19 Nov 2023 08:54:11
Rashford. What’s happened to him? Was last season a fluke? Is it off-field issues? Poor coaching? Is he mourning for Sancho? New contract ego fever? I genuinely have no clue.
That performance against Malta on top of the tripe I see from him week-in week-out leaves me wanting him sold in January.
19 Nov 2023 09:16:10
Good question. He certainly isn't the player he once was for sure. Hopefully water it is he can overcome it because it appears to be more than simply a loss of 'form'.
19 Nov 2023 09:16:26
Maybe he was playing for a new contract?
He has only had one good season in the last 4-5 years.
19 Nov 2023 10:06:14
Before he got injured against Wolves, he was carrying the team, people have short memories. Since then he has been average or poor, apart from that very hot spell last year.
It seems his mentality impacts his performances and for whatever reason he is all over the place. I have defended him continually on here but I would be happy to see him leave, we cannot wait forever for consistency.
What has changed in the last few years? None of us know, but from the outside, the bling has arrived, the tattoos and the flashy cars, his relationship with his fiance ended, I do worry that the trappings of fame have impacted him. But what do I know?
19 Nov 2023 10:50:45
Simple he ain’t a top player never has been never will be
Said it all along one trick pony cut inside and smash it
Lacks football intelligence
How people ever rated him is beyond me
I’d get rid in a heart beat.
19 Nov 2023 12:12:47
Take away Rashford tho and wheres the threath of goals coming from hel come good at some point this season he always has a purple patch still 1 of your best players even playing the way he is now offers way more than likes of Antony shouldn't consider selling him he's kinda your only iconic player now.
19 Nov 2023 13:49:12
Rashford does some things excellently and others really poorly. He looks at times like he hasn't received proper coaching and plays on instinct. The Athletic did an article on him recently which (from memory) showed that last year he achieved 0.48 expected goals a game, and this year is at 0.42.
Depending on your point of view he glossed over his deficiencies last year by getting more goals than expected, or this year he's been unlucky and his performances are better than people are suggesting. The reality as ever is in between. He can be a really good player, but needs to put the work in on the areas he remains poor at. Passing, creating space for teammates, decision making, pressing, heading are all areas he's below average at. Because of this, when he's not scoring he seems worse than others.
19 Nov 2023 14:02:17
Not having a left back or any kind of support meaning they can easily commit 2/ 3 defenders to marking you usually makes life pretty difficult but yeah WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO RASHFORD!
19 Nov 2023 14:34:27
The off-field issues he’s dealing / dealt with will no doubt be having a negative impact on his performances. He’s been a little fool but it’s time now for him to move on and get his head back into football.
19 Nov 2023 15:10:59
Rashford is a player who is capable of greatness. At his age he has a similar goal return to Wayne Rooney at the same age. So let's not pretend he isn't talented.
The issue has always been that his form tends to be streaky. Whether that is because he often gets moved around positionally, never really being able to tied down one spot as his own. Or whether his confidence is impacted more easily than others, or whether the fact that he tends to pick up injuries at key points in the season which seems to disrupt his flow, its hard to tell.
This season I don't think starting at CF for the first month until Hojlund was signed and fit was helpful. He often struggles more at CF. He tends to do better wide left, where he can cut in and create his own chances. While the teams poor performances and lack of creativity further starved him of good chances. He does seem like a confidence player, so that dry spell wouldn't have helped.
However, even in poor form his presence still makes him a threat. Probably the most dangerous one we have. So we might just have to play him through this until he finds form again.
19 Nov 2023 15:13:20
AJH i'd say rashford has never carried the team. Sure he got the goals last year but other than that his performances in the games were always poor standard. i'd say for 85 minutes of the games last season he was the same as this season but getting the goals he did masked the rest. He's a player who plays for himself, doesn't look up very rarely creates and with poor work rate this last issue a quality I cannot abide and would see him as a bench player or sold. Of course if that was up to me.
19 Nov 2023 15:36:12
I am no Rashford lover, but to say he did not carry the team last season is ludicrous if it was not for his goals we would have been nowhere near Champions league this season or even in the finals that you all bang on about was so great achievement.
It’s clear he needs his head in the right place to perform to a decent level, to me the problem is he don’t buy into what is trying to be achieved and for some reason he can’t get past that in his head, but TBF he is the best chance of goals we got in the team so to bin him off is just plain foolish.
You seriously think any professional footballer goes onto the pitch and thinks I got loads of money so I don’t want to bother today.
Take his potential goals out this team, that can hardly score goals anyway is plain stupidity unless you got a replacement who can actually score!
19 Nov 2023 15:36:55
Good not great player underperforming as is the whole team.
Defence has been chopping and changing and the midfield is awful and our right winger is half fidget spinner half alleged criminal.
Plenty of places to point fingers but some fans have it out for rashford for some reason.
19 Nov 2023 15:46:32
What Blackpool red said. Agree with every word.
19 Nov 2023 17:04:07
My view of Rashford is that he's like a Subaru Impreza.
He's got the pace, he's got great acceleration, he's got plenty of horsepower, he's great on straights with little challenge.
However, his handling is poor, his dealing with challenges is poor, he's about as robust as a tomato.
All in all, as much as he gets people off their seats when steaming through with all the confidence, he's just a flashy racer - like an Impreza.
Add to this his lack of awareness, lack of a pass, lack of a cross, lack of diligent support for his defenders, lack of working when the fan gets busy, he shows himself as being actually nowhere near world-class.
One thing that made him look better last season was the rather overlooked form of Shaw who, when on his game, is arguably the best LB in world football.
Last season Shaw was immense and put in the work that Rashford hides away from.
He, in turn, was supported by Martinez who covered the space left by Shaw.
Martinez was covered, for example, by Casemiro.
It's all about the puzzle pieces.
This season our midfield has been different. No Fred, a labouring Casemiro, a seemingly insufficient Amrabat, a combative but excellent Mejbri, Fernandes regressing, and Mount barely getting into any kind of stride.
Only McTominay and Donny are as they were.
So these puzzle pieces have an unavoidably symbiotic effect on the central defensive unit.
Our central defensive unit has suffered greatly.
Martinez rushed back too quickly before the setback, Varane struggling, Lindelof looking lost, the Shaw injury, the Evans return, a new Keeper.
Nothing is as it was in central defence, the only positive being the renaissance of Maguire.
The mess in the middle has impacted the left flank where, with no Shaw or Malacia, Fernandez and Williams out on loan, we've had to make do with the options of Reguilon, Dalot and Amrabat. Nothing as it was there and very little of what Rashford needs to thrive is offered by any of the latter 3.
So, while I don't regard Rashford as highly as some, his lack of productivity this season is the result of more than just his failings.
This season we're seeing two big changes that each have greatly underestimated effects on a team when lady luck keeps flicking hot ash onto the boys - a new Keeper and a new main Striker.
So really, Rashford, like the equally underperforming Fernandes, has been the only familiar constant this season - which is why we haven't yet looked like a cohesive team.
And still, we're getting a miserable rub.
Onana has been looking better recently, getting used to a slightly more settled unit in front of him, finding his place in ten Hag's United system - now he's picked up an injury too.
Finally, back to Rashford.
Garnacho and Martial aren't currently offering enough in their apps to warrant shifting him out.
I think he's still currently the best of the bunch, but we do need better.
Griezmann is an interesting rumour.
The release clause works for me, but the mooted salary on offer sounds about as United as it gets.
That said, he's a better team player anywhere on the pitch than Rashford ever will be by a country mile and would immediately provide a level of composed class to our forward line not seen since Berbatov.
Obviously, a player who will be 33 before the end of the season would never be my first-choice, but does the class and experience justify the expense?
Personally, I would look to sell Rashford in the summer.
PSG will likely be the most interested club and, tbh, he'll absolutely thrive in France.
I don't think we'll get more than £100m for him, but £75m+ will do for me.
So should we stick with the Impreza and wait for it to start rattling before making a decision, or get a nice post-2005 Civic that brings fresh, albeit short-term, qualities to it's class, from which other models can be positively influenced?
Time for a sensible approach, the Impreza must go.
19 Nov 2023 17:42:26
I think much of what makes a striker is mental composure. Without saying specifically that Rashy is weak mentally, I think there he does struggle to deal with things more than others, whether they're bad press, being in the public eye or whatever.
19 Nov 2023 17:43:51
He's the golden boy of United. I would say he's probably the least likely player to be sold in my opinion, regardless of current form, unless he pushes for it. Maybe the boo boys will force him out.
19 Nov 2023 17:58:42
Well put Ork.
Shappy I disagree. I don’t believe Rashford is capable of greatness at all.
19 Nov 2023 18:44:16
Shappy I can’t believe you mentioned greatness and Rashford in the same sentence
We have had some real greats at our club but he comes nowhere near those legend’s and never will
It seems a lot of fans now accept mediocrity which this club and the fans should never do.
19 Nov 2023 18:46:38
Ganarcho ain’t exactly pulling up any trees in fact his mentality is the exact opposite of Rashford, in Garnacho’s own head he already a superstar! And he been reigned in a bit, he might just turn out to be another januzaj
He not kicking on at all…. Which is another worry.
19 Nov 2023 20:22:56
Totally agree Rangers about Garnacho
Another one overhyped before he’s actually done anything
The modern day footballer lorded before doing anything great.
19 Nov 2023 20:26:53
Garnachos good but don't think he's going to really hit the top not when you look at players like Cole Palmer same age but far far better player.
19 Nov 2023 20:32:16
Maybe he's missing Shaw being behind him, Shaw bombs forward and opens up space for him.
20 Nov 2023 02:37:52
Donny same as he was?. By that I assume you mean a mobile chicane that is warming the bench……occasionally?
20 Nov 2023 12:52:25
Rashford is 18th in United's all time leading goalscorers list currently.
If he keeps scoring at the same rate over the next 5-6 season's as he has over the past 5-6 years then he'll end up around the same number of goals as Sir Bobby and Rooney for the club.
That would certainly qualify him as a great.
20 Nov 2023 15:23:26
Lol he can't hit a barn door at the moment let alone repeat the fluke of last season for 6 more years. I don't think any current Utd player will be regarded as great in decades to come. But I'd love to be proved wrong.
20 Nov 2023 17:45:08
Spenno, last season he got 29 goals, he's currently on 124, meaning he still managed 95 goals in 5 seasons prior to his best ever season last year. He averages around 19 goals a season in his first 5 seasons. That goes up to just over 20 if you include last season.
If he manages to maintain the same 19 goals a season average over the next 6 years he'll be on 238 goals for the club, which would put him 1 goal ahead of Denis Law, 11 behind Charlton and 15 behind Rooney.
That's if he just maintains his previous average and never does any better or score more consistently.
Given that he is currently managing to score at a similar rate as our best ever goal scorers, means if he maintains that then he'll be considered a great by the end of his career.
If you want to factor in that Booby Charlton and Wayne Rooney managed to score those numbers in some of the best Manchester United teams ever. Teams filled with world class players all over the pitch, creating goalscoring chances and dominating the ball. Compare that to the relative utter trash that Rashford has had to play with over the past 6 years then it makes his goalscoring record look all the more impressive.
It's just fashionable to dig out our players. Yes Rashford's form is poor this season. Who knows why, but he has been arguably our best player (along with Bruno, another player its fashionable to rag on) over the past few years, he's certainly been one of our most important.
I'd be very surprised if the Manchester United team built over the next few years doesn't have Rashford and Bruno as key players in it. They've carried us for so long, now their form has dipped and people can't wait to get the knives out. Very short memories and very short-sighted.
20 Nov 2023 19:28:16
If’s and buts Shappy
I’d put my life on it that he doesn’t get 20 goals a season for the next 5 years
Why all the excuses he’s been shocking and is the laziest player we have along with Martial
We will never do anything again if we have hangers on at the club which we have for the last 8 years
He’s a one trick pony who pulls out of tackles doesn’t track back and is shocking when it’s one on one with the keeper
Sell him start a fresh.
20 Nov 2023 21:35:28
Blackpool may he needs the change to fulfil his potential, he's been in some awful teams and is still in one. Maybe we're holding rashy back not the otherway around. If he was in a team that actually turned up everyweek he would score goals.
20 Nov 2023 21:55:26
I’ve heard it all now Dannyc
Lame excuse.
21 Nov 2023 02:36:38
Would be good if he turned up every week!
He does sulk and yes we are not creating, but that is his job as much as anyone else up front.
He will sadly be gone sooner rather than later and we may never know just how good he could be in a red shirt.
I hope I am wrong and he turns the tide. He seems a good bloke and I want him to do well.
21 Nov 2023 20:10:51
Blackpool, all he has to do is repeat what he had already done at United and he will end up around the 240-250 goal mark.
He doesn't need to step up, or improve. Just maintain doing what he's already done to the same level.
I think it's just bias and personal agenda to willfully ignore or dismiss the fact that Rashford has played in some utterly awful teams and has never had a class act of players to support him.
You look at the list of players someone like Wayne Rooney played with at United, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Ronaldo, RvN, RvP, Keane, Ferdinand, Evra, Vidic, Neville, VDS, Berbatov, Tevez, etc.
He got to play with some of our best ever players, mostly during their peaks as well.
Who are the best players Rashford has played with at United? And how many of them were at their peak at that time?
Yet despite that very poor back up cast Rashford has a very similar scoring rate to Rooney.
Also I think people are very harsh on Rashford being lazy. He doesn't track back, but that doesn't make him lazy. Firstly, that might be a tactical instruction from the manager. You don't typically want you best out ball chasing players back deep into his own half. As simply you then don't have them as an attacking option if you do win the ball.
Secondly, the camera follows the ball, which means unless you are in the stadium you don't see how much a player does off the ball. This was one of the things that lead to Carrick being underrated for so many years.
Rashford makes more high intensity sprints than anyone else in the team and is in the top 3 in the entire league in this measure.
Does that sound lazy? If that is lazy then there are around 497 lazier players than Rashford in the EPL.
He makes many off the ball sprints, but is rarely found as we lack the quality to play the ball through to him either accurately or quickly enough. So I wouldn't call him lazy, maybe just a forward who doesn't do the defensive work of a defender.
I admit his attitude currently on the pitch doesn't seem quite right. His shoulders seem to have dropped a little. That could be many things, not least playing in a side that is in awful form and not creating the kind of quality chances he needs. Which would be frustrating for most forwards. But given he is carrying the responsibility and burden of being Manchester United's chief goal scorer, but is not being given the chances to do the job he is expected, must be very frustrating. Especially for a player who is also a boyhood fan of the club.
Or maybe he's having issues in his personal life. Who knows.
What we do know is that over his Manchester United career to date he was scored at a similar rate to many of our all time leading goalscorers.
He works hard off the ball in an attacking sense, even if sometimes fans might want to see him do more defensively.
He's also never had the luxury of playing in a good United side let alone a great one.
If any fan seriously looks at this United team and considers Rashford as being one of the biggest problems then I'd seriously question your football knowledge. There is a bare minimum of 20 players at the club who should be shown the door before Rashford.
21 Nov 2023 20:24:52
You don’t seem to grasp it Shappy
It’s not just ability it’s workrate or should I say lack of it
You mustn’t watch him much if you think he’s a top player
Why all these lame excuses, he’s the one out their putting in dreadful performances
Bryan Robson was in some shocking Utd teams but he stood out like a beacon
You’ll never convince me on Rashford.
22 Nov 2023 01:37:16
Blackpool, you're probably right, no one will be able to convince you if you are close minded and willfully ignorant of anything that challenges your pre-held belief.
You've completed brushed over the point I made about Rashford being 3rd in the entire EPL for high intensity sprints.
So the most physically draining thing you can do in football is a high intensity sprint. Rashford is doing more of them than 497 other EPL players.
How is that a lack of work rate? How is that lazy?
You are ignoring that fact because it doesn't fit your narrative.
22 Nov 2023 08:41:37
More nonsense Shappy
Stats prove absolutely nothing
My eyes tell me everything I need to know about Rashford
I said years ago he wasn’t what everyone thought he was but would love him to disprove me but I was right all along
This nonsense about narratives that’s what you do all the time in your essays
We’ll leave it at that as I’m bored keep going over the same
We’ll agree to disagree on this.
22 Nov 2023 11:33:10
Shappy
There are 2 glaring things you're missing mate.
1. A high-intensity sprint is just that - a sprint.
There's nothing to define a high-intensity sprint as anything other than what it is.
Rashford does sprint, nobody's ever said he doesn't, but that's not necessarily working hard for the team, is it?
There are plenty of factors behind the performances of himself and the team, but it's daft to try to defend the indefensible - he simply does not graft and anybody who insists he does because he runs about a bit is just trying to look reasonable in a phone box.
You crack on mate, but the high-intensity sprint argument is utterly flawed.
2. Rashford will be remembered as a great goalscorer, but not as a great player. Lukaku is a great goalscorer, but an average player.
The best comparison for me would be Lineker - also quick with some nifty tricks, but also did next to no grafting. He's regarded as one of England's greatest goalscorers, but he's not even in the equation when it comes to greatest attacking players.
Rashford is essentially a throwback played in a modern setup. This throwback does occasionally thrive, but in this particular case only when he feels cuddled by everyone.
Great attacking players have far more to them than he has.
He might well be up with Rooney and Charlton in the scoring charts when he finishes, but it's an insult to compare him with them as a 'player' - he's not even on the same planet.
The modern attacking player needs to be more than a goalscoring headless chicken that runs about but doesn't want a dirty kit.
I know you still won't get it and that's fine, but you're wrong and there's diddly-squat that you can say to change that.