Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been criticised by pundit Garth Crooks for being overly reliant on young forward Marcus Rashford.
The Red Devils lost 1-0 at Bournemouth this weekend to continue their poor start to the season, and Crooks focused on one thing he feels Solskjaer keeps getting wrong.
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Writing in his BBC Sport column, there were no Man Utd players in his Premier League team of the week, though he did find space for Bournemouth’s match-winner Joshua King.
And in analysing King’s display, Crooks also found time to hit out at Solskjaer for the way he uses Rashford, who he feels has had to shoulder too much of a burden for such a big club at such a young age.
Crooks said: “It’s normally Callum Wilson who gets the plaudits at Bournemouth, but on this occasion the centre-forward must give way to Joshua King. Manager Eddie Howe does not have to rely on Wilson to produce the goods all the time for the Cherries and can occasionally rely on King, as was the case against United.
“It would appear, however, that there seems an over-reliance developing by manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Marcus Rashford. Solskjaer needs to be reminded that Rashford is only 22 and Manchester United one of the biggest clubs in the world.
“To ask such a young man to carry so much responsibility, often on his own, is bordering on carelessness. Fortunately, King doesn’t need to worry about such matters at Bournemouth.”
Most United fans would probably agree with this, with Rashford struggling to deal with being first choice since Romelu Lukaku left in the summer.
While the 22-year-old has long looked an exciting young talent, he does seem to have been over-used at this point in his career and could do with someone else up front to take the pressure off him to score all the team’s goals.