Manchester United head coach Erik ten Hag said that "everyone is disappointed" when asked about Marcus Rashford's mood after Saturday's Premier League clash with Newcastle United.
The 26-year-old has found it difficult to make his mark during the 2023-24 campaign, only managing two goals and four assists in 18 appearances in all competitions.
Rashford particularly struggled against Newcastle, with the England international withdrawn just past the hour at St James' Park, and he was widely criticised for his performance.
Ex-Red Devils captain Roy Keane hit out at the forward for his display in the team's 1-0 defeat, and there have been calls for him to be dropped for Wednesday's clash with Chelsea.
When asked about Rashford's mood after the game with Eddie Howe's side, Ten Hag said that "everyone is disappointed" by the last two results against Galatasaray and Newcastle.
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"Everyone is disappointed when you have the result at Galatasaray and then the performance and result in Newcastle, but if you go to Newcastle we are not the only team who is losing there," Ten Hag told reporters.
"I think in their home record, they win every game apart from Liverpool, when they were leading and the opponent was down to 10 and they got a turnaround.
"Apart from that, everyone is losing there but we wanted to win there. We gave everything that was in our power but definitely our performance wasn't good enough.
"We had a week with two good performances and one bad performance so from there, we carry on. I think the team is in a good direction. I think we played very good football and scored very good goals against Galatasaray and against Everton.
.JPG?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Manchester United's Bruno Fernandes looks dejected after Newcastle United's Anthony Gordon scores their first goal on December 2, 2023")
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"Against Newcastle, we didn't play great. We knew that and we were not happy with that performance, although we stayed in the game until the final moment.
"With a little bit of luck, we had two opportunities at the end, we could have even stolen a point. If we had a little bit more determination in that moment, we could have got something from it.
"I think we are in a good direction. Of course, we dropped [in the Premier League table] but we are not too far away."
Man United will be bidding to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they welcome Chelsea on Wednesday night, before Bournemouth head to Manchester on Saturday afternoon.
The 20-time English champions will then host Bayern Munich in the Champions League next week, needing to beat the German side to stand any chance of advancing to the last-16 stage of the competition.
Matt Law
