Marcus Rashford moment during FA Cup final angers Manchester United fans | OneFootball

Manchester United fans have criticised their team for a lack of effort in their 2-1 defeat to their rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup final yesterday.

In a game of such magnitude, especially for United fans with the chance to stop City from achieving the treble, their effort on the pitch concerned some fans.

After just 13 seconds, City were already 1-0 up thanks to an İlkay Gündoğan rocket from outside the box, but it was the defensive effort and the lack of tracking from Manchester United midfielders and defenders that led to the goal, and set the tone early for United, and not in a good way.

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As the game progressed, there were spells where United tried to get forward, but they just could not pass through City’s solid midfield and defensive lines to create any real chances.

It was only thanks to a VAR check and an on-field review which led to a soft penalty given to Manchester United due to Jack Grealish’s arm being in the air as Aaron Wan-Bissaka attempted to cross the ball into the box. Bruno scored from the spot to bring United level in the 33rd minute of the game.

From then on, it was all City for the rest of the game, aside from a couple of chances from 18-year-old substitute Alejandro Garnacho in the closing stages of the match.

Manchester United fan and YouTuber Mark Goldbridge, known as the main presenter on the United Stand, was tweeting throughout the game expressing his disappointment with his team.

At the end of the game he tweeted: “Some of those players don’t get it and never will, City deserved that.”

This drew a lot of reaction from football fans alike and one response in particular showed evidence of it too.

Marcus Rashford's lack of effort

One Twitter user posted a clip showing Manchester United’s Player of the Season Marcus Rashford not even contending for an aerial ball, and instead choosing to back out completely and ball-watch with the caption: “This sums it up and wasn’t the only time Rashford just watched.”

This drew a lot more criticism, with one Twitter user commenting: “If that was Pogba or Martial, they’d of got cooked differently!!” alluding to the media bias of English stars.

Another Twitter user simply said what many were thinking: “Shirts too big for them.”

Other fans gave a much more measured criticism of the game they had seen, however, with one user on Twitter saying: “Today highlighted how much we need a striker, better midfield options and a new goalkeeper. We lost the midfield, had nothing up front, and De Gea shouldn’t have let the second goal plus some terrible distribution. We need a better spine.”

On the other hand, some fans on the red side of Manchester tried to take a more positive and holistic approach to the analysis of the game and taking the opposition team into account.

One Twitter user said: “Couldn’t have asked for much more. Can’t be too negative when the far superior team in world football wins by a single goal, we also had a couple of big chances and limited City to very little overall.”

İlkay Gündoğan’s second goal was argued to be a saveable effort from fans and football pundits alike, and the 22/23 Premier League Golden Glove winner was not at his best when it ultimately counted.

Some Manchester United legends even argue that a new goalkeeper needs to be brought into the squad in order for the team to be able to compete with the likes of City and Arsenal for the Premier League title going forward.