Marcus Rashford of Manchester United faced criticism on Sunday for his ‘pressing’ against Luton Town.

 

 

 

Erik ten Hag’s team did get away from Kenilworth Road with all three points, but the close 2-1 victory and a few standout performances showed where Man United needs to get better if they hope to catch up to Tottenham and Aston Villa.

A one play from late in the game that appeared on social media was Rashford attempting to block Ross Barkley of Luton from moving up the pitch.

Rashford pressed Barkley when he had the ball, but he never made a tackle for the ball and instead stayed at a respectable distance from the former Chelsea player.

Barkley retreated and took the ball to Rashford’s left, where he was able to easily get past the Manchester United player, after the 30-year-old midfielder realized he could not get around the forward on his right.Barkley was able to go around Luton with ease and little pressure, which did not impress Man United supporters, even if the entire procedure wasted precious seconds as Luton urgently tried for a late equalizer. A video was uploaded to X, the former Twitter platform, along with the humorous remark, “Top pressing by Rashford.” I have no idea how Ross Barkley managed to tour him. In response to the footage of Rashford, one person commented, “Would swap him for a bag of strawberry bon bons,” while another remarked, “A Jaffa cake would be a better distraction to Barkley than Rashford.” “It would be funny if it weren’t so serious,” remarked one user. The situation of that,’ one person said, and another said, ‘Broooo Rashford was looking like what I dunno’. A fifth person remarked that Rashford “trusts his teammates,” but they also included an emoji of rolling on the ground laughing.Being in the ideal spot to score a ‘outrageous’ goal with his chest moments later, Rasmus Hojlund was the difference maker at Kenilworth Road, having opened the score within 40 seconds. Though some have claimed the ball accidentally trickled into the net, the Dane stated he meant to score that goal. He said, “Yes [I meant it],” to Sky Sports. My body was visible to me. To be honest, I was taken aback by how admirable the goal was. This is how I’m attempting to train.After Hojlund’s early goal, he broke Joe Willock’s previous record of 21 years and 272 days to become the youngest player to score in six straight Premier League games, just 14 days after turning 21. Next Saturday in the Premier League, Manchester United takes on Fulham.