YOU’VE GOT TO TRUST RASH

Rio’s message to boss Jose

JOSE MOURINHO has been accused by Rio Ferdinand of destroying the “Roy of the Rovers” spirit of Marcus Rashford.

Ferdinand says Mourinho is wasting his breath reading numbers out in his press conference to show that the 20-year-old is getting plenty of game time.

As far as the former Manchester United and England star is concerned the equation is simpler than that.

Rashford must be trusted to start.

The BT Sport pundit said: “I remember watching him at Celta Vigo in the Europa League.

“He was like Roy of the Rovers, 19 years old, taking free-kicks, corners, the lot.

“That is what I loved about him. He was a young kid with no fear, playing for United, the team he supported as a boy.

Frighten

“I want to see that back again. But the manager is paid to make the decisions and he has gone and bought Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.

“What message is that sending to this young player? You aren’t my main guy!”

It is now 31 games since ‘super-sub’ Rashford has scored after coming off the bench for club and country in a run stretching back to the game against Huddersfield last October.

“He used to come on and frighten the life out of people,” Ferdinand said. “Now, he doesn’t do it as much.

“I think he is coming on and trying to please everyone. He might be confused on what the manager wants.

“There doesn’t seem to be the same spark. Where’s that fearlessness there was before?

“Back in the day, he went straight for the jugular. Now, he takes his time a little bit more. He is not as assertive.

“There are little details that need to be reintroduced to Marcus, to get back to that fearless, explosive footballer that came on the scene a couple of years ago.”

With the Champions League back, Rashford is expected to be given a chance to start against Young Boys tomorrow, not least as he is serving a three-match domestic ban for his red card against Burnley.

But Ferdinand (inset) says the occasional run-out will not cure the problem. “If you talk about all the best players – Michael Owen, Cesc Fabregas, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Kylian Mbappe now, Wayne Rooney back in the day – they played every game which then breeds confidence,” he said. “That’s a signal from the manager that says, ‘You are my player, you are my man. I believe in you. You might have dicky spells but you are young and I will see you through this.’

“You can offer me all the minutes in the world as sub, I don’t care. I can come on for 10 minutes every game.

“But I want to walk out on that pitch as the starter.

“When I am on the bench I know where I stand. I obviously ain’t one of your main guys.

“So I think Mourinho maybe has to take responsibility.”

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Young Boys (a); Valencia (h);

Juventus (h); Juventus (a); Young Boys (h); Valencia (a). “The foundation of every big team that wins things is the defence and United’s is simply not strong enough.

“Has Victor Lindelof worked? No. Has Eric Bailly worked? No. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, they haven’t kicked on like the potential they first showed when they arrived.

“There’s inconsistencies in terms of personnel every week.You can’t build a defence on people that aren’t going to be reliable. And then when people are in there, they haven’t performed. That’s the facts.

“I think they will get out of the group – and it’s a good group with Cristiano Ronaldo coming back with Juventus – but not much further.”