Anthony Elanga is giving Manchester United the 'reverse gears' that Marcus Rashford cannot

When Ralph Hassenhuttl's Southampton side drew 1-1 with Manchester United on Saturday, the Austrian manager was very clear when explaining how his team had managed to secure a result.

"It is not a big secret that when they lose the ball the reverse gears are not the best from everybody," he told a post-match news conference.

Ralf Rangnick echoed the thoughts of his one-time RB Leipzig colleague.

"As I said, we have technical players. They like to play technical football but in the Premier League, no matter against which team - and especially in games like those against Southampton - you cannot win games only in a technical way. You also have to show some physicality."

One of the biggest culprits in this regard for many United fans was Marcus Rashford, who consistently didn't come back enough despite being deployed on both wings during the Southampton game. He also lost the ball frequently to invite pressure on his teammates.

Anthony Elanga was preferred to the England international in Rangnick's XI to face Brighton and the difference was fairly evident.

According to Sofascore, Rashford had 42 touches against Southampton and Elanga similarly had 40 on Tuesday. But there is a stark difference when you compare how many times they lost possession, with Rashford losing the ball 21 times to Elanga's 10.

Rashford attempted to cross the ball four times (with zero completed) compared to Elanga, who did not try to cross at all, preferring to drive into the box, but this still does not reflect well on Marcus overall.

When you compare their heatmaps it is clear Elanga has the 'reverse gears' that Hassenhuttl hinted Rashford is missing.

Some of this could be attributed to the overall change of tactics from Rangnick, who deployed a