Andy Cole says this top Manchester United star should be dropped from Man United starting XI

Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford has struggled badly for form this season.

The Englishman scored 30 goals and provided 11 assists in 56 games across all competitions last season. He was rewarded with both the Manchester United Player and Players’ Player of the Year awards.

In contrast to this season, the 25-year-old has scored just one goal and provided three assists in his first 10 appearances, with performances nowhere near the standard set last season.

Former Red Devils striker Andy Cole feels benching Rashford could fire him up to do well.

“When I was a footballer, whenever I lacked belief I wanted to stay in the starting eleven in a bid to regain my confidence,” the former forward told Betfred.

“However, now that I’m retired, I can see why it’s good for some players to be taken out of the firing line.

“If you don’t count last season for Marcus and you look at the two seasons prior to that, his form was exactly the same as it is now. You can only ask Marcus what the problem is, but we know that the season before last that he was dealing with some personal issues, which is something that he admitted last year.

“And after how good he was last season, we were all expecting him to kick on again in this current campaign and have the confidence in himself to replicate that form.

“When you look at Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, you’d never have a conversation about them having an off year. Marcus needs to discover how he can maintain that high level of consistency.”