sancho is very disappointed after returning from a three-month absence to work on his physical and mental condition and needs a lot prove. And then there's the £85m man Anthony, United's third top scorer alongside Martial with seven goals, but still very fickle.
Ten Hag suggested that the Brazilian winger's performance against Everton showed that he «can kill opponents». «On Saturday we saw the Everton manager call another player at half-time because he [Anthony] was killing the left wing back,» Ten Hag said. «He can do it, but he has to do it in every game.»
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