Alan Shearer explains Marcus Rashford criticism after goalscoring performance

Premier League legend Alan Shearer has refused to back down from recent Marcus Rashford criticism, but was impressed with how the forward performed in Manchester United's win over Southampton in the club's most recent outing at the weekend.

Rashford scored his first goal of the season in the 3-0 victory at St Mary's in the kind of polished performance from Erik ten Hag's team that had arguably been lacking so far in 2024/25.

The player himself has come under considerable fire for his form since the beginning of last season, having suffered a sudden downturn since plundering 30 goals during 2022/23.  

Shearer, scorer of a record 260 Premier League goals, suggested that criticism of Rashford has been justified, but that it isn't warranted if he continues to perform as he did at Southampton.

"I wouldn't change anything that I've said," Shearer said on The Rest is Football, responding to Gary Lineker pointing out that Rashford has been upset by criticism he considers unfair.

"He's set his own very high standards, you know? He's a very good player - he's on a huge contract at Manchester United and he hasn't played as well as he can do or has done in the past. And when that is the case - at a big football club when you're a big name - you're going to get criticised.

"And he did - but he doesn't get criticised for performances like [against Southampton], you know? When he's tracking back and running, and taking players on and scoring his goal. He looked a really good player. He's now got to do that for the rest of the season."

Rashford's drop in form last season culminated in being left out of England's squad for Euro 2024 during the summer, failing even to earn a place on the larger provisional list.

"There's a reason why he wasn't in the England squad," Shearer continued.

"It's not just the pundits who were critical of him. Other players have overtaken him from where he was a couple of years ago and there's no doubt that there's the talent in there, but that has to be a regular. That has to be every single week, and not just against Southampton as it was. And then he won't get criticised. Pretty simple isn't it?"

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