Erik ten Hag's target for Marcus Rashford already looks out of reach at Manchester United

Marcus Rashford’s confidence level was laid bare for all to see in the second half of Tuesday’s Champions League defeat to Galatasaray.

The Manchester United attacker’s square pass when one-on-one with the goalkeeper never made it to Bruno Fernandes and the visitors cleared. The score was 1-1 at the time and United ultimately ended up losing 3-2.

Rashford cannot be held to account for the capitulation that happened at the other end of the pitch and his cross for Rasmus Hojlund’s opener must be recognised as a brilliant piece of play. But it was the one-on-one chance that would have been replaying in his head walking out of Old Trafford.

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The forward will soon join up with England again having tallied four club goal contributions. So far, only one of those has been a goal for himself. We’ve been here before.

Rashford’s form in the 2021/22 campaign was symptomatic of all that went wrong during that campaign. He netted just five times that season in a year when all confidence looked shot.

The academy product picked himself up superbly to break all sorts of milestones last season. He became the first Reds player to score 30 goals in a single campaign since Robin van Persie a decade ago while becoming the first United star to score 10 winning goals since Wayne Rooney in 2010.

His decisive strike in January’s victory over Manchester City equalled Dennis Viollet’s record of netting in nine consecutive home matches.

He’s yet to score at Old Trafford this season. So good was his form after Christmas last term that ahead of the FA Cup final, Erik ten Hag made a claim that was as lofty as it was complimentary.