(I apologize for the RAWK-ish scale of the post)
It’s certainly one of the most interesting and surprisingly (although, is it, really) aspects of football that had mostly escaped the field of general football discourse. When Rangnick hired a psychologist he had voiced his amazement that it hadn’t been done earlier and I, for one, share his amazement 100%. Especially for the club of our size that’s going through incredibly turbulent times (I’m not even going to mention the little issue of a global pandemic) you’d think that our players’ mental health would be closely monitored at all times as it can influence your performance (or the lack of) just as drastically as a dislocated shoulder, hamstring injury etc.
And Rashford certainly had his fair share of challenges over the past couple of years — stress—induced back injury (not psychological stress, it’s probably worth noting this, but it can play tricks on your mind for sure) that happened right when he had reached the form of his life; never-ending football year that had been prolonged by him (postponing the much-needed surgery) in order to watch the Euros from the bench & missing the decisive penalty in the final, getting tons of abuse; whatever was that Europa League performance… now there are also some girlfriend issue apparently that I haven’t heard of before today.
So yeah, you wouldn’t be surprised if he was having a tough time adjusting to all of this. Especially with people being happy to jump on the bandwagon and blame his charity work for the horrendous dip in his performances.
Now to the controversial (at least for me) part. Criticism (not abuse, there’s a clear difference) is certainly a part of football — if you don’t produce on the pitch, you’re going to get called out for it. Even Messi and Cristiano aren’t exempt from it, rightly or wrongly (personally I think that it’s fair as far as the criticism stays constructive). I hate the rich can’t get sad argument as it’s simply a bunch of ignorant bs, but those lows are an integral part of literally any football career — just like the incredible highs that you’ll rarely (if ever) reach anywhere else, are. And as a professional footballer you have to adapt to that — ideally with the help of medical professionals if needed.
Comparing the accusations of Rashford downing his tools with name-calling and retroactive readjustment of player’s talent assessment is not a good argument. Rashford has downed his tools and there’s no two ways about it, that moment after the Greenwood chance has to be one of the most embarrassing things that I’ve seen from a United player and that’s saying something and it’s certainly a part of a bigger trend.
The questions are 1. why? & 2. what can he (and maybe we as a fan base) can do about it? I’ve already stated multiple reasons that may be the reason or one of the many triggers of his current state and there are many more. Mental health issues of different caliber may very well be one of those (and I’m absolutely sure that he is at least suffering from a burnout of sorts) — but it’s is not a get out of the jail free card, especially when we can only assume that he has (or hasn’t) got those. And while we’re on the topic of mental health awareness, projecting those issues on public figures based only on their public profile is a harmful practice (although nowhere near harmful as dismissing them).
He needs to deal with whatever issues he has and I’m sure that our fans would be supportive of him if he opens up about them (not saying that he should — again — that’s even if he has them). Management should be also held accountable as workers mental health is also their responsibility. But the unspecified mental health issue (that may not even exist) can’t be used as an ultimate defense against constructive criticism — and boy does Rashford deserve a lot of the latter at the moment.
