Marcus through the middle?

100% should be starting up top most of the time, if the others are fit. If Martial is fit then yeah he starts up top for his hold up play. But if Martial is out like usual, then Rashford should start centrally, and then we start Sancho left and Antony right. Garnacho, Pellistri impact subs, Weghorst emergency sub.

I understand why Ten Hag would rather start Weghorst top and Rashford wide than start Garnacho or Pellistri, they're young so you gotta be cautious with them. So it's really just on Martial/Sancho/Antony to have 2 of them fit to start alongside Rashford... which they haven't.
 
bosnian_red said:
100% should be starting up top most of the time, if the others are fit. If Martial is fit then yeah he starts up top for his hold up play. But if Martial is out like usual, then Rashford should start centrally, and then we start Sancho left and Antony right. Garnacho, Pellistri impact subs, Weghorst emergency sub.

I understand why Ten Hag would rather start Weghorst top and Rashford wide than start Garnacho or Pellistri, they're young so you gotta be cautious with them. So it's really just on Martial/Sancho/Antony to have 2 of them fit to start alongside Rashford... which they haven't.
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Personally I'm not so sure it's because Garnacho and co are young at the moment, I think it's more about how ETH sees the striking role. The way he explains Martial and Weghorst suggests to me he places a lot of value in having hold up play, ability back to goal, and the right movements for a striker. This hasn't been the traditional strong suit of Rashford when he has played centrally. So it's a double whammy of moving a player out of a position he is flying in, while also being unsure of his skills for the new role.

The problem currently of course is Weghorst just isn't playing well enough so either that changes or we have to do something else which probably does include Rashford central more often, which I think is far from ideal but may be the best of a sub optimal set of choices.
 
Rashford has massively improved his heading, last year he doesn't score that or the one against West ham at Halloween. Benny McCarthy take a bow. He has also filled out physically this season, obviously hard work in the gym, Marcus Rashford take a bow.
For now he is our best option through the middle with Wout coming on for the last 30 minutes and Rashford moving to the left if the game is still in the balance ( it usually is sadly)
 
If Sancho can perform like he did last night then it's definitely an option. Goal against City, against Palace and last night were proper CF goals. Think we have Benni McCarthy to thank for movements like that.
 
Better option than Weghorst, even if I don't truly believe he's got everything needed to be our main number 9 going forward. He's certainly got the goalscoring knack currently.
 
Rashford being the biggest goalscoring threat means he should be utilized in his most dangerous position. It does seem that he's finding goals from the left and through the middle though. So maybe a dynamic front 3 where he can switch positions every once in awhile with the player on the left.
 
We may think we are starting to look like the real deal squadwise but due to the lack of balance we have this dilemma. Rashford on the left is clearly our best weapon. No doubt he's lethal when he cuts in from that side. Unstoppable!
I want him there no matter what.
I honestly believe our attacking players should be:
Rashford Martial Antony
Weghorst for me just isn't good enough. Far too limited in his movement, skills you name it!
What we do with Garnacho and Sancho feck knows as none of them can play down the right.
 
If Rashford can play consistently well up top, then I'd rather move him there and get Leão or Kvaratskhelia in the summer. Having a dynamic front 6 of one of those two plus Rashford, Antony, Sancho, Garnacho and Pellistri is more attractive proposition as far as I am concerned.
 
With Martial out, it has to be him, yeah. Warthorse cannot start serious football matches for us. And we have no dead rubbers left at this point.
 
This works if at least one of the two inside forwards can come a little deeper and serve as a playmaker from out wide. When you can get him a high volume of touches in the final third and not burden him too much with the buildup he can score a minimum of 20 goals per season easy. This would also allow us to allocate more of the transfer budget to improving the midfield. If he has to be counted on to be a deep lying forward that’s asked to come deep and help with the buildup play like Martial or Firminho he won’t be as effective
 
Really the question is do we want Weghorst as a 9 and Rashford on the LW or Rashford as 9 and Garnacho as LW (maybe Sancho if he continues his return). The obvious answer is the one without Weghorst as much as I like him, he's not been great.
 
It has to be him through the middle, Wout is starting to remind me of how bad we were playing this season when Ronaldo was starting. LW/RW should be a combination of Anthony, Sancho, Pellestri, Garnacho - CF has to be Martial or Rashford. Wout is no where near a top 10 premier league striker. I'm just looking forward to Casemiro to be back, got absolutely battered in midfield by Leeds.
We might have to drop Bruno back into central midfield for the next two games as well and I would be happy if Sancho played his role.
 
Yep. Rashford has developed the physical side of his game this season and is far more capable of handling himself against burly defenders, and between Sancho and Garnacho we've got two decent options for the left wing.

Weghorst should be reserved for emergency usage only, really. He's alright at linking play and works hard but the rest of his game is far too restricted to be starting him every game as we are. Last night and the 2nd leg against Forest transformed us as a team once he left the pitch.
 
Todd said:
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.
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Put him at #9 while Martial is out. But when Martial is fit then he should start at #9 and Rashford back on the left.
 
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Rashford - Sancho - Antony

Sancho as a false 9.
 
Belisarius said:
Put him at #9 while Martial is out. But when Martial fit then he should start at #9 and Rashford back on the left.
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Well, sure. Whenever Martial is fit again, let him play the one or two matches he'll be able to feature in, then when he is inevitably hurt again put Rashford back at #9.
 
I prefer Rashford on the left, but for now, I'd start him in the middle, and get Sancho on the field. A front 3 of Sancho-Rashford-Antony would be great
 
I understand why Rashford played on the right vs Leeds because Sancho probably wasn't match fit to even play full 90 minutes. Weghorst shouldn't be starting regularly because he was signed for bench option. I will start Rashford up top and could be good experiment to see if he's good enough to be United regular centre forward.
 
If Sancho and Antony are available and no Martial then for now Rashford through the middle seems the best option. If Sancho gets back to pre United form Rashford will get chances and we’ll Antony is an unknown.

Long term it will be interesting to see what happens especially if we bring in a big money striker.
 
Bump. If he keep playing like this, then we can switch our Napoli target from Osimhen to Kvaradona!
 
I reckon we've no other choice than to play Rashford through the middle. Prefer Garnacho on the left to Sancho and Antony on the right. I'd keep Martial as a back-up CF and sell Sancho.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Bump. If he keep playing like this, then we can switch our Napoli target from Osimhen to Kvaradona!
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Probably our line of thinking too. One thing that's always held him back from being an out and out striker was lacking that strength that great no.9s have to be able to hold the ball up and bully their markers, heading too but he's come on tremendously in that regard as well. It seems he's in his physical prime now because he's been rag dolling defenders all season, he's strong as an ox.
 
Now that his heading has improved, he is now a credible option, that's for sure.
 
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