Why Marcus Rashford Had His Breakout Performance Against Fulham

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Marcus Rashford is coming off his best performance of the season. In fact, stats-wise, Saturday’s effort against Fulham might be his best outing in a Manchester United shirt. The talented youngster – you might remember he is ONLY 21 years old – set up two goals and added another one in United’s 4-1 huge win over The Cottagers.

If you didn’t have the chance to catch the highlights of the game, we got you covered. Rashford set up Ashley Young’s and Juan Mata’s goals, while also netting an absolute rocket to close the score at 4-1:

With such an impressive performance – and considering United have a packed December ahead of themselves – it’s worth asking. Could Rashford get the recognition he finally deserves as a player? Let’s take a closer look at him to see where things have gone wrong for him. And why this match could end up being his breakout performance heading into 2019.

A scoring drought comes to an end – what’s next for him?

First of all, we must know that Rashford’s goal ended a six-game scoring drought (in all competitions) for the England international. He previously netted against Bournemouth in early November, and only has three goals in 13 Premier League appearances during the current term. That doesn’t look like a very impressive sum, but at the same time, those totals could be bound to rise.

With Alexis Sanchez out until 2019 and Jesse Lingard struggling to find form, right now Rashford’s place in the starting XI is his to lose. Based on current form, the attacking trio should be Rashford, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial. But the Englishman has something the other two forwards on that “potential” starting attacking line do not have: versatility.

Indeed, the English international can play all over the attacking third. Even though he gets lost at times playing near the byline, he has enough technique and pace to feature on a wider role. He might lack strength to play as a centre forward, but again – we shouldn’t forget he’s only 21. But with Lukaku entrenched as the striker, Rashford would be better suited to play outside the box. He can generate far more danger with room to move.

Granted, Fulham sit at the bottom of the standings and own the league’s worst defensive line. But sometimes players need just one outing to kickstart a struggling season and turn it around. It happened with Martial, and all signs indicate it will also happen with Rashford.