[bosnian_red]

I think “finished” was more referring to how labored he looked, especially since he had a serious back injury already.

I’ll admit I didn’t see him getting the explosion of his 2019 self back as I figured he’d have to adapt his game instead. But hes certainly gotten it back along with a newfound composure.

He was always going to get it back once he actually got fully fit again - and was used properly and got his happiness back again. He was criminally mismanaged by Ole for 2 years, made to play through countless injuries, and big injuries at that. He just turned 25! Was never going to be finished.

When you break down his injuries as well, it makes a lot of sense why he went through struggles. Not to fully excuse him as he has to shoulder some of the blame, he definitely gave up a bit last season (but so did everyone else). But the management of him was criminal and that was the #1 issue and the blame is 100% on Ole for that. He sacrificed his players' well being (both Rashford and Martial) for his own results, and then didn't protect them when they inevitably went through bad form.

 

[ZupZup]

He’s doing ok at the moment but I think we should sell him… maybe try and get £40m in the summer and then buy a much inferior player we can all moan about.

 

[Irwin99]

He was fantastic yet again. His speed and overall game level look far more like the 19-20 version of Rashford than the Rashford of the previous two years (and yes i'm aware he did score a lot of goals in 20-21 but his overall game that year wasn't great). I'm pleased that he's back to his best.

 

[AndyMUFC]

So pleased for him, his confidence and finishing is fantastic right now. He was terrible last year as we all know but has hopefully come out the other side.

 

[stoinz]

He looks like a footballer again. One that enjoys being here. Think sale of his buddies Lingard and Pogba and the incoming of Licha and Casemiro plays a part. I can imagine the workplace to be very competitive and professional in the first couple of months and these sort of stuffs rubs off everyone.

 

[Strelok]

I watched al of our games. He was really bad, but ‘finished’ seems an odd term.

It's not that odd. Many including me (and I'm a big fan) thought his body was finished because he played too many matches through various injures. Huge credit to both him and ETH. So happy to see our old Rashford banging again.

 

[Belisarius]

I don't think it's a coincidence he's improved massively since we got rid of Lingard permanently.
He was a terrible influence on him imo.

There is no way to know for certain if this is true or not. But, I also think that Lingard was a bad influence on Marcus. Even so, I think the coaching changes and his return to full health are more important in his return to form.

 

[bond19821982]

Our best attacker by miles.

 

[Jeffthered]

He's our most important player right now. He's inspirational and it's wonderful to observe. He is playing with better quality players, a more focused manager and coaching staff..there is a humility around the club which we had lost, and he is clearly being told to focus on his football. Rashford could, could be one of the best players in Europe. He needs to continue to put football first, and listen to those experienced players around him.

 

[tenpoless]

He might not be a freak goal scorer but when he plays like that he is really hard to stop. There was one moment where Nottingham player latched onto him and he still managed to outmuscle the guy. Top class technique for his goal as well.

 

[V.O.]

I don’t think it’s possible for a twenty-four year old player to look ‘finished’.

Spoiler

 

[Bebestation]

I love his assists this season.

He never really had that in his pocket before.

 

[Real Name]

I guess he would get a chance in midtable club. Not a nothing player like some posters think.

 

[Glorio]

This isn't a knock, cos he does also turn up in big games... but when it comes to playing "lesser" teams, he routinely shows just how 'on-another-level' he is in comparison to them... maybe more so then anyone else in our team.

But yeah he was great... he is great.

I get this. Rashford is great to have against big teams as his speed strikes fear in anyone, but against low quality (whether said player plays for Forest or Liverpool), when he's on it, he really gives the impression a man toying with kids

 

[Glorio]

A much richer man's Cody Gapko

 

[Ludens the Red]

Very good performance but there was a ten minute spell after we went 2-0 up where I didn’t like what he was doing. Started showboating, doing flicks and standing on the ball. Just get your head down and keep going.

 

[Biggins]

He is really incredible when on form. This is one of the reasons why going for Gakpo just didn’t make sense as the priority should be ensuring that Rashford plays to his full potential each game.

 

[NoPace]

It's exciting to see that he's done the full journey through to huge celebrity distraction and back again to humble, hungry local lad - still young and hugely talented. I think he's now going to remain focussed and become recognised as one of the best players in the world over the next few years

When you consider his version of huge celebrity distraction was to get 400M+ for food for poor people, he's just gotta keep playing well and stay and he'll have a statue.

 

[NoPace]

Looks mad when he doesn't get the ball when he's open in goalscoring areas, like the hunger.

 

[Stacks]

Stood up for him throughout his slump and took the stick on here and then some. I just knew he'd come good again. The lad just has too much ability to be thrown away and he's probably the most likeable player we have too. A credit to the club and his family of course.

Still think he should play from the left. He's great in those areas when he's in this form. In the summer we need to go and find a killer number 9.

Same. I never really felt Sancho would oust him when we signed him and this is documented. I feel like you don't just turn bad and he has a threat our other attackers don't. He needs to work on decisions and desire. His actual talent is superior to our other wide players imo in that I have seen him do things at this level the others can't

 

[simplyared]

Undoubtedly our most valuable player!

 

[Womp]

Certain posters who were posting quite often in here during his dry spell seem to be missing. Crazy concept that people can go through difficult times which can impact their professions. Seems it may have been the case here.

 

[OrcaFat]

He was always going to get it back once he actually got fully fit again - and was used properly and got his happiness back again. He was criminally mismanaged by Ole for 2 years, made to play through countless injuries, and big injuries at that. He just turned 25! Was never going to be finished.

When you break down his injuries as well, it makes a lot of sense why he went through struggles. Not to fully excuse him as he has to shoulder some of the blame, he definitely gave up a bit last season (but so did everyone else). But the management of him was criminal and that was the #1 issue and the blame is 100% on Ole for that. He sacrificed his players' well being (both Rashford and Martial) for his own results, and then didn't protect them when they inevitably went through bad form.

Pretty much. He was injured for ages but kept playing. Medically there might be a more complicated story behind what we saw. Sometimes they delay surgery if they think it can be avoided. Sometimes they don’t think rest is necessarily the answer either. They also ask the player. But between the lot of them, they got it wrong.

His worst period was probably after the surgery but some players take a good while to fully get over these things.

Bottom line is that injury was the root cause of his under-performance and, imo, it had nothing to do with his “not concentrating on football” (which some people think is a fair interpretation of his doing some good work for people in more need than himself, which did not cause him to mIss a minute of football, as far as I know).

 

[charlenefan]

I love his assists this season.

He never really had that in his pocket before.

Eh? When he was playing through his shoulder injury and could barely move he was still laying on assists for fun?

 

[Sparky_Hughes]

I've never been happier to be wrong about a player, he has turned it round to the point where him staying fit and available is crucial in us finishing tip 4

 

[Just Hope]

He's starting to look like an actual striker.

 

[bosnian_red]

Pretty much. He was injured for ages but kept playing. Medically there might be a more complicated story behind what we saw. Sometimes they delay surgery if they think it can be avoided. Sometimes they don’t think rest is necessarily the answer either. They also ask the player. But between the lot of them, they got it wrong.

His worst period was probably after the surgery but some players take a good while to fully get over these things.

Bottom line is that injury was the root cause of his under-performance and, imo, it had nothing to do with his “not concentrating on football” (which some people think is a fair interpretation of his doing some good work for people in more need than himself, which did not cause him to mIss a minute of football, as far as I know).

Yep... He was played through injury and never got a rest til he got the spinal stress fracture, which RvP even said in the studio straight away that he has to be careful cause that can take years to feel normal. COVID was probably a blessing for him, but he also rushed back a bit and came back. Then hurt his shoulder. Played through it a full season. Delayed surgery til after the world Cup, where he had a pretty devastating mental ending to the world cup. Then got his surgery, and by the time he was fit to play, the team was already in disaster mode last season. And that was an environment where absolutely no player could do remotely well in.

It was a one off season under the worst circumstances, yet people here lost their minds and gave up on a young United academy graduate who had back to back 20+ goal seasons from the left. Crazy.

 

[edcunited1878]

Someone made the comment up top about getting the right characters and holding him accountable as a team player. Pogba was a distraction, as was Lingard. Their personalities got in the way and only Jose really addressed it until he was sacked. Ole did really well for two seasons, but when the standard needed to raised with the incoming of Sancho and Ronaldo, the balance of the team was disrupted.

Fair play to Marcus for working through adversity and coming out the other end, glad he's been able to experience the entire thing. His performance compared to last year is night and day, which wasn't hard to do as his lows last year were extremely low. His attitude was so bad and application and effort was just as bad.

With the core leadership of Casemiro, Bruno, Lisandro, Varane, Eriksen, and DDG, everyone else has been able to focus and give full effort. The spine of Lisandro, Varane, Casemiro, Eriksen, Bruno is the best United have had in decades. Marcus has been a primary beneficiary of this and long may it continue.

 

[Floyd]

His pass to Bruno was something else. The one where Antony missed.

 

[Bebestation]

Eh? When he was playing through his shoulder injury and could barely move he was still laying on assists for fun?

really? I didn’t think so. Everyone was making fun of his decision making which has improved so much under Ten Hag where he is passing to his team mates like never before.

I thought anyway.

 

[Dan_F]

Eh? When he was playing through his shoulder injury and could barely move he was still laying on assists for fun?

really? I didn’t think so. Everyone was making fun of his decision making which has improved so much under Ten Hag where he is passing to his team mates like never before.

I thought anyway.

Agree with @charlenefan

Under Ole his through balls and creativity was very under rated. Decision making is a different skill to actually executing those passes and it does seem like he’s improved under ETH in terms of when to run and when to pass. But he has absolutely had that ability to be more creative since around 2019.

 

[Rolaholic]

He's really ours , Mancunian through and through

 

[BazzaBear]

I don't think I've ever seen an assist better than that one for Pogba. Always comes to mind immediately when someone claims he has no technique.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

Incredible what a season he's had considering the incalculable flaws our Internet fans have spotted in his game.

 

[lost7]

Rashford at his best is a special player - I remember in that game against Bournemouth (back in Ole's caretaker reign) he looked unplayable, the way he did Ake to set up Pogba was simply spectacular

 

[VP89]

He's really ours , Mancunian through and through

He is so good on his day

 

[TheReligion]

late change to the bench today.

any ideas why?

 

[Skills]

Did he say internal disciplinary?

 

[DJ_21]

Was probably our best chance of winning today.

 

[Herman Toothrot]

late change to the bench today.

any ideas why?

"Internal discipline" according to ETH on BT Sport interview.

Let the wild speculation commence!