Media uses Aston Villa EPL win to unfairly attack Marcus Rashford | OneFootball

Once again, it appears that media outlets are taking the time to go out of their way to disingenuously attack Aston Villa. After Saturday's win against Southampton, Marcus Rashford received the unjust, scathing words from The Daily Mirror.

While properly praising Ollie Watkins, Alan Smith went on to overcriticize the 'ineffective' Marcus Rashford. This is often the case in matches in which one side controls the majority of possession. It can take a lot to break the opposition down, and the breakthrough usually has to come through brief moments of magic.

Before the Unai Emery substitutions in the second half, the overall product in the final third wasn't enough to earn a goal. That is to say, those in the attack, including Rashford, didn't do enough when they were on the field to break the draw. They didn't play poorly, but the final touch or pass to get past Aaron Ramsdale during the run of play wasn't there.

To then go a step further and be overly critical of Rashford as a result is too far. A lot of times fresh legs have that extra boost when coming off the bench. The added aspect of using the pepped-up energy from not being in the starting XI and wanting to prove the manager wrong then serves as an increased motivation factor.

Aston Villa Rashford performance isn't something to worry about

At the end of the day, it's hard to break down defenses in the Premier League, much less score. Someone coming on and making an immediate visible impact is what should be expected. This is particularly true on an AVFC roster that is as deep as what Emery has at his disposal.

Watkins and Donyell Malen coming on and scoring during the run of play and then John McGinn hustling to score a third off the miss are fantastic signs from those players that deserve praise. To single out Rashford as being woeful or suggest that this should come with a warning is representative of the words of someone who hasn't paid attention to the latest Aston Villa matches closely enough.