Exhausted Rash may get the break he so badly needs
JESUS KNOWS HE NEEDS GOALS TO SHOW HE CAN REPLACE AGUERO
IF United have to do without Marcus Rashford against AC Milan tomorrow night then it will be an unfamiliar feeling for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his team-mates.
Rashford requires a scan on an ankle injury that forced him off late on in United’s 2-0 success at the Etihad on Sunday and given the intense schedule still facing the Reds this season, he has to be a doubt for the Europa League last-16 first leg.
United’s medical department will have been tracking Rashford’s fitness and physical output closely, but to the naked eye, it is no surprise he has picked up an injury, alongside the shoulder problem he’s been managing since November.
If anything, the surprise is Rashford hasn’t broken down sooner given his workload this season and last. The 23-year-old is the only
United player to feature in all 43 games the club have played this season, starting 35 of them. Of the eight he has come off the bench in, United have won seven and drawn one, which suggests his presence hasn’t always been required.
His 45-minute run-out in the second leg against Real Sociedad was unnecessary, while he came on against Watford in the FA Cup third round with United in a winning position, just as they were when he came on at Luton and Brighton in the Carabao Cup back in September.
The demands on Rashford actually date back further than just this season. Since last season resumed in mid-June he has played in 56 of the 57 matches United have played and was an unused substitute in the other, the entirely irrelevant second leg against LASK Linz. That means he has been named in every matchday squad for nine months. That’s travelling to every game, warming up for every game, playing in almost all of them, staying in hotels. It’s an incredible workload. United would obviously rather have Rashford available, but right now a rest might just be the best thing for him and if it’s forced through injury then it was going to happen sooner or later. With Edinson Cavani also absent against City, it might leave United a little short in attack at the moment, but if they can navigate ties against AC Milan in the Europa League and Leicester City in the FA Cup without Rashford, then welcome him back fit and fresh(er) in a couple of weeks, that
Since last season resumed, Rashford has played in 56 of the 57 matches United have played
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will be an ideal scenario. Rashford was possibly United’s most ineffectual forward against City and his form has been below par for a little while. Tiredness is undoubtedly a contributing factor to that. Given United have played twice a week since mid-September, he has followed the same schedule. It’s exhausting.
Since making his debut just over five years ago Rashford has now played 257 times for United for a total of 17,094 minutes. That’s working out at roughly an average of 51 club games a season, before you factor in international commitments. It’s been a hell of a workload for a footballer who is still only 23.
By comparison, Daniel James is 10 days younger than Rashford and as a much later bloomer he’s played 102 club games for a total of 6,822 minutes.
When Rashford picked up a back injury midway through last season it was the first time he’d had any kind of significant injury that was going to rule him out for more than a few weeks.
In the end, the suspension of the season during lockdown meant he was fit to return against Tottenham on June 19 and he hasn’t had a game off since then.
This isn’t how United would have wanted it to happen, but they always knew this season would be a demanding one. They have played 43 games so far and are guaranteed at least another 13. They could end up playing 63 in total if they reach the FA Cup final and Europa League final.
United needed to find time to rest Rashford at some point earlier in the season, but Solskjaer’s reliance on him, with Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood struggling, made a case for that difficult. Now they might find the decision has been made for them.
TWO top South American strikers who both made huge impacts when they first came to Europe are now at different ends of their careers at City.
Gabriel Jesus has very much taken a two steps forward, two steps back approach to his Blues career - just when he seems to be earning the affection of the fans, he misses a penalty, or a sitter - or even gives away a stupid penalty in a derby.
Sergio Aguero has no such problems. He could score a hat-trick of own goals in the Champions League final and still get a statue.
That is due to the fact that ‘Kun’ has had a stunning 10 years at the club, a decade in which he has laid waste to the club’s previous goalscoring records and become the most lethal marksman in Premier League history.
City are already looking for replacements for the Argentine, whose contract expires this summer and who, with every game in which he languishes on the bench, moves towards the sad day when he departs a teary Etihad Stadium.
That search for a new striker would be taking place even if Jesus had scored 30 goals this season, so it is not a reflection of the esteem in which the
Brazil No.9 is held by Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff. He has been at the club for more than four years now and has yet to convince the Blue masses that he is the Messiah, rather than a very naughty boy.
The fact he has been a City player for so long tends to work against him when fans assess his suitability.
But that ignores a simple fact. Jesus came to City as a 19-year-old, albeit a teenage prodigy who had just led Palmeiras to the Brazilian title, had won an Olympic gold medal and then burst onto the senior international scene with five goals in his first six games.
Jesus is now almost 24, and at the same age, Aguero was nearing the end of his first season at the Etihad Stadium, having been named the club’s Player of the Year after scoring 23 goals in 34 games.
Of course, Aguero had made his name as a top striker long before he moved to City - taking a Premier League-centric view of football is dangerous.
He had made his debut in the harsh environment of Argentine football shortly after his 15th birthday, and by the time he made the £30m move to City in 2011 had scored more than a hundred goals for Atletico Madrid. Jesus made quite an impact at the Blues, arriving in the January window, unceremoniously nudging Aguero out of the team and bagging seven goals in his first 11 games.
His furious work rate and selflessness were in strict contrast to Aguero, who had become a straight goalscorer, under a manager who demands so much more from all 11 players on the pitch. The Blues boss undoubtedly used the exciting newcomer as leverage against Aguero, and the fact he got the perfect response, by getting more kilometres out of legs which were made for explosive actions around the box rather than cross-country running, is testimony to both player and manager. Jesus’ dream start collapsed through injury, Aguero regained his place and kept it right up until the injury issues that have kept him sidelined for the best part of a year.
Jesus has admitted that it can be tough trying to make his way in the shadow of such a legend, and a confidence player like him finds it tough to build any momentum by playing on a regular basis.
Guardiola always insists that Jesus’ goalscoring record is not an issue and that his all-round game, creating space and chances for others and being a frantic first line of defence, outweighs the numbers.
But it does become a problem when the chances don’t go in, and Jesus knows he has to be more clinical in front of goal.
There have been big moments - his brilliant, cold-blooded goal to secure the 100-point total at Southampton in 2018, and his outstanding displays in two Champions League clashes with Real Madrid last season, spring instantly to mind.
As he approaches his 24th birthday, he knows he has to start threading those moments together - this is a crossroads moment for him.
If he does that, City have a readymade legend to replace Aguero.
If he does not, there is likely to be a big signing in the summer pipeline who will take the mantle.
Guardiola always insists Jesus’ scoring record is not an issue and his all-round game outweighs the numbers