For the record I have nothing against either Rashford or Joshua. It was merely a reflection on how quite good athletes are hyped up to be generationals when they either aren't or have yet to achieve it. Don't know if it holds true also for other sports like rugby, tennis and what not but I can imagine it's the same there as well. Also speak too little italian or french to know if they do the same.
Is Rashford better than the likes of Saint Maximin?
- Thread starter pocco
- Start date
He is forward player who contributes virtually nothing to our attack. There aren't many players he is above on current form
You talk about him as if he's scoring and creating goals in the present. This is a guy who hasn't scored a goal as a starter in 16 months.. as a forward
You were the one who said nobody who could afford him needed a left winger. I’m just showing a very recent example of a club signing a winger and not giving Saint Maximin a second thought. The man has 12 goals in 96 games for Newcastle.
He may currently be in better form than Rashford, it wouldn’t be difficult.Rashford may never return to his previous form. Despite being older, Saint Maximin has never hit the heights Rashford has. And watching him occasionally is not the way to determine if he’s a better player or not.
Good player but lacks with his final ball
The crowd used to go wild for Adel Taarabt. It’s a stupid example. Newcastle would fall over themselves to sign Rashford.
Can't really blame them, those players will always draw a lot of reactions, even if they contribute close to feck-all throughout the game. I don't think anybody's falling over themselves to sign Rashford at this point though.
Saint Maximin scored one more goal than Rashford in the Premier League last season. This despite Rashford starting less than half the games and having the worst season of his life.
Rashford is the better player but I feel he got too much praise way too soon and was rewarded financially too early. He's a manc so the supporters will always give him the benefit of the doubt. His level of perfromance hasn't really shone or grown in recent seasons. He doesn't seem to have developed much in my opinion.
And yet throughout both of their careers Rasford has still outscored ASM by a factor of more than double.
If Marcus doesn't score a a single goal for the next 5 seasons and ASM somehow manages to double his own annual goal for that time period, Marcus would still have a higher overall goal tally.
At the moment the likes of Zaha, Eze are more dangerous with the ball and running in behind opposition teams. He's static and broods all the time on the pitch.
But then the whole team is struggling so it's difficult, we don't have players who can carry the ball through the middle beat a man or two to set the likes of Rashford and Sancho in isolated situations
But then the whole team is struggling so it's difficult, we don't have players who can carry the ball through the middle beat a man or two to set the likes of Rashford and Sancho in isolated situations
This video was hard to watch. My guess is that he lost his confidence, and football is a game that requires a lot of confidence. I'm sure he's a good guy who trains hard, but like most United players now, he's shitting bricks every time he has the ball.
He doesn't even shoot anymore. It was bloody frustrating when he started his have-a-pop-from 30 yards phase, but at least it was something and he scored a couple bangers. That free kick vs Chelsea is probably the best I've seen from a United player.
He just doesn’t have that burst of pace anymore. He’s also bulkier.
Like most players who rely on pace, once they drop just a little they struggle.
Had to turn that video off. Unrecognisable.
Someone's been listening to Jason Cundy on the Sports Bar. Hope somebody gives him the 'quack quack' treatment tomorrow night over Chelsea's result
Based on current form, it's not even a close call between the two. As a footballer, that is. In terms of his humanitarian and charitable work, Marcus Rashford is a legend.
Its not just confidence. This guy has lost his ability to maneuver the ball around like he did 2-3 years ago certainly not for 90 mins. His fitness probably isn't at the level it was either which makes it harder for him to quick turn and shift balance.
This is what he needs to do
- Be as fit as he can be even more than he is now.
- Learn to dribble again around cones. His dribbling has become awful lately..sometimes he'' do fine other times his touch is too heavy and he takes too long to commit to what he wants to do. Decision making on the ball is abysmal.
One thing he still has is ability to get into the right positions. You can't lose confidence for an entire year. Hes not working hard enough
The obsession with stats is a plague imported from other sports and is not a natural part of the football culture. When you see an attacking player creating spaces, beating opponents, wearing the CBs down, making his team better, you should trust your eyes and not go to google to check his stats. Some wingers are not goal scorers but their teams work better when they are on the pitch.
Yes!
Who is this guy? We should sign him up!
Did you know he turned into a very effective defensive midfielder for Benfica. Really bizarre.
I understand you're making a point that you think it's more than just confidence, but you absolutely can lose confidence for an entire year.
I guess if you are going to have a limited end product, you might as well be entertaining while you do it?
All stats? What about expected dribbles leading to key chance per 90, more commonly as the xDriltKP90?
Looks so skinny, has he maybe bulked up too much?
It's not that stats are awful. It's that the stats in this sport are incomplete. Iniesta is a prime example of this. Goals are dwarfed by Rashford, but how he helps the team retain possession, creates some disorganization in the defense by being able to operate in the final 3rd through his technical ability, his ability to play 1 touch football, his ability to slice a defense open, etc.. are all traits that make him the far better overall player. There are no stats that directly show this effectiveness, so instead you need to gather up a whole different set of statistics that point you there. For example, there might be pass %s, or final 3rd touches, etc... but none that directly show how valuable a player is to the team's performance in the final 3rd like goals and assists. Because they're so easily accessible, people will always lazily point to them.
At some point, those stats do show a superior player. However, there are players where the statistics will not paint the full picture.
Back injury has possibly effected his GAIT and acceleration that used to make him beat his man with ease.
Ever since that day he can’t take a man on - it’s most noticeable when he plays for England; the way he played before and after injury is very different.
Mental video. You'd be wanting the club to spunk €100mill on him based on those highlights.
Fame and praise have got to his head. In that video he played like he had something to prove. Now he plays like he doesn’t have anything to prove.
Or just injuries..
Yeah and burnout. He was ridiculously overused and played like more than 60 matches carrying various injuries. Now his body is fecked. There won't be any coming back. It's as simple as that.
Might be misremembering but didn't Ole/medical team rush him back from injury when he needed surgery on his back or something? It also makes sense that any player would lose motivation at 21 when they are given such a ridiculously unearned contract as well, it happens to everyone at United, i mean Sancho is on what, 350k a week ffs?
Injuries don't stop you from *ATTEMPTING* to make runs, closing down and pressing. None of which requires 'skill', just effort and heart.
In response to the OP question. No. SM is a far better player. You just have to look at a 5-10 game sample size
Yep, he hasn’t had one good game post injury to then blame things like fame getting to his head IMO.
I loved Rashford’s form pre-injury. Scoring headers and everything.
No idea what his future holds but maybe he needs a change of environment in an easier league.
Ofcourse it does.
Injuries effects things like your gait and acceleration to then struggle to beat your man the way you did before. I admit he didn’t try hard under Rangnick - again a manager who played him in his weakest role when Sancho who was bought as our RW was used as a LW and has flopped just as much. Rashford’s pressing much better this year but doesn’t track back - something he wasn’t exactly killing before either.
Anyway, he has so many people hating on him at the moment - people who will believe his personality more than an injury. Just the social media aspect of the rest of population bitching about every player they can.
By this logic age should mean nothing in sport.
What age and injury does to your body? It feck up your body. Why old players can't run much? Because they lost their legs. Injury simply does the same. Injury is even worse than age because it makes the player shy away from making sprints and physical challenges.
Anyway I actually really hope this is just a mentality or attitude issue. So once he fixes this he can come back. But no unfortunately imo his body is fecked. He lost most of his quick legs and strength. He's still fast but he can't dribble or get past a man anymore. He's been always about tricks, top pace and power. Now he lost the tricks and power. Even the top pace is in question. There's basically no coming back I'm afraid.
Yeah agree. I love him too but we should sell him while the stakes still high. It's probably the best for all parties involved.
You think I started this thread yesterday? I asked the question in December 21 when it was frustrating me how people still banged on about Rashford like some sort of superstar. I felt it was a good way of highlighting how he was giving us absolutely nothing. I'd known for ages that Rashford was a problem, way before this thread.
I just remember Rashford’s face when he scored his first goal for the senior team, the pure joy was beautiful. Whatever he had back then he doesn’t seem to have now. Was it pace that made the difference or clever runs or link play? I don’t know but Rashford shouldn’t even be starting anymore. Saint Maxim is an exciting young player; so was Rashford. I’d take in form Rashford over him, but who knows if he’s ever coming back.