Alan Shearer insists criticism of Marcus Rashford has NOT been unfair after Man United star’s camp claimed treatment from club legends was like ‘bullying’

Alan Shearer has insisted his criticism of Marcus Rashford is justified as the 26-year-old striker finally found the net this weekend.

The England international scored in the Red Devils’ 3-0 win over Southampton at St Mary’s, ending a six-month goal drought in the Premier League.

He scored United’s second goal of the day, with a sublime shot from outside the penalty area that found the bottom right corner of the goal, helped off the post.

Until then, Rashford had scored his last goal in the English top division in March, which earned him a lot of criticism from the sporting world.

One person who was particularly critical of the Manchester forward was Alan Shearer. After the game, Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker asked Shearer if he thought his comments were fair, to which he replied:

The 26-year-old attacker ended his long goal drought with a sublime strike from outside the penalty area

However, former Premier League legend and analyst Alan Shearer has doubled down on his criticism of the England international

I don’t think so [the criticism] is unfair.

‘He doesn’t get criticised when he plays like today, which was much, much better.

‘I hope you mentioned the trust, we all know what that feels like, that he has that objective, we’re going to see more of that now.

Lineker then went on to ask Shearer whether he thinks Rashford is unfairly targeted more often than some of his United teammates, including Garanacho.

Shearer replied: ‘No, that’s because of the standards he’s set.

‘We saw him score more than 30 goals two seasons ago, we know he can do it, you want to see that more often.

‘There was a reason he wasn’t in the England squad, but now that he’s performing like this, he doesn’t get criticised anymore. Things are much better now.’

‘Hopefully you can see that more often, because he can do it.’

Shearer indicated that his criticism of Rashford is justified because of the standards he sets.

Shearer wants to ‘see that [performance] on a more regular basis, because he can’

Shearer last criticised Rashford after Erik ten Hags’ 2-1 defeat to Brighton just over three weeks ago.

After that match the expert said criticized Rashford for his poor positioning and movement throughout the match.

Gary Lineker attempted to defend Rashford against his frequent offside fouls and poor positioning.

“The only thing I would say in defence of Rashford is at least he’s trying to make runs,” Lineker said.

However, Shearer responded: ‘Yes, but he’s not a young boy anymore.

‘He has to understand the position and look at the other side of the pitch, because then you are not offside.’