Our attackers aren’t pressing intensely enough, meaning all focus is on our midfield.

I think the whole team have been lacking in parts without the ball. They worryingly don’t seem to be fit and ready for the start of the season.
 
Trigg said:
They worryingly don’t seem to be fit and ready for the start of the season.
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We had a badly organised preseason. Two different teams (silly decision to play youth team v Wrexham and Lens / Athletico on consecutive days), meaning the first team barely played any minutes together.
We had over a week from our last preseason game to our first PL game versus Wolves, yet they didn't even play a behind closed doors friendly.
Now the season has started and our players don't look fit enough.
 
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DRJosh said:
Great post OP. The video is strangely reassuring in that we know where the problem could lie with our forward line being erratic in leading the press. I've always found Rashford unreliable in a pressing system. Him on the left side isn't necessarily going to change that. It is a mentality thing and a bit of laziness.
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He doesn't look 'up for it', which is disheartening as he knows its only a short-term thing for 2/3 games, before Hojlund starts. Even so, if he plays like this on the LW then its going to be an issue.
We need the front 3 pressing as a unit. If 1 slacks, it gives the opposition a way out.
 
If Rashford isn't pressing because he's playing CF, what makes you think he's gonna press when he's playing LW?
Honestly, if Rasmus hits the ground running, I wouldn't be surprised to see Rashford having to fight with Garnacho for his starting place if he keeps this laziness up.
 
NewGlory said:
Best, and only, thing Martial can do is to get sold to Saudis (if the rumors have any truth for it) so maybe we can loan a proper striker in January, if it's too late for the Summer, at this point. If Martial stays, he will play all of 120 minutes for us all season, and even that - maybe. Injured all the time - we simply have no way to use him for anything meaningful



I disagree that the main problem of Garnacho, Anthony, and Rashy is that they always try to shoot. I think the main problem is - when they shoot, they cannot score even the shots most other top forwards would. It's unacceptable. Forwards should shoot and their main purpose is to score. It's insane how bad our forwards currently are at finding the back of the net.
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I don’t see a future for Martial at the club but he’s clearly a better striker when fit than Rashford. He holds the ball up better and we have better patterns of play with him there. He can’t stay fit and that’s why we’ve bought a replacement.

Obviously the front three all need to contribute goals but ours pass when they should shoot and shoot when they should pass. They take bad shots directly into the shins of defenders. I don’t think we’ve seen Antony or Garnacho create a chance for anyone else so far this season.
 
Ibi Dreams said:
Being generous it could be possible that Rashford is told not to press as much because he needs to retain energy as the team's best counter attack player. He looked tired towards the end of the game despite not pressing as much as others
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This is definitely the case with Rashford. I think I remember ETH saying something in the past that suggested this also so he would still have explosive speed late in the game. Mbappe similarly doesn't press for PSG so he can make the most of his pace and skill throughout the full 90 mins. Garnacho on the other hand I think is down to laziness and he needs to fix that. I think you can afford for 1 player to not press that often but 2 is really pushing it, especially when you're not a team that dominates possession, which we are not.
 
The problem is we either have very talented players who don't work nearly hard enough off the ball, or not very talented but workhorses.
We probably can't afford to play both Rashford and Garnacho at the same time though. This wasn't a good idea in the first place for a few reasons.
 
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