26 Oct 2023 03:09:20
Last year, without Saliba, Arsenal basically fell apart. We're without two vital players: Martinez and Shaw. Clearly Martinez's injury affected him early in the season and he should not really have been playing. Given his combative character I'd wager it was he who decided he was ready to go, but anyone watching could see he was not quite right.
The loss of Shaw has been underplayed. He worked well with Rashford who needs his energy and willingness to overlap. The difference has been obvious. Rashford has been left to fend for himself. The loss of Martinez and Shaw from the left side has effectively nullified last year's only scoring threat for most of last year. Add to this the problems on the right side with Greenwood, Sancho and Antony, whose ineffectiveness has perhaps been exacerbated by the forced time off, the loss Amad and Mainoo who were expected to make a contribution, and AWB, and it's hardly surprising that we're struggling.
26 Oct 2023 07:52:09
Shawthing
Good to read something mature for a change. Spot on and so many factors affecting the teams performance atm and its not one player or another but certain players given their stature get the most stick. If we are going to have a succesful season rash and Bruno need to get through this spell.
26 Oct 2023 08:21:04
More excuses for Rashford
He’s poor and has no football intelligence
If you need somebody else to function on a football pitch then your doomed.
26 Oct 2023 10:08:00
Rash will end up being one of our all time highest scorers, say what you will. its a team game and takes 11 to Tango. Rashford has scored 124 goals for united and only 25.
No one can argue he has played on questionable teams and during a period of turmoil and disruption. when its all said and done he will be in top 5 all time leading scorers imo.
Given the history of the club and who has played for us before, that makes him pretty darn good player just to put things into context.
26 Oct 2023 10:59:08
Blackpool, that's a daft comment. It's a team game, I dare you to go out and play on your own against 11 men.
Of course you need someone else to function and do your job on the pitch.
Best keeper in the world wouldn't be able to perform well with no defenders in front of him. No one to cover one side of the goal or to mark other opposition players etc.
Same for every position on the pitch. You could be the greatest striker ever, but if your team can't get the ball to you then quite simply you won't score.
26 Oct 2023 11:43:31
I don't think he's struggling to get the ball, it's what he's doing with it in most of his opportunities :D
But I get it, he's a confidence player and has these spells quite often. He's still our biggest goal threat, coming in off the left. Shame we can't accommodate Garnacho in that scenario as he impacts most games, but Rashy is simply not as effective anywhere else.
26 Oct 2023 11:47:57
Interesting Ahmad. One has to agree with your point of view to be considered 'mature'. How very mature.
26 Oct 2023 12:54:26
Spenno
The ball arrives to the wings so late and our Mids are not doing enough to play between the lines and pulling teams out of their defensive shape imo. Most of the wing service is coming from our Centre backs on long diagonal passes but its too slow and allows team to get their defensive shape in place.
Our pace of moving the ball is so lethargic that you get very little space as a winger when the ball finally arrives and looking at 2/ 3 defenders all sitting deep in a low block and organized.
It tends to open up the last 20 minutes as team tire or chasing the game or when we throw everything at it.
I assume every opposing manager has probably figured out that left wing is where United does most of its damage and overloads there defensively to start with.
Rash was guilty of a poor touch during Copenhagen and if he looks for that pen by dragging his feet into the defender, we get a pen imo and he should do better. Garnacho and Hoiland did the same with poor touches when they were through on goal. All of them were frustrating to watch and not just Rashford.
Watched Dortmund vs Newcastle last night and they were excellent playing through the lines and opening up space on the wings.
26 Oct 2023 13:09:17
Let’s analyse the team properly. Martinez and Shaw we’re both fit at the start of the season, we didn’t play well in the opening games.
Last season we won the majority of games by a single goal, the standard of football was poor but we won games from a solid defence and scoring the odd goal from moments produced by Bruno or Rashford.
EtH must improve the style of football. We enter another derby at the weekend where the plan will be to counter attack and hope an horrendously out of form Rashford can produce a moment of quality, similar to the goal he scored against Arsenal. That will be the plan.
Who are the players that can’t play EtH preferred style of football. Rashford has just been given north of £300k per week, Bruno is captain, £80m was spent on Antony, £50m on a new Gk, £60m on Mount who can’t even get in the team, £70m on Hojlund. All these players aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon, so when will we see this evolution?
At the moment EtH is in survival mode, being saved by players he wanted to sell. We must seen a evolution in the style of play, he must give the team an identity. We’re playing so badly that as soon as we come up against a decent team we’ll lose again and there is another humbling just around the corner.
EtH did ok last season, but we’ve also had decent seasons under LVG, Jose and even Ole. Many said last year we were fortunate Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea were all poor and Utd needed to improve in order for there to be progression.
EtH is suffering from another poor transfer window, he didn’t get a CB, Onana has struggled to settle and has made mistakes, Mount can’t get in the team and Hojlund is starved of service, it was also fanciful to believe a 20 year old, in only his second full season of professional football could carry the goal scoring burden at one of the biggest Clubs in the world.
Utd aren’t flushed with money, Martinez, Casemiro, Onana, Antony, Mount, Hojlund cannot just be replaced, the majority must start performing and EtH must stamp his identity on the team.
EtH must be given time but I can’t pretend I’m not disappointed that he hasn’t got us playing better football or that I don’t have reservations regarding several of his signings. I have sympathy with all the injuries and turmoil around the Club but he must get the team playing better.
26 Oct 2023 13:12:08
lets look at it this way. Hoiland is 20 years old. If by the time he is 25, he has bagged 124 goals for united, we would be singing his praise and talk about what a goo signing he has been.
Don't get the disrespect and abuse rash gets. He played 12 months with a bum shoulder and injured but still went out there and gave it his best. That's a far cry from not caring. Its okay to be critical of players performance but questioning their characters because things are not going our way is bs.
Booing players, who are low in confidence, because as a team we are playing poorly does nothing but make it worse. We are going to have a poor season if Marcus Rashford does not get back to form.
Hope he scores a couple this weekend and shuts people up.
26 Oct 2023 13:56:55
Ahmed - Consistency! You can’t be considered a top player if you can’t perform consistently! That what separates the decent players from the great ones.
As a Man Utd player there is huge pressure and expectation. There are standards that must be met. The players are paid handsomely to deal with the pressure, maintain the standards and embrace the expectation.
Rashford is a decent player capable of very good spells but they never last. You can’t manipulate his career. It’s not abuse to say a player isn’t performing well and if the Club has any aspirations of winning the top honours then the players must perform more consistently.
Rashford’s body language is poor and it’s not all about scoring. Some fans want to see that hunger and desire to help the team and look to create more for Hojlund rather then run up blind alleys and shoot from ridiculous positions. In over 8 seasons as a first team regular he’s had maybe two good seasons. The rest have been average at best. The bloke is now on £300k per week, he’s supposed to be our star player. It’s not abuse to demand more. Just look at the players he’s trying to emulate and follow in their footsteps. He’s got big shoes to fill. He must perform more consistently and work harder for the team.
Predicting what Hojlund is going to do is ridiculous. He’s made a promising start, he’s young and raw, he’s also trying to score goals in a disjointed team with no attacking identity or plan and he receives very little service. He has potential, let’s see how he does, but the truth is at this moment in time he is not a £70m CF. Let’s hope he realises his potential, but the pressure on him is enormous!
If you want to be positive that’s your prerogative but let’s not ignore the reality. The team is not playing well, key players have been very poor, the team has lost 4 from 9 in the premier league including two home defeats and 2 from 3 in the Champions League. There is mitigation, the manager deserves time, but ignoring the obvious is not helpful.
26 Oct 2023 14:31:33
Ahmed. If Hojlund has scored 150 goals for Utd in 5 years, he'll be the greatest Danish export since Whigfield and I'll be your personal slave for the rest of time. :D
There's no problem getting behind the team because it's in a sticky patch, and there's no problem giving it a bit of stick because we feel there should be some sign of improvement by now. Both are correct, we're all on the same side.
26 Oct 2023 14:44:54
DLIB and spenno good posts.
"Good to read something mature for a change. " ?.
26 Oct 2023 15:33:29
DLIB
The numbers will speak for themselves and no one is manipulating his career and you don't fluke your way to over 200 goals at united. He is not even our primary penalty taker so no stat padding there unlike other pl greats.
He would be close to 150 goals I would imagine at 25 years old. That's elite category by any standards you want to apply and compare it to past great strikers at United. He is an elite talent and mercurial one.
He has an unbelievable record of scoring in big games against our biggest rivals and not stat padding in anyway where he picks up his goals.
Spenno
I was not predicting what Hoiland would do. If he scores 25 goals a season in the next 5 years taking into account injuries and portions of that period where he will not play, people would be raving about him. I don't mind people having a view but when you get fans booing and hurling abuse at players, that's really poor imo. Each to his own.
26 Oct 2023 16:03:35
Do some people actually watch Rashford
He’s lazy pulls out of challenges and lacks football intelligence.
26 Oct 2023 16:07:55
If you want context Rashford by the age of 25 has 124 goals for United.
Wayne Rooney by the age of 25 had scored 111 goals for United.
Both started playing for the club around the same age. Yet many would argue that Rooney's best stint in a Untied shirt was his early 20's. Which would suggest that Rashford has currently out scored Rooney over the time period that many would consider was Rooney's peak.
Now I'm not saying that Rashford has performed as well as Rooney, but you have to give the lad some respect. Getting that many goals by his age for the club is massive achievement probably unmatched by any other United player past or present.
To suggest he's a terrible player is frankly ridiculous. His form at the start of this season has been poor. However, the whole team have been awful for various different reasons but for some reason Rashford is often the guy targeted.
26 Oct 2023 16:17:34
"The numbers WILL speak for themselves. "
"I was NOT predicting. "
"He is an elite talent and mercurial one. " Really? At this moment in time, I'm seeing a very different out of form player running up blind alleys and taking on nonsensical shots often straight at an opposition player. As others have said he needs to try harder and at least look as though he's interested. I have no idea if something is going on with him that's disrupting his form, but he isn't playing well and needs to up his game.
26 Oct 2023 17:23:46
Shappy
Rooney had Ronaldo, Tevez and other unbelievable strike partners and top midfielders behind him in very well balanced teams and was our primary penalty taker for a number of years.
26 Oct 2023 19:48:45
All I ever read is stats, stats, and more stats on here. It’s more like a legal forum than a banter forum! Mainly from armchair fans as well who don’t go week in, week out.
Rashford for me is underperforming. So is Bruno. I’m not doubting their quality, but at the minute they are regular starters and they just aren’t doing it. Both show glimpses of brilliance and I dare say the ‘stats’ back them up. But if we’re totally honest, neither get into the City side.
27 Oct 2023 01:13:40
Fireman,
I go to pretty much every game so does that mean my opinion is more important or better than people who can’t afford to or live too far away and watch on tv?