[TheRedHearted]

I don't know if it'll be ETH or someone else but I am of the same belief that he'll back soon enough. It's good that the Garnacho is giving good performances starting games now. I think Rashford will find form again with a little bit of rest and a little more competition for his position

He’s depressed, it’s clear as day.

 

[ArmaDino]

The more I think about it the more I'm reminded of Aubamayang in his last season at Arsenal. Played out of his skin to get a new contract, once he got it immediately turned into putting minimal performances and having a poor disciplinary record.

Rashford clearly isn't there yet, but it's very odd that once he got his new bumper contract his form nosedived and any effort disappeared.

Say what you will about poor form, etc, but we had players in the past like Rooney who went through poor form, but he would never stop running. He would press like a mad man. I don't ever remember Rooney just slowly jogging up and down the pitch. Forget about Fergie, pretty sure all of his teammates would have given him a bollocking.

 

[sepulturite]

People being drama queens as usual. Good player going through a rough patch. Nothing to more to it. He’ll come good again. Needs a spell on the bench that’s all. Competition for places is good. You want lots of viable options so your aren’t reliant on one player. His failure to fire this season has exposed what we all knew, that we were over reliant on his goals last season. A great opportunity for others to step up.

Nah the first part is bollocks, if it was just a lack of form then it wouldn't be a big deal, but it's his stinking attitude and total lack of effort that's pissing everyone off more than anything. Tonight being a prime example, could have come on for those 10 minutes and busted a gut like the rest of them did all night to prove to the fans that he is going to try from now on, but no.

 

[Alex99]

People being drama queens as usual. Good player going through a rough patch. Nothing to more to it. He’ll come good again. Needs a spell on the bench that’s all. Competition for places is good. You want lots of viable options so your aren’t reliant on one player. His failure to fire this season has exposed what we all knew, that we were over reliant on his goals last season. A great opportunity for others to step up.

It would be more excusable if it was just a failure to find the back of the net. It's not though. He's failing, or (perhaps more accurately) completed refusing to put in the bare minimum effort.

He had a ten minute cameo last night and still didn't look arsed.

 

[ROFLUTION]

The more I think about it the more I'm reminded of Aubamayang in his last season at Arsenal. Played out of his skin to get a new contract, once he got it immediately turned into putting minimal performances and having a poor disciplinary record.

Rashford clearly isn't there yet, but it's very odd that once he got his new bumper contract his form nosedived and any effort disappeared.

Say what you will about poor form, etc, but we had players in the past like Rooney who went through poor form, but he would never stop running. He would press like a mad man. I don't ever remember Rooney just slowly jogging up and down the pitch. Forget about Fergie, pretty sure all of his teammates would have given him a bollocking.

Klopp had a similar issue with Darwin not pressing much in the first few games. Called him out for it even publically - and it does seem to work, when they're not as fragile as Sancho.

 

[BarstoolProphet]

He had to be making a point. The stage was set for him to sprint around a lot and try to win the fans back onside. A chance he deliberately spurned.

I wonder if it was a reaction to the boos? Anyone at the game? Was that just Chelsea fans? Or did home fans boo him onto the pitch too?

Spread boing around me when he came on, but not collective boos. But many got angrier when seeing him just strolling around, culminating when Bruno ran his socks off at the end to stop a counter while Rashford was standing still/light jogging. Might have been a tactical instruction since he played as a striker, but he could have gotten a lot of goodwill he was doing the same as Bruno there For all of Højlund's faults, atleast he contested every ball played towards him. Marcus' aerial battles were laughable bad, it's like he just does som half-arsed jumps just for show.

 

[Green55]

‘Bad start’ is playing unimaginably shit with every single kick from August to December. While also acting like he holds his coaches and team mates and fans in contempt with all the feckless sulking and ball watching.

Hes a below average Premier league winger who game raised one season for a payday.

Couldn't agree more.
You'd think he was prime Mbappe the way he strolls around. I've never seen such a passive player, he has no physicality whatsoever. It must be a defenders dream playing against him as you'll have all the time in the world to pick a pass and he's never going to challenge you.
I honestly don't get all the fuss with Rashford as other than a couple of purple patches he's always been a real weakness in attack, giving the ball away more often than not, never competing aerially, dribbling into defenders if they dont move out of his way - you just get the feeling that 90% of our attacks will break down when he has the ball.

 

[kouroux]

I'm not a body language expert nor am I fan of interpreting past a certain point but his general demeanor was terrible I'd say. He didn't look like a player who wanted to show the manager was wrong to bench him, it felt like a pity party

 

[superdry]

He looks lost in every department when he isn’t getting goals. I’m not sure he even knows how to get stuck into the oppositions defenders, to jump for the ball, to knock them out of their stride, to force them into mistakes. I don’t want him as a starter, he was half hearted for the few minutes he was on last night.

 

[Baneofthegame]

As I said in another thread, nice to see him have a 10 minute jog.

 

[sugar_kane]

Garnacho was still running more than him after he came on.

I think Hojlund was running more than Rashford after he came on as well tbh.

 

[sugar_kane]

Was kind of funny to see him come on as a lone striker which gave him absolutely no hiding room. Still managed to look a level below the rest of them in terms of intensity, and they'd all played 80 minutes.

Wouldn't it be ironic if Rashford was indeed the player who criticised the signing of Hojlund. It's certainly a clever way of showing him up if this is the case.

 

[flameinthesun]

What Ten Hag needs is to ideally get good results v Bayern and Pool with Rashford on the bench.

 

[noodlehair]

He had to be making a point. The stage was set for him to sprint around a lot and try to win the fans back onside. A chance he deliberately spurned.

I wonder if it was a reaction to the boos? Anyone at the game? Was that just Chelsea fans? Or did home fans boo him onto the pitch too?

I'm not sure I'd say deliberately spurned. No real way to tell if he's sulking or just feeling sorry for himself, or just that devoid of confidence and dejected he can't bring himself to try. He's an odd one to work out because aside from being late to one team meeting and publicly holding his hands up about it, there's been nothing from ETH to suggest his application is wrong off the pitch, yet on the pitch he just doesn't seem to get the message that he can't afford to just watch the game go on around him.

Either way he got dropped and we produced probably our first performance all season where we were aggressive and pro-active, which was at the very least partially down to the forward players. That makes it difficult for him to get back in the team even if he did come on and look like he had a point to prove. ETH basically can't pick him now without hanging his own neck on the line in the process. He'll have to wait until one of the other forwards gets injured or has an absolute shocker

 

[Unam333]

Obviously his demeanor and work rate are below par. I don't understand why. Maybe he has issues in his personal life? Who knows.

I have problems with his decision making. He dribbles into blind alleys, shoots when he should pass, he slows our play down with his dribbles, doesn',t release the ball quickly enough, claims freekicks.

But of course, his biggest problem is his work rate: not tracking back and jogging around. Just look at Garnacho yesterday. Not everything worked out for him, but at least he worked his socks off.

I would start Garnacho against Bournemouth, sub him off around 60 min for Rashford and let Garnacho start against Bayern.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I'm not sure I'd say deliberately spurned. No real way to tell if he's sulking or just feeling sorry for himself, or just that devoid of confidence and dejected he can't bring himself to try. He's an odd one to work out because aside from being late to one team meeting and publicly holding his hands up about it, there's been nothing from ETH to suggest his application is wrong off the pitch, yet on the pitch he just doesn't seem to get the message that he can't afford to just watch the game go on around him.

Either way he got dropped and we produced probably our first performance all season where we were aggressive and pro-active, which was at the very least partially down to the forward players. That makes it difficult for him to get back in the team even if he did come on and look like he had a point to prove. ETH basically can't pick him now without hanging his own neck on the line in the process. He'll have to wait until one of the other forwards gets injured or has an absolute shocker

I can't get my head around that. I've played plenty of sports, so I know what it feels like when your form has gone to shite and you feel like everything you try doesn't come off. It's a horrible feeling. But that's completely separate to whether or not you can make a visible effort. And that's what was so weird about last night. He didn't have to do anything which he would need to be confident/in form to pull off. He literally just had to run fast towards (or after) some Chelsea players. There are footballers playing on Hackney Marshes this weekend who could manage to do this. And yet he didn't. I just can't see how this could be down to a lack of confidence?

Sulking and feeling sorry for himself makes more sense. But even then, when there's such an easy opportunity to feel a bit of much needed love from the stands, why not take it?

 

[El Zoido]

I expected him to come on and run around like a maniac, if nothing more than to demonstrate he still cares about the shirt. Instead he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. I don’t know what’s going on with him but he needs a break from football, he’s no good to us and he’s clearly not going to play himself back in to form if he can’t even be bothered to put the effort in during a ten minute cameo vs a tired Chelsea team. This was an energetic team performance and the perfect opportunity to come in and make a statement, an opportunity he completely spurned. What on earth is going on with him? £300k a week and he doesn’t even want to do it.

 

[theyneverlearn]

What Ten Hag needs is to ideally get good results v Bayern and Pool with Rashford on the bench.

Even if we don’t have good results against either without Rashford playing a lot of minutes, it won’t exactly mean that Rashford would have helped.

He’s shown nothing this season to warrant a place in the side except for his £375k/week. He was given a pity penalty in a game where he stunk up the place once again.

If he continues to show such a lack of effort the fans will turn on him very quickly. He should know being a United fan growing up exactly what it means to play for them and what fans want to see. If he is too dumb to realise then he can jog(literally) on.

Get Amad back in the fold, play Pellistri more and phase out Rashford until he is sold or bothers to show up on the pitch consistently.

 

[Rossa]

Has he lost all agility? He's still fast in a straight line, but even when trying to close down players, if they do little turns, he's struggles to keep up with even the slowest midfielders and defenders. He's almost stiffer than Ronaldo in his last season for us. Looks odd.

 

[MadDogg]

Can’t see him starting vs Bournemouth.

He might if ETH wants to rotate Garnacho or Antony. With Bayern, Liverpool, West Ham, Villa as the following four games, we can't play the same team in all of them.

 

[UpWithRivers]

He’s depressed, it’s clear as day.

I don't think he's clinically depressed otherwise he should have time off. We seem to tiptoe around mental health problems every time our players don't put in the effort. But is it actually true which I have great sympathy for or do they just need to pull themselves together.

 

[superdry]

As I said in another thread, nice to see him have a 10 minute jog.

Yep trots about like a carnival float

 

[Yorkeontop]

I thought that penalty would give him a boost, nope. We're stuck with the lad unless PSG still like him. The Euros are coming up, hopefully he'll find some form in the new year.

 

[arthurka]

He was abysmal for those 13 minutes. He needs booting.

 

[Andrew Richmond]

He needs a change of club and we should cash in. I think he will probably rediscover some form before the end of this season but doesn’t alter the fact it is probably in his best interests, and the clubs, to move on.

 

[Glorio]

That weird photo shoot with him sat on some sort of throne was pretty stupid

 

[Sir Marcus]

The vitriol in this thread is getting a bit much imo.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

The vitriol in this thread is getting a bit much imo.

Agreed Sir Marcus

 

[Sir Marcus]

Agreed Sir Marcus

Thanks Amol Bhatia.

 

[Sunny Jim]

People being drama queens as usual. Good player going through a rough patch. Nothing to more to it. He’ll come good again. Needs a spell on the bench that’s all. Competition for places is good. You want lots of viable options so your aren’t reliant on one player. His failure to fire this season has exposed what we all knew, that we were over reliant on his goals last season. A great opportunity for others to step up.

Well no. The stats suggest otherwise. His purple patch of last season was an anomaly to what has been a disappointing 3 years now.
There was a stat flying recently. he failed to scored in 100 out 140 last epl game.

 

[Pughnichi]

People being drama queens as usual. Good player going through a rough patch. Nothing to more to it. He’ll come good again. Needs a spell on the bench that’s all. Competition for places is good. You want lots of viable options so your aren’t reliant on one player. His failure to fire this season has exposed what we all knew, that we were over reliant on his goals last season. A great opportunity for others to step up.

This is a huge problem though. ‘He’ll come good again’ isn’t good enough. He can’t be trusted anymore. If he bangs in 20 from 20 we know that the next prolonged period of shambolic performances is around the corner. We can’t carry this type of player.

ive nothing against Rashford personally but we’re competing with elite teams/players who’s performances don’t drop anywhere close to the levels that MR allows himself to drop to.

he shouldn’t get any special treatment.

imo his best position is LF and currently Garnacho is streets ahead. If he’s happy filling in to enable some smart rest and rotation then great. If he can’t find comfort on that, move him along

 

[TheRedHearted]

I don't think he's clinically depressed otherwise he should have time off. We seem to tiptoe around mental health problems every time our players don't put in the effort. But is it actually true which I have great sympathy for or do they just need to pull themselves together.

When he came on yesterday, he tiredly got reaady, when he messed up on the pitch you see he’s beating the crap out of himself mentally

 

[philippexyz]

Rashford is either depressed(personal issues) or boycotting the manager. Maybe both.

Something is off with him mentally.

 

[VP89]

Without getting carried away in criticism, I think what we have just had enough. He's hot and cold, and when he's cold it's really bad. It's just getting too much now for us to carry that type of a player.

We hoped he can grow into more consistency as he grows, but he's 26 now and exhausted the goodwill.

For me, I wouldn't change my opinion too much on him if he suddenly scored for 15 games in a row. The problem is he's inevitably going to have extended periods where he's not doing anything, and that might be fine at more complete sides, but we can't afford to carry him as a player.

He doesn't suit the system, he doesn't have good build up play and I feel he's not working near hard enough. This is before you consider the lack of an edge in the final 3rd.

 

[Bole Top]

it's almost insulting how easy the depression gets thrown in these performance threads.

 

[noodlehair]

I can't get my head around that. I've played plenty of sports, so I know what it feels like when your form has gone to shite and you feel like everything you try doesn't come off. It's a horrible feeling. But that's completely separate to whether or not you can make a visible effort. And that's what was so weird about last night. He didn't have to do anything which he would need to be confident/in form to pull off. He literally just had to run fast towards (or after) some Chelsea players. There are footballers playing on Hackney Marshes this weekend who could manage to do this. And yet he didn't. I just can't see how this could be down to a lack of confidence?

Sulking and feeling sorry for himself makes more sense. But even then, when there's such an easy opportunity to feel a bit of much needed love from the stands, why not take it?

I can't relate to the mindset of multi millionaire footballers who (in Rashford's case) have had PR teams around them since before they were an adult probably telling them they never do anything wrong.

I do know that when my job is really shite I get demotivated and work far less hard, even though I technically will be trying and putting the same level of mental capacity into it, if not more. Maybe that's the cycle he's got himself into.

It could also be down to instructions he's been given positionally and just being that devoid of confidence he doesn't want to run around and then get scalded or make an error due to ending up in the wrong place. I doubt at Hackney Marshes you get someone waving tactical sheets in your face about where to correctly stand on the pitch in 100 different scenarios, before you come on as an 80th minute sub against Lea Valley Road Rovers over 40s b side. Also unlikely 70,000 people are going to turn up and yell at you if you run after a ball and get beaten to it and then the other team score 2 minutes later.

I don't know I'm just speculating. I don't think there's any real reason to think he's come on and actively made a point of not trying. He might have, but there's not much to assume that on. I do think there's a dose of arrogance/delusion to it and I'm with you that it's just quite odd to be dropped for a lack of effort and then not come on and make sure no one can accuse you of it again.

 

[Utd heap]

I can't relate to the mindset of multi millionaire footballers who (in Rashford's case) have had PR teams around them since before they were an adult probably telling them they never do anything wrong.

I do know that when my job is really shite I get demotivated and work far less hard, even though I technically will be trying and putting the same level of mental capacity into it, if not more. Maybe that's the cycle he's got himself into.

It could also be down to instructions he's been given positionally and just being that devoid of confidence he doesn't want to run around and then get scalded or make an error due to ending up in the wrong place. I doubt at Hackney Marshes you get someone waving tactical sheets in your face about where to correctly stand on the pitch in 100 different scenarios, before you come on as an 80th minute sub against Lea Valley Road Rovers over 40s b side. Also unlikely 70,000 people are going to turn up and yell at you if you run after a ball and get beaten to it and then the other team score 2 minutes later.

I don't know I'm just speculating. I don't think there's any real reason to think he's come on and actively made a point of not trying. He might have, but there's not much to assume that on. I do think there's a dose of arrogance/delusion to it and I'm with you that it's just quite odd to be dropped for a lack of effort and then not come on and make sure no one can accuse you of it again.

Well put!

 

[sugar_kane]

Without getting carried away in criticism, I think what we have just had enough. He's hot and cold, and when he's cold it's really bad. It's just getting too much now for us to carry that type of a player.

We hoped he can grow into more consistency as he grows, but he's 26 now and exhausted the goodwill.

For me, I wouldn't change my opinion too much on him if he suddenly scored for 15 games in a row. The problem is he's inevitably going to have extended periods where he's not doing anything, and that might be fine at more complete sides, but we can't afford to carry him as a player.

He doesn't suit the system, he doesn't have good build up play and I feel he's not working near hard enough. This is before you consider the lack of an edge in the final 3rd.

Agreed, he's gone off the boil too many times and for too long to suggest we can ever rely on him. Also his general link up play and decision making is really weak and isn't any use for a top team.

We need to sell while his stock is still reasonably high and his bad form can be written off as manager issues or whatever, otherwise we've got another Martial on our hands where everyone knows he's done.

 

[Fortitude]

I can't relate to the mindset of multi millionaire footballers who (in Rashford's case) have had PR teams around them since before they were an adult probably telling them they never do anything wrong.

I do know that when my job is really shite I get demotivated and work far less hard, even though I technically will be trying and putting the same level of mental capacity into it, if not more. Maybe that's the cycle he's got himself into.

It could also be down to instructions he's been given positionally and just being that devoid of confidence he doesn't want to run around and then get scalded or make an error due to ending up in the wrong place. I doubt at Hackney Marshes you get someone waving tactical sheets in your face about where to correctly stand on the pitch in 100 different scenarios, before you come on as an 80th minute sub against Lea Valley Road Rovers over 40s b side. Also unlikely 70,000 people are going to turn up and yell at you if you run after a ball and get beaten to it and then the other team score 2 minutes later.

I don't know I'm just speculating. I don't think there's any real reason to think he's come on and actively made a point of not trying. He might have, but there's not much to assume that on. I do think there's a dose of arrogance/delusion to it and I'm with you that it's just quite odd to be dropped for a lack of effort and then not come on and make sure no one can accuse you of it again.

His head looks far away from football to me. Like, really far from football.

 

[FerociousCorgis]

Just a horrendous cameo. Not much to say that hasnt been said already. Dont give a crap about his excuses been this way for a while now.