Rashford and Martial are a problem

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WW Lynchpin
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Cavani must start as often as his fitness will allow. Rashford, Martial and Greenwood can share the remaining forward spots between them, alternating when and where necessary.

Either that or break the bank for Haaland in the morning. Yes, I like that idea.
 

Bojan11

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Cavani must start as often as his fitness will allow. Rashford, Martial and Greenwood can share the remaining forward spots between them, alternating when and where necessary.

Either that or break the bank for Haaland in the morning. Yes, I like that idea.
Haaland isn’t going to solve our wide problem.
 

Kag

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:houllier:

This is major worry at the moment. I laughed at this thread initially but they’re making it difficult to back them. Martial, in particular, looks bereft of all confidence.
 

Plymouth Red

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This. Hoping every game that they'll get going again.
Two out of four off the boil is worrying but we have three out of four in this situation. Must be the biggest challenge facing the coaches currently.
 
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MAME DIOUF 32

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Greenwood is a bigger problem imo. Or more accurately the complete lack of a proven right sided player is a problem. Both Rashford and Martial can be hit and miss but there's always the potential of a goal there. I don't see that from the right.
 

UNITED ACADEMY

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Greenwood is still very young, so it's normal with him. Rashford has done very well this season. Martial is not as young as Greenwood anymore, he's 25 already and nowhere near Rashford in the final third output this season. Martial will need to step up and perform like minimum last season, we are missing that world class or match winner forward to make our attack complete again. If we have RVP or prime Cavani instead of Martial pretty sure this thread won't be created in the first place.
 

stw2022

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Martial might not be as deadly but he links up better with the rest of the team. Rarely does his involvement in the build up to us creating an opportunity at goal (even if it isn’t him who gets it) seem awkward or jarring, he’s capable of moving ball quickly. Rashford can move quickly with the ball but he tends to dwell on it.

Where it’s required to move the ball quickly to pull apart a defence Martial is better skilled at that.

Not sure either are good enough for what we need but Martial is far less cumbersome and hesitant in possession. If the situation requires sharp link-up play you want Marital not the guy who will keep the ball for too long and almost always run himself into a cul-de-sac.

I’d like to see Martial and Cavani get minutes of the pitch together
 

HowieC

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Martial might not be as deadly but he links up better with the rest of the team. Rarely does his involvement in the build up to us creating an opportunity at goal (even if it isn’t him who gets it) seem awkward or jarring, he’s capable of moving ball quickly. Rashford can move quickly with the ball but he tends to dwell on it.

Where it’s required to move the ball quickly to pull apart a defence Martial is better skilled at that.

Not sure either are good enough for what we need but Martial is far less cumbersome and hesitant in possession. If the situation requires sharp link-up play you want Marital not the guy who will keep the ball for too long and almost always run himself into a cul-de-sac.

I’d like to see Martial and Cavani get minutes of the pitch together
Great analysis
 

Jericho

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Despite their experience they still seem so raw. Their decision making can be terrible. Martial is more of a problem though. Rashford is at least a good option off the bench to try and make something happen.
 

Suv666

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The sooner Ole realizes Martial is not the player to lead a title charge the better, he's hardly top four quality. Lad plays 10 decent game in a season. Should be sold in the summer.
 

Judas

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Greenwood is a bigger problem imo. Or more accurately the complete lack of a proven right sided player is a problem. Both Rashford and Martial can be hit and miss but there's always the potential of a goal there. I don't see that from the right.
:lol: :houllier: he's a child. Of course he's not a bigger problem than someone who has been at the club 6 years who simply hasn't really improved at all.

It was idiotic to go into another season basically relying on Mason and what we have to cover for RW, but we all knew that. People in the summer saying "we don't need a winger it will harm Greenwood's development!!!" looked dumb then even dumber now.
 

stw2022

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Martial got into positions last night. Okay he didn’t convert the chances he had with his head but he was there. Both players woefully lack many attributes needed to be genuinely top players but at least this shows an ability to read the game to get into those positions.

But there isn’t an OptaStat for that so most will look at you if you’re mental for even mentioning it.

It’s one of these things where if there was a way of quantifying things such as how good a player is at reading the game or positioning or decision-making then it would be great, but the fact that these things cannot be reflected in statistics means that in the course of online debates about how a player has played with things such as positioning, decision-making and reading of the game do not exist as topics because it isn’t something someone can Google and find a satisfactory answer for
 
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Bobcat

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:lol: :houllier: he's a child. Of course he's not a bigger problem than someone who has been at the club 6 years who simply hasn't really improved at all.

It was idiotic to go into another season basically relying on Mason and what we have to cover for RW, but we all knew that. People in the summer saying "we don't need a winger it will harm Greenwood's development!!!" looked dumb then even dumber now.
This. Greenwood is having a bit of a second season syndrome, but i am confident he will come good.

Martial on the other hand, the sand is starting to run out. Being of the boil for a couple of months happens to loads of attackers, but half a season? Lack of output is one thing, but right now he does not impact the games in any meaningful way either.
 

Mylock

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Greenwood is a bigger problem, IMO. Or more accurately, the complete lack of a proven right-sided player is a problem. Both Rashford and Martial can be hit and miss, but there's always the potential of a goal there. I don't see that from the right.
I believe part of Greenwood's problems are playing on the same wing as Wan Bisska who hasn't a clue on how to attack when he gets the ball. It must be very frustrating to play on the same wing as him. Also, when Greenwood originally came into the team, he was a lot braver and more adventurous with his decision making. It looks like he's been instructed to pass it more, his natural game is to get his shots off which has affected his confidence. We need to have either Cavani or Greenwood in around the box more often and get it in there so they can work their magic. The lack of quality and delay of the pass is leading to a very static forward line. Rashford and Martial need to realise the ball far sooner. Bruno could also try to play the simple pass from time to time.
 

Jaqen H'ghar

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Martial might not be as deadly but he links up better with the rest of the team. Rarely does his involvement in the build up to us creating an opportunity at goal (even if it isn’t him who gets it) seem awkward or jarring, he’s capable of moving ball quickly. Rashford can move quickly with the ball but he tends to dwell on it.

Where it’s required to move the ball quickly to pull apart a defence Martial is better skilled at that.

Not sure either are good enough for what we need but Martial is far less cumbersome and hesitant in possession. If the situation requires sharp link-up play you want Marital not the guy who will keep the ball for too long and almost always run himself into a cul-de-sac.

I’d like to see Martial and Cavani get minutes of the pitch together
Great analysis
Sorry, but I disagree. That seems like 'pseudo analysis', based on nothing and unquantifiable.

You've just put forward opinions on why you think he's good, ignoring his form at the moment. You didn't even try to analyze what may be wrong or how he could fix it.

Martial is having a terrible patch, and I hope it ends very soon, because on form he's very good, but concluding that, in this form, it should be him and Cavani upfront as duo at the moment is bizzare to say the least.

Martial got into positions last night. Okay he didn’t convert the chances he had with his head but he was there. Both players woefully lack many attributes needed to be genuinely top players but at least this shows an ability to read the game to get into those positions.

But there isn’t an OptaStat for that so most will look at you if you’re mental for even mentioning it.

It’s one of these things where if there was a way of quantifying things such as how good a player is at reading the game or positioning or decision-making then it would be great, but the fact that these things cannot be reflected in statistics means that in the course of online debates about how a player has played with things such as positioning, decision-making and reading of the game do not exist as topics because it isn’t something someone can Google and find a satisfactory answer for
There are stats. A player's xG could be used to deduce his positioning. When underperforming his xG you could argue it would correct itself over time. Assists and key passes could paint a picture of contribution.
 

stw2022

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There are stats. A player's xG could be used to deduce his positioning. When underperforming his xG you could argue it would correct itself over time. Assists and key passes could paint a picture of contribution.
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Yet more head-down stuff from Rashford this half, ignoring teammates 95% of the time when he gets the ball, not dribbling past anyone, creating zero chances, and generally not being the best player on the pitch.

Typical. Wolves and Leicester wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.
 

kidbob

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If the two of them and Martial can hit their top level then we have a very good chance at the title. Rashford has been great today and hopefully the goal will give Mason a boost and Martial finds him form soon. Hard to believe that we are where we are currently without any of these players really firing. I still have hope though. It's only a few months ago that they were a scary front three.
 

acnumber9

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Yet more head-down stuff from Rashford this half, ignoring teammates 95% of the time when he gets the ball, not dribbling past anyone, creating zero chances, and generally not being the best player on the pitch.

Typical. Wolves and Leicester wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.
Take a day off. Rashford has skinned them alive all half and created our goal.
 

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Yet more head-down stuff from Rashford this half, ignoring teammates 95% of the time when he gets the ball, not dribbling past anyone, creating zero chances, and generally not being the best player on the pitch.

Typical. Wolves and Leicester wouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.
:lol:
 

Atheist

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Martial doesn’t offer anything. He needs to go back to the U-23s and prove himself or leave for good.
 

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You don't win league titles with two highly inconsistent strikers leading the line.

Lesson learned I guess.
 

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That was shocking.
The passing, dribbling, work rate was all the worst I have seen in ages. Like playing with 9 men.
 

Silverman

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The lack of effort is what pisses me off. They look like they cudnt give a feck.
 

acnumber9

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Either should’ve been brought off ahead of Greenwood. Rashford has at least shown form for being a match winner while being shite so kind of understandable. Martial should’ve been hauled off and put to rest. Rashford wasn’t just bad, he was invisible.
 

M Bison

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Difficult to disagree with this, but we’ve no alternatives, and Greenwood is looking poor too so out of 4 attacking positions, we’ve got Cavani and Bruno.
 

dannyrhinos89

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Sick to death of them both

Having 1 good game every 10 doesn't make them world class.

Neither are good enough long term.
 

GMoore23

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Greenwood is very young so I'll give him more time.
Martial and Rashford are 2 fecking posers. We need more strength up front so we can bench the 2 cnuts when they're playing like this.
At least work your balls off when your out of form FFS.