Even before Serge Gnabry’s left-footed finish had disturbed Andre Onana’s net to put Bayern two ahead, Marcus Rashford had turned his back and was walking to the halfway line, slowly shaking his head.
Perhaps he was wondering how Manchester United’s defensive capabilities have crumbled so alarmingly. Or perhaps he was wondering why he signed that whopping, long contract in the summer.
The money is great, of course, but this is a Manchester United team that is going nowhere, a Manchester United team that looks as though it can go to pieces the moment adversity strikes. And it is no use Rashford shaking his head disapprovingly because he is part of the problem.
A peripheral figure in the dismal loss to Brighton at Old Trafford, he was a peripheral figure in the Allianz Arena. This was not the Rashford everyone saw in an England jersey at Hampden Park recently, this was a Rashford who too often looked uninterested.
And perhaps this game offered up a clue as to why Gareth Southgate still does not see Rashford as anything like an automatic starter. His attitude to his defensive duties – duties that ALL modern-day players have to take seriously – too often looks like a token one.
The freedom enjoyed down United’s left flank by the likes of Konrad Laimer and Leroy Sane was a result of Rashford’s indifference to putting in hard defensive yards. And when he did track back with something vaguely resembling enthusiasm, Rashford allowed Sane to breeze past without impediment.
It was, of course, not his fault that Onana made a monumental howler but, throughout the contest, Rashford was partly culpable for United’s alarming vulnerability. He did offer some attacking threat but, certainly in the first half, his touch deserted him and he took too many wrong options.
But that is what happens when your approach to a challenge does not appear to be spot-on. Rashford’s contribution in the second half was much better and he provided the assist for the Rasmus Hojlund goal that gave United brief hope early in the second half.
But Rashford should be a talisman for this United side and a talisman needs to put in more than half a shift. Half a shift, though, is what you are getting from most United players right now. And those who should be shaking their heads are the ones paying to watch those players.
