Why have we started playing Rashford on the right?

It's pretty obvious. Currently, Cavani, Martial and Rashford are our best front 3 options and Rashford is the best out of those 3 on the right.

Hopefully Greenwood can find some form or Diallo can make an instant impact and Rashford can play back in his favoured position. Either way he's not been too bad there anyway.
 
We've FINALLY started playing Rashford on the right. I only wonder why it took us so long.

We have so much space on the right hand side, it's criminal we don't use either him or Greenwood there on regular basis this season. I don't mind him roaming, but Rashford on the right gives us better structure and stretches the opposition defense.

The problem with Rashford from the left is he's very limited against packed defenses, plus we have Bruno Martial Pogba naturally gravitating towards that side.

This is the way forward, at least until we sign a proper RW, which is probably never as we've been neglecting that position for how many years now? Anyway, he's not in form right now but he'd perform even worse playing on the left.
 
noodlehair said:
Am I missing something here?

He's been one of our best players playing from the left for a year and a half now. We don't have anyone better than him to play there. In fact we don't appear to have anyone else who can even play there and look comfortable.

We're essentially moving our best forward out of position, in order to play someone else out of position, in his position.

Just smacks a bit of trying to complete a jigsaw by taking a correctly placed piece back out and trying to shoe horn it into a gap somewhere else. Has Rashford ever actually played well from the right?
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because we didnt buy a starting RW
 
Eyepopper said:
Because we didnt sign a RW and because Cavani is a better CF than Martial, and because Rashford will throw up less of a stink about being moved to the RW than Martial will.

For me, Rashfords best position is left forward, despite the assist tonight, he's wasted on the right.
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Also to get Pogba in the team on the left when we're playing high pressing sides in the centre midfield.
 
Teja said:
Because we don't have a RW and Rashford on the right offers us a lot more than Greenwood / James do. Probably would've gotten this sorted had it not been for COVID but you play the hand you've been dealt and if there's a title at the end of it, then great.
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Correct answer. Until we actually spend money on a senior player for the RW this will continue, which is a shame for Rashford as he's clearly better on the left.
 
dinostar77 said:
I dont disagree that its been a problem for years and should have beeen addressed a long time ago. I'm not convinced we will sign a RW now and that we will give Pellestri, Diallo and Greenwood (while hes still developing physically) chances on the right wing and hope that Pellestri or Diallo turn out to be the answer. I maybe wrong and Utd do buy an established RW amd give Pellestri and Diallo time to develop outside of the limelight.

Anyway im going off topic. Agree with most Rashford should stay on the left and martial should either be rotated with rashford and Cavani for the left wing and CF position. Also i would sell martial if i could get a good price for him. Cavani highlights all of Martials shortcomings at CF when he plays.
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Yeah I agree in principal, Rashford is at his best on the left. I'm torn on Martial. His hold-up play is invaluable, but at this stage it's becoming increasingly unlikely he'll ever get over his mental hangups and turn into a ruthless finisher in front of goal. So the question really becomes, can we view Martial as a Firmino-type player where his most important contributions are less about his goals and more about his all-round quality, and rely on Bruno and our wide forwards to cover his short-comings in front of goal? I'm not sure...
 
Just to fit everyone in mainly, and we've started playing Pogba on the left which has worked well too. He's not at his best on the right wing but we're not blessed with options.
 
11101 said:
Because of Martial.

Cavani is better than Martial centrally.
Martial can only play on the left, Rashford is much better than Martial on the right.
All three are better than Greenwood or anybody else we could play instead of them.
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Squeezing in all your best players isn’t always what is best for the team though. That’s what England used to do with Scholes. I’m not saying playing Rashford on the right can’t or won’t work, but it could backfire when you sacrifice your second best player to squeeze others in.
 
MalcolmTucker said:
It's pretty obvious. Currently, Cavani, Martial and Rashford are our best front 3 options and Rashford is the best out of those 3 on the right.

Hopefully Greenwood can find some form or Diallo can make an instant impact and Rashford can play back in his favoured position. Either way he's not been too bad there anyway.
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Is Diallo a right sided player?
 
There's no one else we can play on the right who can make a decent contribution.

James is .....well just no.
Greenwood? He's woefully out of form.

We really needed a right winger in the summer....I suspect this will cost us as the season goes on .
 
I think Martial needs to be dropped. He’s clearly not in form, and would probably benefit from a couple of weeks out of the spotlight. Time for Diallo to come in and take some of the attention on the right, rotated with Greenwood, Rashford to move back to the left and a refreshed Cavani to start up top.
 
noodlehair said:
Am I missing something here?

He's been one of our best players playing from the left for a year and a half now. We don't have anyone better than him to play there. In fact we don't appear to have anyone else who can even play there and look comfortable.

We're essentially moving our best forward out of position, in order to play someone else out of position, in his position.

Just smacks a bit of trying to complete a jigsaw by taking a correctly placed piece back out and trying to shoe horn it into a gap somewhere else. Has Rashford ever actually played well from the right?
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Because martial is better than him from a technical standpoint on the left. Against burnley we need technique and less running through counters to win.
 
2 man midfield said:
I think Martial needs to be dropped. He’s clearly not in form, and would probably benefit from a couple of weeks out of the spotlight. Time for Diallo to come in and take some of the attention on the right, rotated with Greenwood, Rashford to move back to the left and a refreshed Cavani to start up top.
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What do you mean by martial is not in form? What metric do you use because his last 5 games state otherwise.
 
Layed an assist, cant be that bad.

Also give him time, he hasnt played there much so he might evolve.
 
2 man midfield said:
I think Martial needs to be dropped. He’s clearly not in form, and would probably benefit from a couple of weeks out of the spotlight. Time for Diallo to come in and take some of the attention on the right, rotated with Greenwood, Rashford to move back to the left and a refreshed Cavani to start up top.
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Looking like he's going to miss a period through injury now anyway isn't it.

Rashford on the left, Cavani through the middle and Greenwood on the right on Sunday for me but it wouldn't shock me if Daniel James was on the team sheet, I'd bee disgusted if he was though.
 
acnumber9 said:
Squeezing in all your best players isn’t always what is best for the team though. That’s what England used to do with Scholes. I’m not saying playing Rashford on the right can’t or won’t work, but it could backfire when you sacrifice your second best player to squeeze others in.
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I tend to agree, i'd rather Rashford on the left where he is at his best. We could only do that if we had somebody remotely useful to play on the right though. Two average players are better than one great player and one waste of space.
 
Devil81 said:
Looking like he's going to miss a period through injury now anyway isn't it.

Rashford on the left, Cavani through the middle and Greenwood on the right on Sunday for me but it wouldn't shock me if Daniel James was on the team sheet, I'd bee disgusted if he was though.
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It wouldn’t surprise me if Mata came in on the right, since he’s fairly press resistant and has experience in these big games, especially when it comes to giving the scousers a kicking. Very clinical finisher too - if he gets one of the few chances we’ll create, you’d expect him to bury it. That composure is something we badly need right now.
 
As a few have said, he's simply our best option there. Additionally, he actually covers AWB. Will be a proper test for us vs Liverpool defensively (I think we can get at the offensively) and we'll see how well Rashford/AWB cope with Mane/Robertson. That or we play 5 at the back and go for a 0-0.
 
KennyBurner said:
Because martial is better than him from a technical standpoint on the left. Against burnley we need technique and less running through counters to win.
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Exactly, why do people not see this? What more would he have done from the left, crossed the ball more like Bruno, Martial, Pogba all game? There was no space to counter, and no space to take shots. We needed him on the right, even out of form he does good job there.
 
Devil81 said:
Looking like he's going to miss a period through injury now anyway isn't it.

Rashford on the left, Cavani through the middle and Greenwood on the right on Sunday for me but it wouldn't shock me if Daniel James was on the team sheet, I'd bee disgusted if he was though.
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James v Liverpool please God no... I honestly cannot believe Ole will be daft enough to choose him in this one.

I think Pogba will go left and Rashford will stay right with Cavani up top. I like this set up as we will no doubt see the Fred, McTominay partnership again. I'm just praying they are in front of Bailly and Maguire, not Lindelof.
 
Martial has struggled for form this season but he is a better option than Rashford who's game depends on having space to run into. Neither Martial or Rashford have what it takes to play as a number 9, Cavani is a much better option there.
Martial needs a boost of confidence and he will get his form back.
 
Because tactics. It’s obvious if people actually watch the games.

With Cavani on the pitch yes he has to play more like a RW but with Martial upfront watch the positions the two take up. Martial LF Bruno CF Rashford RF. How people can’t see these things is beyond me. Often you’ll actually see Martial drop in to Bruno’s position much like he did last night. Happens in games when he is up top as well. It’s up to Rashford to improve his timing and runs to get himself in positions. Personally I have no doubt if we persist with this at somepoint Rashfords going to find form again and cause havoc from that side. He’s clearly out of form now and yet every game he is creating moments.

To add for the millionth time Rashford isn’t a stranger to the RW it’s where he played as a youth coming through. Does it stop him cutting in all the time and taking shots yes. Is that a bad thing no not really because most of them came to nothing and just fudged up good attacking moves. Hopefully being on the right he’ll adapt and become a better team player learning that passing to team mates is a good thing, especially when Cavani is up top. When it’s Martial they’ll effectivly be playing as a strike partnership depending on what Bruno wants to do.

Add in if we do sign Grealish the right side will be Rashfords position going forward.
 
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People (including my United mates) have been slating Ole for tinkering and constantly trying new formations and playing players out of position. But I think there's long term merit in his strategy. If a manger (eg Pep) always plays the same way they get accused of being a one trick pony with no "Plan B". There's no magic wand to learning a new formation (or position), it takes hard work and practice AND needs to put into action in the actual games. No mean feat, and it can only ever work if the players have complete trust and faith in the manager! The fact that we now several options for different types of opposition (as opposed to relying on fast counter attacking only) AND that we've gone top of the table means Ole deserves HUGE respect and applause
 
He's had some good games on the right, when Ole wants to start Cavani at #9 then Rashford is our best option at RW.
 
I guess it's because we don't really have a top class right-winger and despite Rashford not being as comfortable on the right as he is on the left, he is more of a threat than our other options.

I do feel this is the reason we will continue to pursue Sancho in the summer, which will then allow Rashford to go back to his favoured left, with Sancho slotting in on the right.

Cavani/Martial
Rashford/Martial Bruno/VdB Sancho/Greenwood​

Or Ole may not go in for Sancho and rotate Greenwood and Diallo.

Cavani/Martial
Rashford/Martial Bruno/VdB Greenwood/Diallo​
 
I don't have a problem with Rashford playing on the right, as long as he has the chance to make incisive runs and get into the box.

The problem really lies with our tactical approach having a lot of players cramming into the same space, nobody running in wide places to open spaces that Rashford and Martial would dominate. The good thing about our approach is that it's hard to lose the ball, but it comes with a lot of downsides (no presence in the box, no wide movements and overlaps, no variety of options to pass to)
 
Wicked_Badger said:
Yeah, neither he or Martial look comfortable in the positions they played tonight. Feels a bit like Ole is trying to play Martial back into form and maybe thinks by not having him up top relieves the pressure a bit?

Doesn’t help that out right is so lacking in attacking quality. There’s not exactly loads of options there.

But... top of the league, won a scrappy game. Can’t care about it too much right now!
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Yeah that's what it feels like to me but I don't like the logic of disrupting the team to try and shoehorn an underperforming player in. If Martial can't play on the right he should be competing with Cavani and Rashford for the other two spots. It shouldn't be someone else taking the fall for his poor form as all that does is weaken the whole team.

Greenwood is probably our most comfortable right sided attacker but we seem completely reluctant to play him.

I'm not complaining too much as we keep getting results but I think the last couple of games it's noticably made things a lot more difficult than they needed to be. Against City in particular our attack lacked any kind of cohesion, and we actually got the ball to them enough to have won that game if they were more in tune.

Red00012 said:
His competition has been Dan James. Let’s not make out Rashford has been elite Ronaldo on the left .

Doesn’t look like Pellestri or Diallo can play left either.

So we basically need a LW now inside of a RW
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He's clearly been one of our best players when he's playing from the left, and if his competion is just Dan James, how come neither Dan James or Rashford were playing from the left last night or against City?

It's the right where we're still short. Rashford is very good from the left and we have others who can fill in when he is injured or rested. The right we only really have Greenwood who looks remotely comfortable, and James who at least provides width but is mostly ineffective there as soon as teams sit back.

TMDaines said:
Because Martial is completely useless there and Rashford’s at least got the good grace and character to at least try his best to carve out a role
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Yeah I don't disagree, but we have Greenwood who could have played there. James who like Rashford will at least try and show positional discipline. If Martial is underperforming the solution is to drop him. We have enough good forward players not to be dicking around with them trying to force things really. If you pick all of them in their preferred roles they're good enough that it doesn't matter if only one or two are actually in form.
 
noodlehair said:
Am I missing something here?

He's been one of our best players playing from the left for a year and a half now. We don't have anyone better than him to play there. In fact we don't appear to have anyone else who can even play there and look comfortable.

We're essentially moving our best forward out of position, in order to play someone else out of position, in his position.

Just smacks a bit of trying to complete a jigsaw by taking a correctly placed piece back out and trying to shoe horn it into a gap somewhere else. Has Rashford ever actually played well from the right?
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The question should be who do we play on the right who’s good enough? Greenwood was our only option till he lost form. Out of the remaining candidates, Rashford is the best option on that side. It’s not like Martial is alien to playing from the left. He’s played there most of his career at Utd. He’s arguably a better option from left than Rashford is.
 
Just makes me more annoyed that we don’t have a ready made right winger.
 
bosnian_red said:
Also if you actually look at whoscoreds average ratings per position, he's rated higher on the right (limited games) than he has been from the left this season. Small sample and who gives a feck about their ratings obviously, but he hasn't been bad at all IMO and has come up with big moments there. Gotta keep in mind that he hasn't played there toooo much so is still adapting (though I think as a youngster he started off out there). But he can dribble well out there, hold width, play good passes and combine well with the other forwards. Want him to get better with his left foot so he's more of a goal threat by cutting in, as right now he cuts in then cuts back onto his right which just makes him delay it a bit.
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I like him better on the right. With AWB offering very little to the attack I think we need someone like Rashford on tthe right who can do it on his own. When Greenwood plays there he gives moments of brilliance but disappears in the game too much for me (he's still young). Rashford however is a constant threat to either score or assist. Personally, I think a front 3 of Marital, Cavani and Rashford is as good or better than any front 3 in Europe...
 
Pogue Mahone said:
Because it’s the only way to fit him Martial and Cavani in the same team. And they’re our best options up front. What’s the alternative?
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This. If you play Rashford, Cavani and Greenwood we don't have enough speed for the counters. The only other option is James on the right and we all know how that will work. We need a RW and we need Martial to play decent football.

Martial is becoming like Lingard in that there doesn't seem to be a reason for him to be on the pitch because he can't score with good chances and he rarely provides a good pass.
 
noodlehair said:
If Martial can't play on the right he should be competing with Cavani and Rashford for the other two spots. It shouldn't be someone else taking the fall for his poor form as all that does is weaken the whole team.

Greenwood is probably our most comfortable right sided attacker but we seem completely reluctant to play him.
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This post seems to be ignoring the fact that Greenwood has been worse than Martial all season. Far worse. They've both been hopeless in front of goal but Martial's been contributing far more generally.

And Rashford is doing way better on the right than Greenwood or James. Really not seeing how it's weakening the team to play this way when the alternatives on the right are a young player out of form and a young player who's just a bit crap. Or Mata...
 
Borys said:
Exactly, why do people not see this? What more would he have done from the left, crossed the ball more like Bruno, Martial, Pogba all game? There was no space to counter, and no space to take shots. We needed him on the right, even out of form he does good job there.
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Dont mind them, they just love to whine. Rashford was fine on the right. He would need to drop terrible consistent performances from there for me to right him off playing on the right. Right now its what the team needs. He was also good vs City and would have done well if not for bruno messing up multiple final passes.
 
Lots of reasons being presented which is strange as hardly seen any posts mention it prior to him being lumped out there. Sheeple will sheeple.
 
Chief123 said:
The question should be who do we play on the right who’s good enough? Greenwood was our only option till he lost form. Out of the remaining candidates, Rashford is the best option on that side. It’s not like Martial is alien to playing from the left. He’s played there most of his career at Utd. He’s arguably a better option from left than Rashford is.
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I don't think he's comparable to Rashford at all as an option on the left. It's true Martial has been playing on the left a lot, but it's also true he's never had a really satisfactory season except for his first half-year, and last season - in both of whom he was played as a striker. He simply is not a left winger - never has been, never will be. He's been used there because there's always been better options as striker, not because he is good there. OGS was clear about that too, ahead of last season - Martial's a no 9, that's where he should play. What he provides on the left is essentially a misplaced striker - doing much the same things as when he plays centrally, but from a less advantageous position and hence with less success.
 
I feel that since we missed out on Sancho, we've attempted to play Rashford in a similar mould to Sancho, whereby he's actually more of a playmaker than an inside forward.
 
It's as much to fit Pogba in on the left rather than Cavani up front. I think the Ole's first choice front 3 is Pogba, Martial, Rashford at the moment.
 
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