Marcus Rashford must implement secret Michael Owen trick to turn Man United fortunes around

Michael Owen has shared some words of wisdom for Marcus Rashford, encouraging him to "start loving yourself more" to regain his top form.

Despite having had an impressive run with Manchester United during the 2022/23 season where he scored an impressive 30 goals in all competitions, Rashford, 26, has yet to hit those heights since then.

Out of the three goals in eight games he has scored so far this season, two were bagged in Manchester United's 7-0 EFL Cup win against Barnsley. He's achieved only one goal in his past 11 league appearances, with the sole strike coming against Southampton earlier this month.

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Owen, who clinched the Premier League title with Manchester United, offered some practical advice to Rashford during an exclusive chat with Mirror Football, via AceOdds.

"There are so many little wins in life that you can use to make yourself feel better about yourself, to make your team-mates love you even more, to make your fans love you and there are little wins that are so easy to do," said the former striking sensation for both club and country.

"If I was not in a massively confident mood, I would close people down, I would sprint and try to block clearances, and I would work as hard as I could because one in 10 you might get a block when someone's trying to knock the ball down the line and the ball goes out for a throw-in," reports Mirror Football.

"In many respects, it's not going to win you the game, but there'll be a couple of thousand people that get off the seat and clap you and chant your name. You will feel better about yourself for just blocking a pass that was going up or just putting in a sprint to try to prevent something."

Owen highlighted the importance of hard work on the pitch, suggesting that it's these efforts that can help a player like Rashford regain the trust and support of the Old Trafford crowd. He emphasised that building self-confidence is key.

"Those little moments, the crowd starts loving you for it," said the former England striker. "You start loving yourself a little bit more. Your team-mates think, 'wow, look at him working a bit harder'. And all of a sudden, you're feeling so different about yourself and the magic just comes naturally because that's what you've been given.

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"But without doing the hard yards, without getting your team-mates, your fans, yourself on board, building your own self-esteem, if you think that you're just going to keep rolling out there and one of these days you're going to do a step over and you'll go past someone and curl it in the top corner, it just doesn't happen. It won't happen without building a foundation for your game."

Owen has observed that Rashford appears "devoid of confidence", and the ex-Real Madrid forward has advised him: "Forget the goals, forget the assists, they will come naturally. You need to build your foundation back up. I've just given one example. There are a million different things that you can build that foundation by doing that don't need skill, don't need talent."

Rashford is aiming to net his first league goal at Old Trafford this season when United welcome Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (September 29).

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