Pundit singles out ‘woeful’ Manchester United duo in Bournemouth defeat

Posted by

Alan Shearer has slammed Manchester United’s ‘woeful’ attack after their 1-0 defeat away to Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Red Devils were highly unconvincing as they lost to the Cherries, with Shearer singling out Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial for blame as they struggled to break down Eddie Howe’s side in another poor result and performance away from home.

MORE: Chris Smalling explains how leaving Man Utd left one of his dogs upset

Speaking on Match of the Day and quoted by the Express, Shearer said: “I thought they were woeful going forward. They were chasing the game, particularly in the second half.

“You’ve got Martial and Rashford, both who you’re looking at to get you back into the game, and neither were in the box (on occasions), they can’t get the ball into the box because there’s nobody in the box. That made it easier for Bournemouth than it needed to be.”

Going over one particular passage of play, the pundit added: “If Rashford wants to score more goals, and I’m sure he does, then this has to improve, the killer instinct.

“Once (Scott) McTominay is getting ready to pull the trigger there, his thought has to be to get into the box for the goalkeeper, he has to expect him to spill it.

“(In this situation) he doesn’t move. The defender does, but he doesn’t. If he does, it’s a simple goal, a tap-in if he wants to sniff out little goals like that.”

In truth, Rashford and Martial have looked unconvincing for some time now, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer taking a big gamble in the summer when he allowed both Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to leave without signing a replacement.

Man Utd have now become overly reliant on Rashford in particular, with the England international mostly looking far from at his best for most of this season so far.

Martial’s campaign has been disrupted by injuries, but the Frenchman has also been a fairly inconsistent performer for MUFC, failing to ever really build on his hugely impressive first year with the club back in 2015/16.

More Stories Alan Shearer Anthony Martial Marcus Rashford