Soccer Football - Premier League - Southampton v Manchester United - St Mary's Stadium, Southampton, Britain - September 14, 2024 Manchester United's Marcus Rashford shoots at goal REUTERS/Toby Melville
SOUTHAMPTON, England (Reuters) - Individual workouts during the recent international break paid off for Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford after he ended a six-month scoring drought on Saturday having endured criticism from his own fans.
Rashford had gone 13 games without a goal before netting in the 41st minute of United's 3-0 Premier League win over newly promoted Southampton, his first since a 2-0 win over Everton on March 9.
While manager Erik ten Hag had been questioned for starting Rashford, he said pre-game on Saturday that the 26-year-old needed only a goal or assist to "fly".
Ten Hag can only hope that the positive afternoon indeed opens the floodgates for his striker who had just eight goals across all competitions last season after pouring in 30 in 2022-23, Ten Hag's debut season in Manchester.
"It's very important," the manager said after Saturday's victory that gave United six points after four games. "For every striker, they want to be on the scoring list. Once the first is in, more is coming. Once a striker was talking about a ketchup bottle -- once it's going, it's coming more."
Rashford was left out of the England squad for Euro 2024, and then was not called up during the recent international break. After coming under fire for a slow start to the season, he remained in Manchester during the break to work with RH Elite Coaching, spending much of the time doing finishing drills.
Rashford was left unmarked on United's short corner in the 41st minute on Saturday, bending a diagonal shot into the far corner.
New signing Matthijs de Ligt and Alejandro Garnacho scored United's other goals while goalkeeper Andre Onana saved Cameron Archer's penalty that proved to be the turning point.
Ten Hag's men have no time to rest on the laurels from their much-needed win. They host Barnsley in the League Cup on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
