Does anybody remember the episode of The Simpsons when Frank “Grimey” Grimes starts working at the nuclear power plant and is driven crazy how inept Homer is and how his colleagues just seem to accept it, or not even notice?
I feel like Frank Grimes right now!
I don’t want to dislike Rashford. He’s a local lad, by all accounts he is a very nice, grounded lad. It’s not his fault he has been labelled a “wonderkid” and talked-up far beyond his actual level of talent.
The problem is, that’s what drives me nuts. Take lads like McTominay, I’ll defend him to the hilt. Nobody is saying he is a “wonderkid” or the second coming of Paul Scholes but if ever he was talked down as “average” or “not Utd standard” I would defend him resolutely.
Also, I’m not one for slating players who just clearly aren’t that good. What is the point of hammering people like Lingard and Pereira over and over again? We know they are not Utd standard. The management know they are not Utd standard. They probably know it, so what’s the point in keep hammering them?
What really drives me to Frank Grimes level of craziness with Rashford is that when I watch him play, I see a very, very average player, yet seemingly half the country see “a world class talent”. You never hear Rashford criticised by pundits and if they do mention he “might not have been at his best”, an excuse is offered at the same time - “he has been played out of position”, “he looks tired”, “is he carrying an injury?”. These excuses then find their way into the subconscious of his advocates on this forum.
The excuses trotted out for the lad are incredible. There are still people claiming that the minor stress fracture he picked up in January 2020 is affecting him. There are people claiming it’s the fact he is playing on the right, despite the fact that that was his position for 10 years in the Academy. Last year, the excuse offered was that he was being played at CF...so what, I’m led to believe this “world class talent” can only successfully pass the ball five yards, control a football and make a decision if he very specifically plays on the left strip of grass and not the middle bit or the right bit?
I get that a player may be more effective left, right or centre...I would maybe accept a 10/15% drop-off but it shouldn’t be the case that he is absolutely hopeless if played marginally out of his “preferred” position. It’s not acceptable to not be able to do the basics.
Then, to compound matters, we get people talking about how his detractors are “only piping up when he has a bad game”...that’s absolutely rubbish. The lad has a bad game (with the odd “moment” here and there) probably 60/70% of the time. The rest of the country and the press continue to just mindlessly claim he is a “super player” or “world class” seemingly without actually watching him play football! Yesterday, I saw a Sky Sports article claiming that United’s run to the top of the table was a result of Bruno and also Rashford “going up another level”.
Then we get this “he is still learning” argument...OK, well please tell me, what is going to happen overnight that is going to drastically improve Rashford after 5/6 seasons of senior football and 20 years + being coached every day at Manchester United? Again, I posted elsewhere several times, players DON’T just get better with age as many seem to believe. It doesn’t just happen! Ronaldo improved because SAF and Queiroz where able to turn him from mega-talented show-off into a relentlessly effective machine. Rooney improved with age as he mellowed and stopped getting wound up and/or trying to win games on his own. These are two tangible ways in which players can improve with coaching and mental maturity. Please someone explain to me how at 23, Rashford is suddenly going to improve the basics, like passing, heading, decision-making etc...? See, with Rooney and Ronaldo, it was in them all along, it just needed to be coached. I don’t believe that level of talent (or anywhere near that level) is in Rashford so I just don’t see him improving that much throughout the rest of his career.
I mean, to continue on the Frank Grimes/Simpsons analogy, I feel like I’m losing my mind to the point I feel like I actually really don’t like a lad who by all accounts I should have nothing but support for!
We need to wake up and realise what Rashford is and get realistic. He’s a 20/30 minute impact player at best for a team with ambitions to win a title. That’s not based on the last few weeks, that’s based his mean performance across 250 senior games.
If we could achieve that and just stop banging on about “world class this” or “young and learning that” or “playing with injury blah” or “out of position” I can remain sane and stop wanting to put sharp objects through my eyeballs whilst watching him play!