Ye there’s no chance I’d of compared them last season. Rashford was quality last season and Garnacho had fewer chances where as the drop of in Rashford this season will open up chances for Garnacho hopefully. I agree that they’re both similar players. I can see Garnacho now is how Rashford was when he first burst onto the scene, forever running and taking players on. That seems to have gone out of Rashfords game at the minute.
That's not the case. In fact, Rashford's underlying numbers this season are actually overall mostly rather better than last year's, while reflecting the same general profile as before. By and large, he does the same sort of things he did last year, and has largely the same strengths and weaknesses. Also of course, it's not a huge sample this season, and some variation is natural. But overall the stats don't point to a player who's being much less successful or capable in his game than he was last season - if anything, it's the contrary.
All stats per 90 minutes played
His shooting is up (4.41 vs 3.38). So is his shot-creating actions (4.41 vs 3.06). His pass completion is significantly better (79.7% vs 76.7%). So is progressive carries (4.24 vs 2.66), successful take-ons (2.71 vs 1.69), progressive passes received (8.14 vs 7.66), expected assists (0.2 vs 0.09), Key passes (1.19 vs 0.94), Through balls (0.17 vs 0.06), Switches (0.34 vs 0.19), Goal-creating actions (0.68 vs 0.44), take-on success % (51.6% vs 39.1%), carries into final 1/3 (2.37 vs 1.59), carries into the penalty area (3.05 vs 1.72) % aerials won (38.3% vs 33.3%) and aerials won (0.85 vs 0.63)
npxg+ag, which is a good measure of the volume and quality of scoring chances he's involved in, is exactly identical: 0.59. The numbers of passes attempted and completed are pretty much the same, so are touches and where he has them, as well as miscontrols.
What's changed in a negative direction is shots on target (1.02/1.53), goals/shot (0.04/0.16), progressive passes (2.20 vs 2.75), dribblers tackled (0.17 vs 0.28), Tackles + interceptions (0.17 vs 0.84), dispossessions (2.54 vs 1.38), fouls drawn (0.51 vs 0.72) and ball recoveries (2.54 vs 3.13)
In short - his shooting is off, and there's also a dip in metrics that reflect defensive work. Pretty much everything else he's doing as well as, or better than, last season. Including in most areas of passing.
Which I think translates to what can be seen out there: He's plays pretty much on the same high level as last year, except he's just not putting them away and also he isn't applying himself without the ball as much as he was last season (or as much as he should). The rest of the stuff people get hung up on, like he dribbles too much or too badly or doesn't pass, is.... basically not there. I think that's just reflective of people overemphasising individual situations, falsely drawing general conclusions from them and then fortifying them through confirmation bias.