Honestly no one has the monopoly on knowledge and the forums all about opinions but that said, some of the rubbish on here about Rash is stupidity at best. It reminds me of the crap comments about Giggs 'no end product' and 'one trick pony' Ronaldo. Honestly there is not a team in the world who wouldn't want this 19 year old lad. Anyone forgot the goal that put us in final last year? The free kick anyone? Goals against city and Chelsea.....hitting the post last week out of nothing? Scoring on his debut at every level? People's memories are short and let's enjoy the fact he's here and he is still developing. He needs to be more cynical but even if he's not a 30 goal a season player, his pace and power will always put teams on the back foot creating space for others. The players take the piss out of him cause they say how ridiculous his ceiling is, and at 24/25 I fully expect the Barca and Real vultures to start circling as the Bales, CR and Messi's will not be around forever.....
This. Totally agree.
I thought he did good at both games. Yes he certainly has his flaws, especially the end product. But
1. He is 19
2. Versatility. He is not playing at his best position. He can also play as RW.
3. His "constantly attacking the space with pace" is underappreciated. This is one of the main reasons that it opens up space for our other attackers, changing the dynamics of the game, which we were lacking last season. I am not trying to compare him to Martial here, it's just that this is a different attacking style which benefits the system in a different way. Also, Martial's outperformance needs to be judged in the context of Swansea finally started attacking us.
4. His work rate, including in defense
5. Right attitude
Individually, Martial outperformed Rashford. But we play as a team, in a system, and also depends on how the opponent set up their team/tactic. Both bring something different to the team. This factor is always "ignored" by the people here.
Our counter attacking football has improved (thanks to our clinical finishing). The superb "5 min counter attack when Swansea finally started attacking" aside, I thought we still struggled to break up their defense when they were parking the bus. This aspect of the game is, I would say while it has improved slightly, it is still our weakness, based on 2 games and pre-season.
In a grand scheme of thing, it is hard to say whether our result would have been better had Martial started ahead of Rashford. Those "Martial's fans" who think that Martial should definitely start ahead of Rashford based on the these 2 games and pre-season, shouldn't judge it based on individual performance.
Personally, I would like to start both of them. If I were to choose one, I am really not sure. It's 50-50, that they both deserve to start. May be that's why I am not a manager.