I'm going to make the same point I always make....once every 10/15 games Rashford will have a stormer. This almost exclusively happens against teams that play a high defensive line, giving him the opportunity to use his two key attributes - his pace and his direct runs. At about this time, a load of posters with nothing better to do trawl through the forums from the last 2/3 years ago and find quotes from posters who have criticised Rashford and attempt to shame us somehow with a snarky comment like 'not bad for the new Welbeck/a Championship player' or similar.
The trouble is, these games are the exceptions, not the norm. If I tagged all the pro-Rashford posters every time he was anonymous or had an outright stinker I'd be doing that 70/80% of the time after games.
I don't know why we never learn as Utd fans. We'll make every excuse in the book for a player. You've only got to look at the posts on this page...people blaming Ole...people saying 'try him at CF'...people comparing him to other players at a similar age...the fact is, I've seen all these excuses before made for other players and it never turns out well for us. In the case of Rashford, first it was LvGs fault...then Jose's...now Ole's. First it was because he was playing on the right, then it was that he was playing on the left...then he got a run of games at CF last Christmas time and it seemed to be almost universally agreed that he was horrendous and just not suited to the position. Guess what...slow start to this season and here we go again with the "try him at CF posts".
I've got to be clear - I am not saying Rashford is useless or isn't worth having as a squad player. What I am saying is that if posters think we're going to win titles or major trophies with Rashford as a regular starter I think they are sorely mistaken. He averages a goal about every four PL games (and some of those have been pens)...it's just nowhere near enough...and as I have said elsewhere, I wouldn't mind so much him not being prolific if his all-round game was better but at times his technique really does resemble a bottom-half PL player.
The majority of the time, United will face teams who deploy a low-block. When this is the case, we should be starting Mason, Cavani and Martial. These three are the best three finishers and the best at controlling and passing the ball in tight areas. We could then utilise Rashford as a fresh pair of legs around the hour mark as the opposition starts to tire. I think that would suit him down to the ground. It's no shame not to be good enough to start every week for Utd, plenty of players have made a career out of being good at coming on and impacting tight games...his current manager being a prime example!
Until we realise this, we will keep wondering why we are struggling to break teams down. I'm not pinning it all on Marcus but his being in the side impacts us negatively for two reasons. One, he isn't effective against a low-block. Two, it means Martial (who can be as an AMLF) is moved to CF to accommodate them both. I want to see Martial picking the ball up in wide/inside left positions and driving into the box, that's where he can be effective. against teams who sit deep.
Surely even the most pro-Rashford posters think it's worth a go? Rashford has been the one constant in this side that has failed to put away weaker teams at home. It's got to be time to give him a rest and try something a bit different for a handful of games at least.
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