Is Rashford better than the likes of Saint Maximin?

Fooza

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Consistency

Been saying it for years, him and Martial have never and will never be consistent for united. We just too obsessed with keeping players with 'talent' who barely do much in long periods of time.
 

Jacob

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Only at United you can regress or stall in development for 3-4 years without repurcussions. Favourites FC.
 

Ibi Dreams

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If you go back and watch Rashford's past games, he's had plenty of games better than St. Maximin had against us. He was a great player a couple of years ago. I didn't see ASM do anything Rashford hasn't done before, really

Right now his form is bad, and he hasn't been the same since that injury he got. I'm worried about him not getting back to his best, but who knows.
 

Swedish_Plumber

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He can’t start the next few games surely. I can actually see him moving on too. Doesn’t look like he has any passion for us right now, it’s not just the quality of performance but the desire is absent too.
 

Mr.Plow

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The amount of times he gives the ball away or runs straight into the opposition is unreal. You never have any faith in him to finish when he's through, he's getting as bad as the likes of Cleverly, Lingard and Welbeck at this point.
 

Ducklegs

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Rashford is not a very good footballer, his decision making is abysmal, he is lazy, cowardly in the challenge and to be honest displays 0 aptitude for doing anything other than getting his head down and running (not particularly fast anymore) into a dead end.
 

wolvored

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I think if he was in your own team he would be incredibly infuriating, moments of brilliance surrounded by headless chicken, flatters to deceive far, far too often. His chance today should have been finished, and that has been his problem for a long time.
Just like Rashford then
 

Theafonis

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Rashford is not a very good footballer, his decision making is abysmal, he is lazy, cowardly in the challenge and to be honest displays 0 aptitude for doing anything other than getting his head down and running (not particularly fast anymore) into a dead end.
I think he’s been too coddled but Solskjaer these last couple of years.
 

Stadjer

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I honestly think Saint Maximin is a great player. If Rashford and Saint Maximin are both at their best, i dont know who i would pick to start.
 

lex talionis

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Others have mentioned it already, but Rashford hasn’t looked the same since the back injury. What he jacked in football intelligence he made up for with incredible athleticism. I’m not optimistic about his future.
 

VidaRed

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On current form, Saint-Maximin is way better, yesterday you could see how he was driving the attacks, dribbling past our players, being dangerous, what would you expect from a good forward. Rashford is just off form and still starting for no valid reason, his decision making was and still is awful when it matters the most. I don't know how much that penalty miss in the final messed him up (maybe Carrick-like post Barcelona) but he needs to get his shit together.
Saint-Maximin get criticized for his inconsistency but I think if he played in a bigger club (coached better) or in a better team he would even be better. Rashford has been a starter at a top club for 4 years+ and still has not shown any signs that he will be regular starting forward that we can depend on and that's what frustrates the most as he's the academy boy we all want to see flourishing...
I'd take an inconsistent good player over a player who's consistently serving us turd.
 

Dirty Schwein

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If he was at Everton, would people want him here? I think that answers the question.
 

BoltonWanderer

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Rashford is pretty easy to play against, I don't think you're going to get opposition fans fearing what he might do whenever he gets the ball. Rashford has gone through the same progression that Rooney did; started off as a raw, exciting prospect that was physically brilliant and would scare defenders, but then after a few years, mature into a more 'sensible' player. The big difference is that when Rooney lost that raw edge, he was still quality because he was intelligent and technically gifted whereas now that Rashford has gone through the same thing, he's not got enough substance to pull it off.

Giggs was the same, once a very raw, exciting prospect who terrified defenders but when he matured, he was able to still be as much of a threat. At the very end of his career, he was able to adapt again and because of his technical quality and knowledge of the game, still became an asset, dspite all his pace going.

I just don't think Rashford is technically good enough to adapt and become a quality player as he matures. There are definitely issues with his footballing intelligence and how he reads the game too, so now that he's lost that raw, exciting potential we saw under van Gaal and Mourinho, it's hard to see what he actually offers now. Fans of a player of his age at a club like United shouldn't be wishing they had the 19 year old prospect back.
 
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Zlatanator

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Rashford's off-the-field heroics masks his onfield lackluster performances.
 
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I think it’s now indisputable that Rashford is no longer the player he once was, along with that the potential for greatness also seems to have gone.

IMO it is partly down to his injury but also a big part of it is him taking the David Beckham route (not in the same way but at the peak of his career suddenly choosing to do non football related things).

He has put a lot of time and focus onto charity which is amazing and it’s more important than football at the end of the day, I think he has actually transcended football and will go on to do even greater things.

Unfortunately when you want to be the best at something then it requires 100% dedication. Even taking 10% of focus away at the elite level he is at will hinder performance. I look at it as being British we gain from Marcus being a great man who we can all be proud of but as Man Utd fans I think that we have sadly lost out on potentially having one of our best players ever. At his age, potential is fast fizzling away. That being said, it could all be a load of crap what I have written and his drop off maybe entirely due to his injury but I doubt it.
 
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Foxbatt

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SM at his best is a better player than Rashford. Both are inconsistent. SM is much stronger and has better skills.
 

daveskimufc

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It’s the constant refusal to pass. He needs far too many touches and always try to jink his way through tight areas when it’s never going to work.

I was honestly shocked he started vs Newcastle going by the way he played in his last 4 games.
 

hobbers

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We’re becoming specialists in turning good players into below average ones. Just look at how Lukaku is performing at Chelsea now
He's been shite for them.

Although the first sentence is still correct.
 

Reij

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ASM reminds me of Mane at Southampton years ago.
Mane was closer to opposition box and could directly cross or shoot the ball when he was beating 1-2 players, while ASM has to carry the ball dozens of meters and dribble past players to get the same opportunities as Mane.
The second difference.. Southampton was a genuine good PL team back then, finishing 6 or 7 place for consecutive years. This Newcastle is the worst team or the second worst in PL.
As for the comparation of ASM with Rashford.. I think that if they had the same chances while emerging as youths more people would consider ASM to have a higher ceiling, because he easily beats his man. As for now, Rashford is a good finisher when playing in his best position and on form, bad when he doesn't have space or has to create chances, while ASM is very good at breaking through the lines and getting in dangerous positions and bad at finishing.
In a great team with a great coach I would pick ASM over Rashford, because is easier to teach and practice finishing (Mane, Vinicius, Gnabry, Sane, Sterling even C. Ronaldo) while dribbling depends a lot on talent.
 
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Pirlo'sBeard

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Consistency

Been saying it for years, him and Martial have never and will never be consistent for united. We just too obsessed with keeping players with 'talent' who barely do much in long periods of time.
It's nothing to do with consistency. He's been terrible for a very long time. He's just not an elite level player, yet he'll still start most games ahead of Sancho and Mason.
 

The Hacker

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Judging this based on how poor we were yesterday isn’t a fair comparison. Our weak defending allowed him to run riot. He wouldn’t get the same look in with other teams who‘S CDs were not having a night off.
 

VP89

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Hes not better than Bowen either. Really nose dived as a player.

Hes in his prime too and cant afford to do this.
 

BerryBerryShrew

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Maybe it has nothing to do with injury or attitude. When he was playing class in 19/20 that may have just been a purple patch which people then assumed would constitute the beginning of a linear progression to greatness due to his age. However, from Santa Cruz to Amr Zaki, from Dele Alli to Papiss Cisse, the Premier League is full of players who had it all of a sudden only to not have it just as suddenly.

Perhaps he can turn it around and prove me wrong but my guess is that he sadly just isn't particularly good and as with those listed above he never really was. He just had a few months where the sun shone on him and now he has regressed back to his reality: on form a decent player but not good enough to start ahead of Greenwood or Sancho.
 
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yamo123x

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Rashfood has been poor since Mourinho left, has odd decent game then saunters about like he is the best player in the world with his individual standing still style.

When he broke into the team many moons ago, he worked his socks off, and won me and many fans over by his attitude and love for the club. He wasn't brilliant but he knew his place and his technique improved.

Sadly fame, social media and the like has gone to his head and we now have a real arrogant untouchable undroppable player who I dont like.
 

AltiUn

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Currently he isn't. Very likely he retires here though, we're just too sentimental as a club.
 

Wing Attack Plan R

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That sports psychologist RR brought in will have a job on their hands with Rashford. When he has played lately he looks like he has lost his self-belief, and instead of flying at full pelt and using his natural instincts, he is overthinking each situation. I see him drop his head when he goes at a defender, like he already knows his juke has a slim chance of working, which makes it even less likely to come off. The great players “know” what to do with and without the ball, they do it by feel and are never trapped in their own heads. Rashford seems very much trapped. Saint-Maximin is a big beast who still uses raw power to get through defenses, expectations are not heaped on him, and he does not bear the weight of the England team nor the public adoration of his humanitarian deeds: he’s just a good footballer in a weak team. Rashford is the better player but has not been at his best for awhile now, before even the Euros. It looks to me like the operation was not a success and he’s still playing in discomfort.
 

darko

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I can't read his mind. I can only speak about what I see. I see poor passing. Taking on too many defenders and losing the ball too often. I see a player waiting for the ball to come to him when he should be moving to the ball. I see z player not back tracking. On a positive note, he does gave a good shot from distance in him.
 

Chief123

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If you think so, why?

Because we come up against these types of player, even from lower placed teams, who show things that I don't remember seeing from Rashford in a long time.

Some might say ASM and others like him (Bowden, Neto, Traore etc) are 1 in 5 players, but if that's their '1' then where is Rashford's game where he is just a one-man wrecking machine for the opposition?

What other players fall into this category that you think may actually be better than Rashford?
Even though if feels like we constantly come up against players who play a lot better than our attackers and seem to be a bigger threat, we have to look at the context…

As Man Utd, we will normally attack most teams we come up against and leave plenty of space behind the defence. Most opponents will also sit deep against us with numbers behind the ball. These 2 factors will mean any opponents players with skill/pace will always be a threat when they have space to run into. The likes of Rashford constantly come up against 2/3 players doubling up on him and not much space to work with.

I know Rashford is miles off where he can be, but the factors above play a big part.

If you put St Maximim in our team or any of the top teams, he’d probably struggle to break down most defences. It’s a whole different game when you have a high line defence to play against.
 

Pogue Mahone

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Maybe it has nothing to do with injury or attitude. When he was playing class in 19/20 that may have just been a purple patch which people then assumed would constitute the beginning of a linear progression to greatness due to his age. However, from Santa Cruz to Amr Zaki, from Dele Alli to Papiss Cisse, the Premier League is full of players who had it all of a sudden only to not have it just as suddenly.

Perhaps he can turn it around and prove me wrong but my guess is that he sadly just isn't particularly good and as with those listed above he never really was. He just had a few months where the sun shone on him and now he has regressed back to his reality: on form a decent player but not good enough to start ahead of Greenwood or Sancho.
That’s definitely possible. I saw a really depressing headline somewhere on the interweb earlier, “Rashford is the new Walcott”. Could very well be true :(
 

Sandikan

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I think if he was in your own team he would be incredibly infuriating, moments of brilliance surrounded by headless chicken, flatters to deceive far, far too often. His chance today should have been finished, and that has been his problem for a long time.
It's good to read a bit of balance, as after yesterday, most of our internet fans seem to be in a "everyone is crap" mode, and it's pretty tedious.

I think your take is spot on.
 

Carl

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Hasn't been the same since the back injury.

Was one of the best attackers in the league before that.
All the more frustrating when you remember that we knowingly continued to play him with that injury and the game he did it in was some cup tie against lower league opposition.
 

dan1509

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There has been way too many excueses on here for Rashford over the years. There is always an excuse for his bad performances. Whether its an injury, being played out of position.. the coach....the list goes on. Last season the excuse was that he was playing injured. He then got the surgery over the summer and is now recovered. Funnily enough, upon recovering from his injury he is even worse now than when he was playing injured? The Rashford diehards need to face reality. There is no agenda or irrational hatred against him. He is just not that good of a player, and if it were not for him being homegrown he would criticized by the media as much as the likes of Martial and Pogba. You do not compete for champions league or league titles with players as average as Rashford. I would not mind him as a squad player, but he is getting paid as if he were a superstar, and he is nowhere near that nor will he ever be.
 

ayushreddevil9

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All the more frustrating when you remember that we knowingly continued to play him with that injury and the game he did it in was some cup tie against lower league opposition.
We should be thankful to Ole for that. Left the squad in much better shape and all you know.
 

Carl

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That’s definitely possible. I saw a really depressing headline somewhere on the interweb earlier, “Rashford is the new Walcott”. Could very well be true :(
He's got more to him game than Walcott. He's the new Obertan..