RASHFORD VOWS RESULTS WILL DO THE TALKING

MARCUS RASHFORD is more than famous enough for his body language to be scrutinised after every Manchester United defeat.

That has happened too frequently for his liking over the past couple of years, most recently in an ‘embarrassing’ 6-3 derby defeat by Manchester City last weekend.

After one loss, Roy Keane said of the 24-year-old England international: ‘Really shocking. Shrugging his shoulders when things weren’t going his way. You roll your sleeves up at Manchester United.’

Thankfully, Rashford has something to smile about at the moment, his midweek double against Omonia Nicosia in the Europa League meaning he has already equalled last season’s goal tally of five.

But he argues those looks of anguish and frustration are natural when the biggest club in England underperforms and shouldn’t be taken as anything more sinister.

‘There have been times I was disappointed but that’s normal, isn’t it?’ says United’s home-grown hero. ‘We are all players who like to win, that is the reason we play for Man United. We have such high expectations of ourselves and each other. Ask any of us and we’re not happy to lose or even draw.

‘At Man United, we expect to win the majority of the matches.’

Rashford (right) is a local lad who came through the ranks like the esteemed Class of 92. Since bursting onto the scene as a teenager, he has become an emblem of the club. He’s also a respected national figure, whose work helping children during the pandemic saw him awarded an MBE.

Yet his core job, football, has not gone so well in more recent times. United have had four managers in 11 months — Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Michael Carrick, Ralf Rangnick and now Erik ten Hag — and finished 35 points behind champions City in

May. The team have been both excellent and awful at different times this season and nobody knows which version will turn up away to Everton this evening.

Yet Rashford is confident the general curve is upward under their forthright new Dutch manager Ten Hag.

‘I think we are improving though there are obviously things we need to tighten up on and improve,’ he says.

‘The last league game at City wasn’t good enough by anyone’s standards and we felt we let people down. It was a bit embarrassing after the game.

‘But you know these results can happen in football and the only way to come back from it is to bounce back and win your next game, as we did against Omonia Nicosia on Thursday.

‘Everton have been playing well. It is going to be tough and it will be intense, but we shouldn’t be surprised by that — we should be ready.’