Thierry Henry has told Marcus Rashford ‘power is not always the answer’ after seeing the Manchester United forward denied a goal against Antonio Conte’s Tottenham.
United dominated Spurs with second-half goals from Fred and Bruno Fernandes sealing a 2-0 victory that leaves Erik ten Hag’s side within touching distance of the top four.
The Red Devils had 19 efforts on goal in the first-half with Hugo Lloris forced into a number of fine saves to keep the home team out.
Rashford was denied on one of those occasions, fed through by the Brazilian Fred and firing low and across goal only for Lloris to get down and keep it out.
The 24-year-old was denied in a similar position in the second-half of the game, this time cutting inside with the Tottenham shot-stopper pushing his effort away again.
Analysing Rashford’s first-half effort, Arsenal legend Henry was critical of Rashford for going for power over finesse, saying every striker should learn how to ‘freeze’ the keeper before pulling the trigger.
‘He could have done better,’ Henry told Amazon Prime.
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‘This is what I say, when this ball is coming to you, have a look at the goalkeeper to freeze him. Strikers don’t do that often, the ball is coming to you, you know it, you have look at the goalkeeper to freeze him and he never looked.
‘What you do normally, he just fires low and across. Power is not always the answer.’
Henry also questioned the England star’s approach for his second-half effort, where he cut inside his man looking to drill one in the far corner.
‘You open the ball up, just finish it,’ Henry said. ‘Place it down here. Why hard? Side foot, goal, see you later. But it was right at him [the goalkeeper]. But great save from Hugo.’
Rashford is currently United’s top scorer with five goals this campaign, picked to lead the line against Tottenham ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, the 37-year-old still managed to steal some of the headlines after walking down the tunnel while the game was still going on.
