It was yet another poor display from Manchester United as they succumbed to a 0-1 defeat against Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday.
United have a poor record when it comes to away games against the big sides and it was much of the same as Erik ten Hag’s side were second best in all departments.
They entered the game on the back of some decent performances against teams from the bottom half of the Premier League table but they failed their first big December test.
Martial poor again
The Magpies were swarming all over them right from the word go while the United players seemed to be lacking any real effort with the displays from Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial particularly glaring.
A lot has been written about the Frenchman and it is a surprise to see him still wear the Manchester red, not least start games. but Ten Hag felt he could stretch the game with his pace.
But he was absolutely horrendous, hardly able to hold on to the ball and not applying any real pressure. Substitute Rasmus Hojlund fared little better, but he at least looked like competing for every 50-50 ball.
As for the Mancunian, unlocking his mentality seems to be the biggest challenge for every United manager. The academy graduate always seems to follow up a season of progress with a poor campaign the following year.
It has been going on for far too long and assistant coach Steve McClaren had pointed out that the current coaching team needs to help Rashford regain his best self. So far, it looks like he is regressing once again.
Playing him on the right might not suit his strengths but the least he could have done is track the full-back. Time and again, he gave up and that is a bad sign.
Rashford weak mentality
The Frenchman and the English winger are similar in this respect. They are unpredictable and can follow up a decent display as against Everton with an absolute stinker like on Saturday.
Managers like Louis Van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and now Ten Hag have all struggled to get this duo to perform consistently which shows their weak mentality, something unforgivable considering they are at the biggest club in the world.
They have been at the club for the same amount of time but hardly have showed continuous growth unless of course it meant fighting to win a new contract.
Ten Hag seems to keep persisting with the same duo expecting something different each time and it is time he looks beyond the pair for their upcoming game against Chelsea.
Ten Hag needs to change many things but injuries and poor form means he hardly has the options on the bench.