Marcus Rashford says Manchester United are only showing 'half of what we can do' following their Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg defeat on Tuesday.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side lost 3-1 to rivals Manchester City and have now lost seven of their past 10 home matches against their local rivals. United have lost two and drawn one of their three fixtures in 2020.
“We need to keep fighting to find that extra percentage that will win us games,” Rashford, 22, said. “Everything can improve a lot. We’re probably only showing half of what we can do as a team. Nobody wants to lose. Nobody started playing football to lose games. I don’t think that’s the problem.”
“I think everyone knows that we want to win and that the team is fighting. We have to continue to do that.”
Rashford captained the side for the first time as United fell three goals behind inside 38 minutes; he scored in the second half to reduce City’s advantage before the second leg at Etihad Stadium on 29 January.
The past 15 teams to win away from home in the first leg of a League Cup semi-final have all progressed to the final, with Spurs the last side to fail to do so, against Arsenal in 1986-87.
“Whether you have the armband or not, you have to put that responsibility on your own shoulders and try to show yourself as a Man United player,” Rashford said. “In the first half, we didn’t do that but in the second half, we did. Until they scored the first goal we were in the game.
“Those key moments, we have to learn to control them better than we have done this season. It’s a learning curve for us. We’ll learn from it but it’s not going to keep us down.”
United sit fifth in the Premier League, five points off the Champions League qualification places. Solskjaer, whose team host bottom club Norwich tomorrow, is favourite with bookmakers to be the next Premier League manager to leave his post.
