Who's the best player in the world and why it's Marcus Rashford

Rashford is too small to be a top Premier League striker

(to be fair, I see that Carragher has now admitted he was wrong about Martinez, I respect someone who can admit they are wrong. Something Souness wouldn't do)
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Ronaldo made an all time great career of scoring in matches that he was otherwise non-existent in. If Rashy can keep doing that, fine by me.
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Incomparable. Ronaldo did that with time but he was a different class on the ball for most of his career.

Of course if Rashford can keep his goalscoring exploits up then we’ll all be delighted but I don’t think he’s best in the world material either way.
 
balaks said:
A lot of you lads wanted rid of him not even that long ago!
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Because he was shite. This is not directed at you, but there seems to be a really smug revisionism going on with some posters in the Rashford thread where they say "See?? Told you he was brilliant" every time he scores. As if him playing excellently now somehow means that he was retrospectively playing well in the two years when he literally couldn't be arsed to even pretend to try and seemed to have checked out of top level football altogether.

Delighted that he has come back from that and is now bossing it; need him to sign the contract ASAP.
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Incomparable. Ronaldo did that with time but he was a different class on the ball for most of his career.

Of course if Rashford can keep his goalscoring exploits up then we’ll all be delighted but I don’t think he’s best in the world material either way.
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Technically Ronaldo was far slicker than Rashford, but he is only remembered as a great player because of his goalscoring record. He never really wanted to affect the game by anything but goalscoring for most of his career even though he had the ability to do so. I remember his 06/07 and 07/08 years with us more fondly than his 08/09 season because he was all round brilliant in those 2 years instead of focusing on just being a (gifted) poacher.

If Rashford can grab 35 goal plus seasons, I think he will be in the conversation for Ballon D'or's (irrespective of his all round game).
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Because he was shite. This is not directed at you, but there seems to be a really smug revisionism going on with some posters in the Rashford thread where they say "See?? Told you he was brilliant" every time he scores. As if him playing excellently now somehow means that he was retrospectively playing well in the two years when he literally couldn't be arsed to even pretend to try and seemed to have checked out of top level football altogether.

Delighted that he has come back from that and is now bossing it; need him to sign the contract ASAP.
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2 years? That's some revisionism of your own! The season before last he got 21 goals and 15 assists. Yes, he had an off-season last season but so did everyone under Rangnick's stewardship.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Because he was shite. This is not directed at you, but there seems to be a really smug revisionism going on with some posters in the Rashford thread where they say "See?? Told you he was brilliant" every time he scores. As if him playing excellently now somehow means that he was retrospectively playing well in the two years when he literally couldn't be arsed to even pretend to try and seemed to have checked out of top level football altogether.

Delighted that he has come back from that and is now bossing it; need him to sign the contract ASAP.
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Agreed. The revisionism gets old, and there was valid concern that he hadn't been the same player since that back injury in 19/20 as well.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Because he was shite. This is not directed at you, but there seems to be a really smug revisionism going on with some posters in the Rashford thread where they say "See?? Told you he was brilliant" every time he scores. As if him playing excellently now somehow means that he was retrospectively playing well in the two years when he literally couldn't be arsed to even pretend to try and seemed to have checked out of top level football altogether.

Delighted that he has come back from that and is now bossing it; need him to sign the contract ASAP.
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He's certainly made one incredible comeback from a couple of seasons of form that had everyone worried.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Technically Ronaldo was far slicker than Rashford, but he is only remembered as a great player because of his goalscoring record. He never really wanted to affect the game by anything but goalscoring for most of his career even though he had the ability to do so. I remember his 06/07 and 07/08 years with us more fondly than his 08/09 season because he was all round brilliant in those 2 years instead of focusing on just being a (gifted) poacher.

If Rashford can grab 35 goal plus seasons, I think he will be in the conversation for Ballon D'or's (irrespective of his all round game).
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I disagree re: Ronaldo. He never got obsessed with poaching until his knee tendinitis issues started affecting him around 2014. Of course he refined the goalscoring aspect of his game but he was still lethal driving at defenders until his later Madrid years where he was much more of a finisher.
 
Gabriel Djemba-Bebe said:
2 years? That's some revisionism of your own! The season before last he got 21 goals and 15 assists. Yes, he had an off-season last season but so did everyone under Rangnick's stewardship.
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20/21 was a very front loaded season though. He was awful in the second half of the season. And there's a difference between being poor (like the majority of the squad) and terrible, which he was. 1.5 years may be more correct than 2 though.

Sandikan said:
He's certainly made one incredible comeback from a couple of seasons of form that had everyone worried.
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Yep, you only have to look at Dele Alli to see how difficult it is for a talented player to come back once they are on a downhill slope. He deserves enormous credit- it takes huge character to do it.
 
Love Rash, but don’t make me rank him against Shaw, Martinez and Casemiro… :)
 
The biggest plaudit of all for Rashford is that he's a big game player. With that a base, there's nothing to stop him levelling out as a top bracket player because the rest is about focus and consistency, which there's no reason he should not attain.

His whole demeanour has changed; he looked physically and mentally shot just a season ago, so it's a phenomenal turnaround. If anyone foresaw this Rashford when he was in that slump, they should put up the proof with a quote from the time.
 
Haaland, the Napoli duo, Mbappe, Messi, Kane, Saka and Rashford have all been the best forwards this season. Probably Lewa too but I find Barca too boring to give their games any attention.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Technically Ronaldo was far slicker than Rashford, but he is only remembered as a great player because of his goalscoring record. He never really wanted to affect the game by anything but goalscoring for most of his career even though he had the ability to do so. I remember his 06/07 and 07/08 years with us more fondly than his 08/09 season because he was all round brilliant in those 2 years instead of focusing on just being a (gifted) poacher.

If Rashford can grab 35 goal plus seasons, I think he will be in the conversation for Ballon D'or's (irrespective of his all round game).
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Sorry but that's not what revisionism is. It's still a shit opinion to write off a 23 year old coming off a major back injury, playing in a listless, aimless team who were collectively playing like shit. Nobody at the time side he was playing well, but it was abundantly clear how talented he was and how much he was clearly struggling.

It's the height of short-termist stupidity to write off a player that had 19 goals and 7 assists by the middle of January immediately before his injury and despite struggling still put up elite numbers with no pre-season for rehab the season after. No sensible club with any ambition sells off a youth product capable of that without trying to rehabilitate him with a full preseason and a settled team and making completely sure he can't recover.
 
I think next Fifa cover should have Haaland vs Rashford. Red to represent for the Premier League, Blue for the Championship.
 
Dion said:
Sorry but that's not what revisionism is. It's still a shit opinion to write off a 23 year old coming off a major back injury, playing in a listless, aimless team who were collectively playing like shit. Nobody at the time side he was playing well, but it was abundantly clear how talented he was and how much he was clearly struggling.

It's the height of short-termist stupidity to write off a player that had 19 goals and 7 assists by the middle of January immediately before his injury and despite struggling still put up elite numbers with no pre-season for rehab the season after. No sensible club with any ambition sells off a youth product capable of that without trying to rehabilitate him with a full preseason and a settled team and making completely sure he can't recover.
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Fantastic post.
 
Dion said:
Sorry but that's not what revisionism is. It's still a shit opinion to write off a 23 year old coming off a major back injury, playing in a listless, aimless team who were collectively playing like shit. Nobody at the time side he was playing well, but it was abundantly clear how talented he was and how much he was clearly struggling.

It's the height of short-termist stupidity to write off a player that had 19 goals and 7 assists by the middle of January immediately before his injury and despite struggling still put up elite numbers with no pre-season for rehab the season after. No sensible club with any ambition sells off a youth product capable of that without trying to rehabilitate him with a full preseason and a settled team and making completely sure he can't recover.
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They very rarely do come back though. Which is why Rashford himself (and whatever support network he has) deserves huge credit.

Revisionism is suggesting that Rashford wasn't awful and utterly disinterested in playing football last year on the basis of his brilliance this year. That's pretty much the definition of revisionism.

I mean, I've never in my life seen anything like this from a player before:

 
Think he can get Ronaldo numbers for us (not saying this year). Even from a physicality standpoint, he probably has another level to go. He has a huge leap in him.

Long may it continue. Let's bring some signings in the summer and unleash the potential.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Because he was shite. This is not directed at you, but there seems to be a really smug revisionism going on with some posters in the Rashford thread where they say "See?? Told you he was brilliant" every time he scores. As if him playing excellently now somehow means that he was retrospectively playing well in the two years when he literally couldn't be arsed to even pretend to try and seemed to have checked out of top level football altogether.

Delighted that he has come back from that and is now bossing it; need him to sign the contract ASAP.
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Agreed. As good as he's been this year, he was that shite last year - absolutely hopeless. Both he and Ten Hag deserve a ton of credit for sorting himself out and achieving such a drastic turnaround in form.
 
Rashy isn't a striker, but he's starting to play like one. If he can maintain that kind of lethality (if that's an actual word) in central positions on a consistent basis and develop hold up player, we might solve our problem at 9. And if Sancho and Antony can sort themselves out, oh my.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Because he was shite. This is not directed at you, but there seems to be a really smug revisionism going on with some posters in the Rashford thread where they say "See?? Told you he was brilliant" every time he scores. As if him playing excellently now somehow means that he was retrospectively playing well in the two years when he literally couldn't be arsed to even pretend to try and seemed to have checked out of top level football altogether.

Delighted that he has come back from that and is now bossing it; need him to sign the contract ASAP.
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Revisionism is saying he ‘literally couldn’t be arsed’ for ‘two years’. It’s genuinely baffling how upset you lot are getting at not standing by the lad, you got it wrong - move on. He was not bad for ‘two years’, it’s categorically incorrect.
 
In the short period since the World Cup he probably has been the best player in the World. He was actually already playing very good in the World Cup. And.. Shaw has been up there as well.
 
Rashford has never gotten top level coaching until now.....just like many of our squad. We always complained how United doesn't improve players and it was true...until ETH came.
 
BerryBerryShrew said:
They very rarely do come back though. Which is why Rashford himself (and whatever support network he has) deserves huge credit.

Revisionism is suggesting that Rashford wasn't awful and utterly disinterested in playing football last year on the basis of his brilliance this year. That's pretty much the definition of revisionism.

I mean, I've never in my life seen anything like this from a player before:
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They come back all the time, there's not many 25 year olds in the world who haven't had at least one extremely difficult season in their locker.

What you saw as disinterest was obviously just confusion, a lack of belief and struggling physically. You don't get as good as Rashford and then suddenly become disinterested in football.
 
Still think its a purple patch. The real Rashford will come back soon.
 
shahzy said:
He's actually a terrible header of the ball....and yet he's scoring them. I actually have no idea how. Purple patch should be defined by this
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It’s a shocking concept…and one that many on the cafe can’t seem to ever contemplate…but maybe a supremely motivated professional athlete of only 24 might actually improve in some areas as his career progresses?
 
TheRedHearted said:
Needs a rest
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No imo he needed a better midfield and a better #9. Our midfield was basically non existent we were randomly hoofing the ball to god know where for the 1st 70'. And whenever he had the ball there were at least 3 Leeds players in front of him while WW was still running to where he was supposed to be. Bruno was heavily marked and tackled out of the game. Malacia moved to the middle to help the midfield, Dalot didn't cross the half line so he was basically alone there in the first 60-70'.
 
Turn around explained on here. A combination of things, being injury free, having a full pre season for once, better coaching, better tactics, better players around him.

 
BerryBerryShrew said:
Technically Ronaldo was far slicker than Rashford, but he is only remembered as a great player because of his goalscoring record. He never really wanted to affect the game by anything but goalscoring for most of his career even though he had the ability to do so. I remember his 06/07 and 07/08 years with us more fondly than his 08/09 season because he was all round brilliant in those 2 years instead of focusing on just being a (gifted) poacher.

If Rashford can grab 35 goal plus seasons, I think he will be in the conversation for Ballon D'or's (irrespective of his all round game).
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Disagree. They are not as close level as you seem to think here.

Ronaldo during at Real Madrid (post Man Utd peak years) at similar age (mid 20s onwards) produce/perform something like that:

La Liga 11-12
46 goals 12 assist in 37 games
1.9 dribble, 1.6 key pass
8.28 avg rating, 11 motm

La Liga 14-15
48 goals 16 assists in 35 games
1.5 dribble, 2.2 key pass
8.48 avg rating, 17 motm

CL 13-14
17 goals 4 assists in 11 games
2.3 dribble, 2 key pass
8.71 avg rating, 4 motm

CL 14-15
16 goals 4 assists in 12 games
2.1 dribble, 1.3 key pass
8.11 avg rating, 7 motm


Rashford this season so far:

PL 22-23
12 goals 3 assists in 23 games
1.2 dribble, 0.8 key pass
7.04 avg rating, 5 motm

EL 22-23
3 goals 1 assists in 4 games
1.5 dribble, 1.8 key pass
7.54 avg rating, 1 motm


Quite a huge gap there even in terms of their all round game and performances. Rashford has been in superb form at the moment, but let’s not get carried away too soon.
 
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