Marcus Rashford has been handed a four-point plan to rediscover his form by the club’s all time top scorer Wayne Rooney.
The Red Devils forward once again drew a blank as his side sealed their place in the FA Cup quarter-finals by beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 at the City Ground.
Rashford has been plagued by inconsistent performances this season – chipping in with just five goals in all competitions.
It is a stark contrast to last campaign, where he found the back of the net 30 times in a season which saw him earn a new deal in the region of £350,000-a-week.
And Rooney, who played alongside the 26-year-old for two seasons between 2015-2017 at Old Trafford, has told the England international how he can get back firing.
The ex-Birmingham boss has told Rashford, who is leading the line in Rasmus Hojlund’s absence, he must be more ‘ruthless’, patient, stay in the middle, while also ‘simplifying’ his game.
Giving pointers to his ex-teammate on BBC Sport, Rooney said: “When you’re playing as a No.9, you need the team to create chances for you.
“I don’t think we created that many chances for him.
“But I do think he needs to be more ruthless, he needs to be a bit more patient and stay in the middle of the goal.
“But you have to be ruthless, the chance he had with his left foot, I’m sure he’ll be disappointed with that, but you just want to see a little bit more.”
Commenting on his contrasting form from this season and last term, Rooney remarked: “I think it’s a number of factors.
“Confidence is the main one, when you’re playing you’re scoring goals, you feel like you’re going to score in every game.
“But when you’re not scoring that many – or regularly – you need to get that confidence back.
“I think he maybe needs to simplify his game a little bit to get back into the groove.”
Meanwhile Alan Shearer – the Premier League’s record goalscorer – slammed Rashford during commentary for BBC when the striker threw himself to the ground after being closed down by Felipe, before proceeding to raise his arms in anger.
Shearer raged: “Come on Marcus, get up, stop waving your arms around.
“You’ve got to do better, too easy that. The ball’s in front of you against the defender, you’ve got to hold it for your teammates.
“I don’t like his body language at times, trying to send a message to fans, ‘it’s not my fault’.
“You as an individual have to take responsibility for your actions on the pitch. Get up and get on with it.”
