Alan Shearer explains why he's convinced Erik ten Hag has issue with Marcus Rashford

Erik ten Hag’s unexpected decision to bench Marcus Rashford has left Alan Shearer thinking the Manchester United star has another behind-the-scenes issue. After a tricky start to the season, Rashford got off the mark in the Premier League in United’s 3-0 win away at Southampton.

He followed that up with a brace in the 7-0 thrashing of League One side Barnsley in the Carabao Cup. So it came as a surprise to all when he was benched at Crystal Palace on Saturday, only seeing the last 30 minutes of the goalless draw while Alejandro Garnacho took his place on the left wing.

Ten Hag insisted the move was simply to rotate the squad. However, Shearer, alongside Gary Lineker on their podcast The Rest Is Football, suggested it was for disciplinary reasons instead. Lineker began: “It looks like, reading between the lines, it might be some disciplinary issues because he (Ten Hag) kind of mooted that in his press conference that ‘Marcus has got to be professional’.”

Shearer echoed that sentiment, questioning: “Why else would you leave him out? When things have been criticised, and I was one of them, for performances, but then you get your goal last weekend.

“You get another couple in midweek. Why would you actually even contemplate leaving him out? My guess is, and it is a guess, it has to be something different.”

Ten Hag did hint at Rashford’s “professionalism” not being up to par in his pre-match press conference last week, telling reporters: “I think he always knew, and every player knows, because when your lifestyle is not right you can’t perform. You don’t get the right levels when you don’t have a good and disciplined life away from Carrington.

“Probably he needed some help, by backing him for instance. At the end of the day, he has to do it by himself. He has to set his life right, his training attitude right, his match attitude right. When he sets his professionalism, he will perform because he is a class player.”

However, speaking to Sky Sports before the game, he attributed the decision to rest Rashford to the need for squad rotation. With the Europa League kicking off this week, United are facing a packed schedule with four games in just 12 days before the next international break.

“It was not difficult [to drop him] because we need to rotate,” Ten Hag argued. “Because we have many games to cover and we have to give Alejandro games – and as we have all seen, he has such a lot of end product, scored so many goals, so many assists, but often as a sub. Also needs starts – he’s had just one start this season.”