Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford have “gone backwards under Jose Mourinho” at Manchester United this season, according to Tony Cascarino.
The young duo impressed in an otherwise disappointing campaign for the Red Devils last season – despite winning the FA Cup – as the Frenchman was the club’s top scorer across all competitions with 17 goals to his name.
Meanwhile the latter enjoyed a breakthrough second half to the season by netting braces on both his Europa League and Premier League debuts which earned him a call-up to the England senior squad for last summer’s European Championships.
However, neither Martial or Rashford has been able to find any consistency so far this season and Cascarino believes they haven’t kicked on from last year.
“Money is not an issue for them, they’ve spent over £300m over the last couple of years improving their team, but they’re not really any closer,” Cascarino said on talkSPORT.
“Rashford and Martial – they are two top quality young players who should have improved under Jose, but they haven’t, they’ve gone backwards.
“Martial was one of the club’s most exciting players last year, and he’s gone from that to being in and out of the team this season. Why?
“They’ve got over £100m worth of talent on the bench, but they’re still in freefall in terms of goals scored. And it’s not just strikers, it’s midfielders and the defenders too, everybody across the board at United hasn’t got enough goals since Fergie left.
“Jose can win trophies, we know that, he’s won the League Cup and he might win the Europa League, but I don’t see him winning the Premier League title again.”
Martial, who has found the back of the net just three times in 17 league appearances this season, was criticised for his poor display in United’s goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion last weekend and subsequently dropped from the side that faced Everton on Tuesday night.
As for Rashford, he started both games – once through the middle and the other on the left-wing – but couldn’t add to his three goals either. His best chance over the 180 minutes he spent on the pitch came when he was put through only to be foiled by a Phil Jagielka tackle.
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