Erik ten Hag may just have discovered most important Manchester United partnership

Everything that Marcus Rashford touched last season turned to gold. Or should that be goals?

Manchester United were indebted to their academy graduate as he plundered 30 goals in all competitions to help cement a top-four finish in the Premier League and bring silverware back to Old Trafford along the way. That seems a distant memory right now amid the doom and gloom that has set in this campaign.

Rashford - with one goal to his name in nine outings this term - needs to recapture his mojo. For all their supposed improvements within the transfer market, the 25-year-old is still the one United rely on for goal-getting.

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Denmark sensation Rasmus Hojlund was signed for £73million to help ease the burden on Rashford, but the former has been forced to shoulder almost solitary responsibility himself, with the England forward struggling, not only for goals but confidence in his all-round game. There might be a simple reason for that.

United have been beset with injuries this season and have been hit harder than anywhere at left-back. Luke Shaw totted up just 180 minutes in two matches before he picked up an unspecified injury which requires an unspecified recovery period. It has all been cloak and dagger in that respect this season.

All the while, Ten Hag and United have been missing their very own heroic double act. In their ten games across all competitions, so far this campaign, United have already deployed three replacements for Shaw and that might well have had a significant impact on Rashford's form given how impressively they operate in tandem.

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