[Pogue Mahone]

In terrible form, but still offering more than Antony, IMO.

Which is a crazy low bar to judge someone against who should be our most important/productive player

 

[Strelok]

ETH must find a way to better use him imo. I'm saying this not to blame ETH or trying to find excuses but it's true that Rashford has been always doubled, tripled on whenever he's near the ball recently.

Imo teams know very well he's our most dangerous forward after last season that's why they take extra care on marking and defending against him. This makes it very hard for him to contribute offensively especially scoring. Which affect his confidence. He knows he needs to score otherwise fans will be after his ass. It's the same for every goal scorer.

Imo ETH should tell him to stop taking on defenders and try to drag them out, or play one twos with another teammates and making runs instead. It's very hard to beat 2,3 defenders unless your name is Messi. Especially against the PL defenders who are usually very fast and strong. And find a way to make our left side and central a bigger threat. Which will force teams to stop doubling down on Rashford and create more space for him. Our last five goals came from our defenders and midfielders. I'm no expert but imo obviously our attack isn't working recently.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

In terrible form, but still offering more than Antony, IMO.

I had a poster with Messi which was better at football than Antony.
How did we end up buying him is beyond even our terrible transfer strategy.

 

[D. Grayson]

I stand by what I said in my thread about the likes of Saint Maximin, Bowen etc being better than him because they don't have such lows like Rashford. He's always been a purple patch player, I keep saying this and people didn't want to hear it.

Hopefully everyone recognises this now and don't claim him to be the best thing going the next time he hits some form. This constant praise and huge wages from the club, before they were warranted, have created this player. We were so desperate for our next saviour that we put him on a pedestal, and now he thinks he's made it (well, he has now in terms of money).

No, the other players mentioned such as Saint-Maximin, Bowen, and Mitoma do not have the same level top of performance as Rashford. Their productivity is about as reliable as a broken McDonald's ice cream machine. Even if Rashford stops playing football starting now and the other players continue playing for another ten years, none of them will be able to match his combined goal and assist numbers.

Our team heavily relies on Marcus to be our key player. If he doesn't lead the way in goal contributions by the end of the season, we will not finish in the Champions League spots. This is because our attacking opponents are not strong enough to make up for any shortfall in Marcus' performance.

 

[GreatDane]

There's not many of them round these days, to be fair.

That's probably true. The nostalgic in me misses a good ol' 442 formation.

 

[girish]

What's the 2 for ?

Abysmal and a total detriment to the team.

Expect him to start at the weekend

May be for that good pass to Hoijlund?

 

[AndySmith1990]

No, the other players mentioned such as Saint-Maximin, Bowen, and Mitoma do not have the same level top of performance as Rashford. Their productivity is about as reliable as a broken McDonald's ice cream machine. Even if Rashford stops playing football starting now and the other players continue playing for another ten years, none of them will be able to match his combined goal and assist numbers.

Our team heavily relies on Marcus to be our key player. If he doesn't lead the way in goal contributions by the end of the season, we will not finish in the Champions League spots. This is because our attacking opponents are not strong enough to make up for any shortfall in Marcus' performance.

Spending £400m and building a team that heavily relies on Rashford is a sackable offence in itself. He's always been inconsistent and thick. Add his growing ego, laziness and selfishness to the mix and we have the current iteration of Marcus Rashford, a player who has made next to no progress since he joined the first team, yet has somehow become our star player. Speaks volumes about how low the club has sunk.

 

[Pughnichi]

Theres two ways of looking at Rashford.

He’s either

a) world class and in a bad run of form or…

b) an average player capable of purple patches

I’m firmly in camp B. I believe his purple patch will come …but it will also go again and unlike other world class players he can’t maintain it season in season out

 

[Son]

He’s definitely not world class and should be more of a squad player for us ideally when new owners come in. Doesn’t suit possession style football but is damn useful off the bench.

I would argue he’d score more goals and offer more assists from the bench. Coming on fully fit against a tired defence is how you want Rashford.

I know people at the club probably won’t want to hear that but to win trophies play people to their strengths.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Theres two ways of looking at Rashford.

He’s either

a) world class and in a bad run of form or…

b) an average player capable of purple patches

I’m firmly in camp B. I believe his purple patch will come …but it will also go again and unlike other world class players he can’t maintain it season in season out

Or

3. he was a good player whose game revolved around acceleration and pace and has now lost a yard making him much less effective.

 

[ddg01]

That's not true, is it? Actually, I felt Garnacho was quite poor when he came on, and Antony did nothing of note on down the right.

We looked far better after the introduction of Garnacho on the left. The game opened up
massively and while Antony was poor he was still better than Rashford.

 

[Strelok]

Theres two ways of looking at Rashford.

He’s either

a) world class and in a bad run of form or…

b) an average player capable of purple patches

I’m firmly in camp B. I believe his purple patch will come …but it will also go again and unlike other world class players he can’t maintain it season in season out

The truth usually lies in between imo. Rashford is not world class but still a very good player.

One thing I've noticed in our last games that there's basically no space on our left side. It always looks so crowded there. But whenever Garnacho is on suddenly there is a shitload of space on the left side. It's because teams shift their entire defence to the right where Rashford is. You can't be a bad/average player when the opponents are that afraid of you I think.

 

[Based Adnan]

He’s definitely not world class and should be more of a squad player for us ideally when new owners come in. Doesn’t suit possession style football but is damn useful off the bench.

I would argue he’d score more goals and offer more assists from the bench. Coming on fully fit against a tired defence is how you want Rashford.

I know people at the club probably won’t want to hear that but to win trophies play people to their strengths.

Do you think his personality is that of someone who would be willing to accept a limited role like that? Not to mention his wages.

 

[Craig Ward]

In atrocious form. Hard to watch.

Just runs into players cos he has no clue what to do with the ball.

So hard to watch

 

[Van Piorsing]

That brilliant forward pass to Hojlund in 1st half was the Rash we love. Then again, made exactly same control error as Garna vs GK. Weird coincidence and United should gain two goals from similar one on one situations.

Shocking that he's prone to these type of bloopers, usually unexperienced ones are making. Something needs tweaking, and if it's out of player's control, Ten Hag should work with the lad as team needs goals badly.

 

[Idxomer]

That brilliant forward pass to Hojlund in 1st half was the Rash we love. Then again, made exactly same control error as Garna vs GK. Weird coincidence and United should gain two goals from similar one on one situations.

Shocking that he's prone to these type of bloopers, usually unexperienced ones are making. Something needs tweaking, and if it's out of player's control, Ten Hag should work with the lad as team needs goals badly.

It wasn't exactly 1 on 1 but Hojlund also had a very bad 2nd touch before the Garnacho/McTominay double chance. Our forwards lack some finesse in their game.

 

[Van Piorsing]

It wasn't exactly 1 on 1 but Hojlund also had a very bad 2nd touch before the Garnacho/McTominay double chance. Our forwards lack some finesse in their game.

Thank you for that. So now we have 3 attackers making the similar type of error. At this point, I don't think it's coincidence. There's something in great need to be done on training grounds.

In many cases the whole team is unaware what's happening on the pitch. No matter which attacker we will sign, honestly starting to think, it will happen again.

 

[Rossa]

Or

3. he was a good player whose game revolved around acceleration and pace and has now lost a yard making him much less effective.

I'm thinking this too, not that he's physically lost a yard, as that makes very little sense. However, he does look sluggish when running, especially when accelerating. Even his top speed looks nothing special these days. He either doesn't go full pelt, or he is a little stiff from something? Either way, his running looks off.

 

[Strelok]

Thank you for that. So now we have 3 attackers making the similar type of error. At this point, I don't think it's coincidence. There's something in great need to be done on training grounds.

In many cases the whole team is unaware what's happening on the pitch. No matter which attacker we will sign, honestly starting to think, it will happen again.

Imo it's not a technical issue but rather a mental issue. All our forwards are under huge huge pressure to score. Those are very simple situations you don't need to be anything special to do well. Any decent forward with a cool head would have.

 

[RuudTom83]

Last season Rashford picked up a lot of goals after moving centrally towards the end of games.

70 mins on the LW then moving central for the last 20-30 mins might be a short term solution to get him a few goals.

But something needs to be done as he has been in a rut far to long.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I'm thinking this too, not that he's physically lost a yard, as that makes very little sense. However, he does look sluggish when running, especially when accelerating. Even his top speed looks nothing special these days. He either doesn't go full pelt, or he is a little stiff from something? Either way, his running looks off.

You are kind of saying you agree but then you don't? I think he's clearly slower than he was - think of the game versus City where he ran the length of the pitch like a rocket versus now - he's not slow by any means but the electric pace/acceleration is not currently there.

It would make sense given sprinters absolute peak speed in research comes in your early twenties (think the mean is 24) and add on top of that he's played a lot of football and had numerous injuries. The acceleration part is what worries me though, outright top speed isn't that important in football, and his issues with acceleration also also add up when you look at the science given you start to see fast twitch muscle fibre atrophy in your mid twenties. I'm worried for him.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Imo it's not a technical issue but rather a mental issue. All our forwards are under huge huge pressure to score. Those are very simple situations you don't need to be anything special to do well. Any decent forward with a cool head would have.

The thing is, Rash is not a hot headed youngster. He's now one of the experienced ones, and proved in earlier, goalscoring seasons, he can execute these chances almost mechanically.

Mentality and chemistry is of course important, but it all needs to be worked on, preferably on training grounds, before competitive match. FC Kobenhavn looked extermely nervous at times, but it's them who managed to give Onana tough times with quite amount of accurate shots.

If it's only mentality problem, then I guess our players are now shitting themselves before City game from obvious reasons.

 

[Son]

Do you think his personality is that of someone who would be willing to accept a limited role like that? Not to mention his wages.

No I don’t but in the end the club will have to sign two genuinely world class talents at ST and RW so he gets more space.

Notice when Bellingham drew defenders away for England Rashford suddenly gets space to get a shot away.

Antony is one of the worst attacking players output wise I’ve ever seen at this club and Hojlund is too young.

Who knows if Mount is much of a threat playing left side of midfield next to Rashford either.

 

[InspiRED]

I think during the purple patches he is nigh on unstoppable but what he's like the rest of the time is pretty abominable. You could forgive it easier if it seemed like his heart was in the right place but he doesn't really give you the impression that it's all part of a collective effort and has a general non-competitiveness and bit stroppy vibe that can't be helpful to have around the team. I said the first ridiculous contract was an abomination but this new one is even worse. Might have turned out a different kind of player under another manager/system, but our succession of shitshows has led us to what we have now: a team fronted by a kind of 'pretend' elite forward. It is depressing when you see how consistent a similar player like Son has been over the best part of a decade.

Where is that crazy guy now, who was creaming his pants about the idiocy of all us supporters who said it might be better if he was sold?

 

[Strelok]

The thing is, Rash is not a hot headed youngster. He's now one of the experienced ones, and proved in earlier, goalscoring seasons, he can execute these chances almost mechanically.

Mentality and chemistry is of course important, but it all needs to be worked on, preferably on training grounds, before competitive match. FC Kobenhavn looked extermely nervous at times, but it's them who managed to give Onana tough times with quite amount of accurate shots.

If it's only mentality problem, then I guess our players are now shitting themselves before City game from obvious reasons.

Our forwards would have buried all those chances in training 10/10 times. But in front of 75000 spectators, when you're in a goal drought when you know if you feck up the fans will be after your ass etc. it's simply very different. Players are human and all strikers will be under huge pressure if they don't score regularly. Even the best ones would feck up because of the pressure. Kane shat himself in the Euro for example.

And imo these stuffs are not that simple. Rashford is expected to score against Copenhagen. Tbf they're not very good. But against City nobody say he must score so it might be less pressure for him.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

We looked far better after the introduction of Garnacho on the left. The game opened up
massively and while Antony was poor he was still better than Rashford.

I'd have to disagree. I believe we improved due to the introduction of Eriksen, with Bruno pushing really high up, almost as a 442.

Antony did nothing and Garnacho tried, but not much came off for him yesterday.

 

[Van Piorsing]

Our forwards would have buried all those chances in training 10/10 times. But in front of 75000 spectators, when you're in a goal drought when you know if you feck up the fans will be after your ass etc. it's simply very different. Players are human and all strikers will be under huge pressure if they don't score regularly. Even the best ones would feck up because of the pressure. Kane shat himself in the Euro for example.

And imo these stuffs are not that simple. Rashford is expected to score against Copenhagen. Tbf they're not very good. But against City nobody say he must score so it might be less pressure for him.

I might start to think some of them are not very good, indeed. 75000 spectators at OT used to be absolute dream coming true for a player, now it suddenly feels like a burden, or perhaps mental torture.

Just throwing my opinion here, but I need to say this: You absolutely don't need strong mentality to finish these chances, and what's mind boggling they both didn't even made a shot attempt, because of truly abysmal last touch, just before finishing it off, or at least trying to outmanoeuvre the keeper. This is basic stuff and by some bizarre coincidence, happens twice. I can understand Garna being stressed, but Rashford ?

This Grabara lad who was oppo's GK absolutely wasn't physically imposing to instill any fear, just aware and responsive, especially after Hojlund made slick touch to lay the ball to Eriksen, who shoots exactly where Grabara aiming to make a save. I just can't make excuses anymore for absolute basics, these players forgetting while stepping on the field.

If by any chance Rashford will feel more comfortable vs City, then we should definitely start thinking on resting him on bigger games. It's just hard to predict where the pendulum swings with lots of them. McTominay suddenly scores a few, just to concede couple of penalties. Chaos beyond any control.

 

[goalscholes]

In terrible form, but still offering more than Antony, IMO.

I disagree. Antony isn’t good enough at the moment and the fee was ludicrous, but he’s offering more than Rashford at the moment.

Rashford puts his head down, slows down the play, takes on multiple players and loses the ball every time he gets it. It’s like he’s forgotten how to pass and move. So, so frustrating.

 

[Strelok]

I might start to think some of them are not very good, indeed. 75000 spectators at OT used to be absolute dream coming true for a player, now it suddenly feels like a burden, or perhaps mental torture.

Just throwing my opinion here, but I need to say this: You absolutely don't need strong mentality to finish these chances, and what's mind boggling they both didn't even made a shot attempt, because of truly abysmal last touch, just before finishing it off, or at least trying to outmanoeuvre the keeper. This is basic stuff and by some bizarre coincidence, happens twice. I can understand Garna being stressed, but Rashford ?

This Grabara lad who was oppo's GK absolutely wasn't physically imposing to instill any fear, just aware and responsive, especially after Hojlund made slick touch to lay the ball to Eriksen, who shoots exactly where Grabara aiming to make a save. I just can't make excuses anymore for absolute basics, these players forgetting while stepping on the field.

If by any chance Rashford will feel more comfortable vs City, then we should definitely start thinking on resting him on bigger games. It's just hard to predict where the pendulum swings with lots of them. McTominay suddenly scores a few, just to concede couple of penalties. Chaos beyond any control.

We weren't talking about Eriksen's shot which their keeper made a fantastic save so I have no idea why you mentioned it.

Then it's not making excuses but trying to understand why our forwards would feck up those one on one chances. As you said and as many have mentioned previously those are very basic things you would expect from a professional striker. At least get a shot scoring or not. So the only explanation is the pressure imo. Garnacho trying to impress. Rashford to end his goal drought. Hollund to justify his price tag etc. And we really needed another goal to secure the game.

Some feel no pressure performing in front of a huge crowd or from how the match is going, the importance of the game etc. But most do. And it's also the expectation from the fans, the desire to shine, the fear to feck up etc. Those things have always been a huge part of the game. Rashford is of course under a shitload of pressure if you have a look at this very thread. Unless he doesn't give a feck what fans think/say about him.

And most people would feel less pressure if there is less expectation of them so tbh I don't think there is anything wrong if Rashford might feel less pressure against City.

 

[clarkydaz]

God I miss the 90's. Sharpie, Kanchelskis, giggsy, becks. feck me we were spoilt weren't we? Any now we have him and Antony on the wings. sigh.

The bare minimum work rate they all had up and down the flank aswell. The crowd last night had to kick him up the arse to chase someone down in the first half

 

[kaku06]

We need to move him on. He has somehow become so untouchable that even the thought of selling him is a sacrilege. He has become Mr. Manchester United and we have made him the face of our club. He thinks he’s a world class player and has this aura of a superstar but in our reality he’s a just an average player who has become a noose around our neck. We have sold far superior players than him yet we are absolutely shit scared of letting him go.

 

[Mockney]

Every time he tries to run through multiple players and loses the ball I get an hour closer to dying from a stroke.

Not only do I hate this, but he also somehow does it MORE when he’s playing badly and low on confidence. It’s some kind of overcompensatory tick.

 

[lex talionis]

Rashy is our international marquee player so there’s zero chance he’ll be benched for City, but he needs to benched for his own good.

 

[goalscholes]

I do think he has a good record vs City though, so I’d definitely start him at the weekend

 

[Van Piorsing]

We weren't talking about Eriksen's shot which their keeper made a fantastic save so I have no idea why you mentioned it.

Then it's not making excuses but trying to understand why our forwards would feck up those one on one chances. As you said and as many have mentioned previously those are very basic things you would expect from a professional striker. At least get a shot scoring or not. So the only explanation is the pressure imo. Garnacho trying to impress. Rashford to end his goal drought. Hollund to justify his price tag etc. And we really needed another goal to secure the game.

Some feel no pressure performing in front of a huge crowd or from how the match is going, the importance of the game etc. But most do. And it's also the expectation from the fans, the desire to shine, the fear to feck up etc. Those things have always been a huge part of the game. Rashford is of course under a shitload of pressure if you have a look at this very thread. Unless he doesn't give a feck what fans think/say about him.

And most people would feel less pressure if there is less expectation of them so tbh I don't think there is anything wrong if Rashford might feel less pressure against City.

I don't want exactly sound like Rashford being guilty of everything, that's why I added Eriksen's chance in a mix, which Hojlund gave him on a plate. This game could be easily 4:0 United, without much of a sweat.

Pressure definitely plays a part. I agree. Think Onana was under crushing pressure, more than Rash, after conceding truly absurd penalty. I also think the way we enter matches is absolutely laughable, which can be reason why inviting too much pressure in the first place. Usually starting 1st half from a besieged fortress mentality even against average teams, heroic defending, clearing the ball away constantly, which gives opponents time to build themselves as attacking side, not to mention hoofing it to Hojlund, like he can chase every ball, which is usually imprecise & overpowered.

Nothing wrong against not feeling pressure against City, indeed, except when this relief comes from resignation against clearly more organized opponent. Creating chances on Sunday will be much more difficult, but not impossible. Then it all comes down probably to same attacking players. There has to be way to tweak it on training grounds, otherwise they can punish us way more than Sheffield, or Copenhagen.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

I think he has been a little better of late, but still struggling for some reason.

Though, did he deserve a pen or the goalie a red card yesterday? (I'm not sure, they did not really analyze it) I had the sound off as the USA paramount feed was insanely ABU.

 

[MrBest]

I just feel for the lad. Burst on the scene at 18, and the expectations from the fan base has been a high as the universe. Facts is he has never been mentored properly by a senior player, never played in a consistent team, never bedded into a proper system, his role has changed season on season and much more. Fast forward about 7 years, 50 plus caps for England and 300 apps for United, he still looks lost. Its hardly surprising, i blame the club for his lack of development and some weaknesses. We have not supported players with talent, just use them as a hype to be the next best thing. Now in 2023, he somehow makes 300k a week, has had a dodgy past that lacks guidance, we expect him to brilliant. I am culpable to this too, when he starts I expect him to score. Fact is he can't decide what on earth he wants to do on the pitch and for me, lack of coaching and nurturing has been his downfall.

He has the pace, technical ability and even the brain to be world class, we just don't see it because of the above. Ten Hag bought something out of him for a few months last season, I think will take time again to see that and maybe by 27 or 28 will we see the real rashy, but he may also be burnt out by then. Difficult career for the lad, I hope he reaches what we all know he can do.

 

[LInkash]

That brilliant forward pass to Hojlund in 1st half was the Rash we love. Then again, made exactly same control error as Garna vs GK. Weird coincidence and United should gain two goals from similar one on one situations.

Shocking that he's prone to these type of bloopers, usually unexperienced ones are making. Something needs tweaking, and if it's out of player's control, Ten Hag should work with the lad as team needs goals badly.

He is is creating chances like that for Hojlund at least once per game and I feel like he's not being given any credit for that.

It's only just the beginning of them playing together and their partnership will only improve. For that reason, I am hopeful.

 

[foolsgold]

Theres two ways of looking at Rashford.

He’s either

a) world class and in a bad run of form or…

b) an average player capable of purple patches

I’m firmly in camp B. I believe his purple patch will come …but it will also go again and unlike other world class players he can’t maintain it season in season out

I think everyone is in camp b, but I think there is a case that a world class manager should be able to extend these patches.

 

[RedOrange]

I think everyone is in camp b, but I think there is a case that a world class manager should be able to extend these patches.

Guardiola would have dropped Rashford for giving the ball away too often and had the club feck him off in the next window.