"I have a strong belief" - Erik ten Hag backs Manchester United star to find goalscoring form

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag reckons struggling attacker Marcus Rashford will soon be back among the goals. United host Manchester City in the season's first Manchester derby on Sunday (October 29).

Rashford, 25, has scored just once in 12 games across competitions and provided three assists. That's a far cry from his 2022-23 numbers when he netted 17 times in 35 league games, scoring 30 times across competitions.

United, meanwhile, have blown hot and cold in the Premier League this season, winning five of their nine games. With 15 points, they're eighth in the standings, eight behind surprise leaders Tottenham Hotspur. City are two points behind Spurs in second.

Ahead of the clash with the three-time defending champions, Ten Hag said that he has full belief in Rashford returning to goalscoring form soon. In his pre-game press conference, the Dutchman said (as per Manchester Evening News):

"Give him the trust and play him every game, most of the games he finishes every game, so I have a strong belief he will return to scoring a lot of goals."

Rashford's only league goal this season came in the 3-1 defeat at Arsenal.

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"I'm convinced in the quality from our players to score more goals" - Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag

Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag

Manchester United have struggled at both ends this season, particularly up front in the league, where they have netted just 11 times in nine games. That's the fewest in the top 10 of the current standings.

For context, five teams - including leaders Tottenham - have scored at least 20 league goals this season. United manager knows that it's an area his side need to improve quickly.

In the aforementioned press conference, Ten Hag expressed confidence in the quality of his attacking players. Urging them to make better use of overload situations, the Dutchman said:

"The cooperation has to click, but we showed this week some examples where there are so many we have overload positions, going in overload position to the opponent's goal and we don’t net or don’t even hit the target.

"We don’t have time to train this, we give some coaching and I’m convinced with the quality from our players that they will go and score more goals."

Manchester United beat City 2-1 at home in the league last season, eventually finishing third in the standings.