Marcus through the middle?

BerryBerryShrew

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Whatever your opinions on Martial as a player, it is fairly clear that we can't rely on the guy due to his injury record. So when unavailable (as last night) we have the following options:

Option 1. Go with Weggy up top, Rashy on the left

Pros:
1. Our most dangerous attacker plays in his best position
2. We have an actual physical presence through the middle

Cons:
1. No pace or significant goalscoring threat up top
2. Playing Rashford in his best position means not playing Sancho/Garnacho in theirs

Option 2. Rashy up top, Sancho/Garnacho on the left

Pros:
1. Rashford can still score up top
2. Sancho and Garnacho are better players than Weghorst so fitting them in to the team instead of him could be beneficial

Cons:
1. Rashford is going to be far less involved in the game through the middle and will be much more reliant on quality service than he is on the left (where he can create for himself)
2. There is no "focal point" up top which could mean that the ball isn't sticking up there

Is there a third option? And if not, which of the above two options are preferable to you good folks?

Obviously, this is only going to be an "until the end of the season" thing as we should hopefully be signing a top striker in the summer but what should we do until then?
 
I would probably go for the second option. I think for for example, if Waggy came on yesterday as a sub he might have made a bigger impact.

The crux is lies within what you mentioned, taking marcus away from the left when he looks the best there.
 
The problem I had last night is that ETH put Rashford on the right, which is the only no-no option in my eyes. He's either on the left or through the middle. Shunting him out to the right to accommodate Weghorst and Garnacho made no sense to me.

I think our best line-up when all fit is Sancho - Rashford - Antony up top for the rest of the season. Rashford is at his best from the left, but overall I think we'd look better with that set-up and him central. He can still pull wide into the channels when we counter, and Sancho is comfortable in between the lines centrally if Rashford pulls wide.

When we sign a striker in the summer, Rashford to start from the left next season, and Sancho will probably play across the front 3 throughout the season. He's decent from the right, and we'll have plenty of games for him and Antony to compete, and play from the left if Rashford plays central.

So option 2 till the end of the season for me. Then Rashford from the left next season when we sign a striker.
 
I'd usually be against Rashford through the middle, historically when played there he hasn't looked good. But in recent games he has scored when we've moved him centrally, eg the City game, he scored after being moved centrally and also the Palace game he did the same after being moved inside. Maybe with experience, and confidence he has started to learn that position more. I'd give it a try, watching Weghorst yesterday wasn't good, I appreciate he gets no service, but his lack of pace is an issue. If Sancho has his groove back, I'd give him a try with him left, Rash middle and Antony right. Both wingers comfortable in possession, with pace and finishing ability in the middle.
 
The problem last night was a lot came through Sancho from the left so a lot of great balls played across would / did land on Marcus left foot.
Really need that service from the right to make the move worthwhile
 
Absolutely. Its a must, Wouty can't keep starting games and now that Sancho is back in the squad it makes even more sense.

We should just hone in on that as hoping on Martial to be our main striker is foolish at this point.
 
This idea re-circulates itself every year, and each time it ends in tears after a few games...
 
It's not really working with Wout through the middle from the start so until Martial is back I'd definitely go Rashford through the middle. I do think that whatever we do it should not involve Rashford being on the right though.
 
None of it is ideal. Maybe we should adapt to the opposition. In hindsight maybe Rashford through the middle would have been a better option against an aggressive Leeds side. But sometimes it's probably better keeping him in his favoured position and having Weghorst hold the ball, mainly against very defensive teams.
 
Feel like we've tried option #2 multiple times before. With the form he's in right now, the risk of moving him out means we risk losing anywhere between 5-10 goals from now until the end of the season. Unless you think it might be different because we have a better team and better coach who can get the best out of the team with Rashford playing #9
 
I said it when we signed wout that he could be tem hag downfall, eth clearly likes someone to hold up play but wout is awful and should not be starting matches
 
Maybe for now just because Weghorst is absolute shit. Don't want to see him there when Martial is fit, or even again after the next transfer window.
 
Option 2 for sure - Rashford seems to have significantly improved his play when utilised as a CF this season and he's been very effective there as well (unlike when he's totally wasted on the right).

In past seasons he used to struggle with hold-up play as he was too easily shrugged off the ball with his back to goal. He also wasn't very good in the air.

In the last few months though he's seemed much stronger physically and his ability to keep the ball in crowded central spaces has subsequently gotten much better along with it. He's also shown he can now bulldoze through the middle of defences, rather than always having to cut inside from the flank. His headed goal yesterday was also that of a proper number 9.

I definitely think with Martial out it makes sense to drop the terrible Weghorst when possible, then put Rashford through the middle and use either Garnacho or Sancho on LW, and Sancho or Antony RW depending on who's fit. All of Garnacho, Sancho and Antony bring much more to the table than Weghorst.
 
poleglass red said:
I'd usually be against Rashford through the middle, historically when played there he hasn't looked good.
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spiriticon said:
This idea re-circulates itself every year, and each time it ends in tears after a few games...
Click to expand...

Yep. This is mostly why I made the thread- a lot of people don't want to move Marcus from his best position understandably but a lot of us just remember that he was terrible up front under Ole most of the time. Great when we were looking to strictly counter against top sides but really poor against the mid table and cannon fodder teams.

The big question is whether his drastic improvement this year will mean that he can do a better job up front than in previous years. I don't doubt that he can still score, but I'm wondering if his overall performances will be poor. Similar to Ronaldo last year. Hope I'm wrong though.
 
I wasn't a fan at the start of the season but he's grown into the role and shown versatility in scoring from different positions.

For me, once Sancho and Antony are available consistently, Weghorst should be an impact sub, with Garnacho filling in on the left and Antony and Sancho rotating for a full game on the right. And this is without considering a miracle scenario where Martial is fit for more than a couple of minutes at a time.
 
Rashford up top, we have good options on the left

Weghorst is shite
 
No. Only as an option once in awhile. His play with back to goal is shit.
 
It has to be Rashford in the centre forward position. We look much better in attack when we have more mobility in that position.
 
Rashford has been great on the left. Leave well enough alone there IMO. We move him to the middle and we'll probably just end up with problems at CF and LW.
 
It’s worked the last few games where ETH took weghorst off and put rashford through the middle with pacey wingers who can cause problems. Garnacho is quite good at getting past his man on the left and playing in a low Ball which is what we seen against city. Also that header from rashford was superb as he’s not known for scoring headers.
 
Rightnr said:
I wasn't a fan at the start of the season but he's grown into the role and shown versatility in scoring from different positions.

For me, once Sancho and Antony are available consistently, Weghorst should be an impact sub, with Garnacho filling in on the left and Antony and Sancho rotating for a full game on the right. And this is without considering a miracle scenario where Martial is fit for more than a couple of minutes at a time.
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He doesn’t have to play Cf for that. Plenty of wide forwards get goals from inside the box.
 
Tarrou said:
Rashford up top, we have good options on the left

Weghorst is shite
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100% this. I know a lot of people are saying rashfords been quality out on the left which he has but he’s also been scoring when he’s been moved up top. Our dynamic is much better as an attacking team when we have the likes of, garnacho, rashford and sancho up there.
 
Yes, no
Maybe?
I don't know...
Can you repeat the question??
 
Any option that involves Weghorst not starting is the answer. With Sancho now back it should be Rashford up top with two of Sancho, Garnacho & Antony either side. We’ve already seen signs that we could play some lovely attacking football with one of those trios. Something that is simply not possible with Weghorst.
 
Rashford has generally been shit through the middle for the last couple of years, so I would have gone for option 1. No point moving our best attacker out of position if his performance level declines significantly, especially when his all-round game was also very poor for that position and basically provided nothing to the team as a whole except trying to run in behind the defence over and over and over again.

However he's significantly improved his performances there the last few months, so in the next game I'd like try him up there and see how it goes. In saying that I would note that most of his good performances have been when he's played there late in games, either coming off the bench or moving off the left. There are still significant doubts over him starting in that position, but he's shown enough to give it a shot. Especially with Sancho and Garnacho being options off the left as well.
 
It has become pretty obvious that Rashford should be deployed as a #9 for the rest of the season. He's our greatest scoring threat and lately when he gets shifted to play centrally he scores.

Between Antony, Sancho, and Garnacho we should more than have the wings covered. Martial is a lost cause and Weghorst is never going to be a player we can expect to score goals.

Obviously the top priority for the summer is to sign someone like Osimhen, but for now Rashford needs to do this for the team.
 
Personally think it would be a mistake against most opponents. It's one thing to move him there late in games and another to start him up front.

He's not very good in that position between the lines whilst we aren't on top. We make the CF position an extremely tough one given how we play so against deep opponents we're still better with Werghorst.
 
If Martial is unavailable, then we only have one other serviceable centre forward, and that is Marcus Rashford. Wout Weghorst is not a serviceable centre forward, and should not be an option to even consider.
 
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