If Rashford hits another purple patch, will it change your mind on him?

[Oscar Bonavena]

If Marcus somehow stumbles upon one of his ever elusive "purple patches" this season and scores say, 10 goals in his next 10 games, has the damage already been done for you? Is your mind already made up on him?

His bad runs of form are so God-awful, so long and so devoid of any redeeming characteristics that I'm going to find it hard to jump on the Rashford train if it ever pulls into the station again. I'm not sure I'd even care at this stage.

I've been fooled too many times by Marcus's purple patches, they can be spectacular but they're usually very fleeting. Unlike world class forward players on other teams, there doesn't seem to be a base level of performance that we can expect from him. If he's not firing on all cylinders, then every single aspect of his game falls off a cliff.

So, regardless what Marcus may or may not do for the rest of the season, has your mind been made up about him? And what would he need to do to win back your trust?

 

[garelo]

forget about goals, i want him to be a team player more. Giggs didnt score as much but i'd take him over Rashford any day of the week simply because he was a player who can bring everyone into the game.

 

[UnitedRepublic]

I’ve never really rated him ever since he broke through. Some players just have it in a way that you know what type of player they are. With Hazard you’d know what you would get. Just look at Eze he got lovely technical ability and thats just who he is. Rashford it’s kinda hard to say what type of player he is I would rate him more if he just played simple and used his speed instead of all the gimmic stepovers and lucky bounces of defenders. He needs to be more humble and to cut inside doesn’t mean it has to be a shot it can also be a pass.

 

[Theonas]

I really don't know if it's just me but he always had that Bambi on ice look to him, add to it his body language where he can just look a bit within himself and I think that made him for me always in the category of can be good but will never be a consistent top tier performer. Maybe I am being superficial but 7 years on and I am yet to be proven wrong. He just doesn't have the composure, finesse and determination of the very, very best.

 

[Waynne]

We need forwards that can press and put in the hard yards to tackle/win the ball back. You can't expect that from Rashford.

Last time he threw his hands up in the air after what looked like attempting to track an opposition player. Opposition player sprinting to receive the ball, Rashford jogging back. That move almost resulted in conceding a goal.

That was the final straw for me. He's not a United player and I'd sell him for a 6 pack of beers.

 

[Cantonagotmehere]

I don't are about anything anymore. (besides Hojlund performances and the youngins).

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

Thanks for the responses fellas, but I don't want this thread to become a critique of all Marcus's shortcomings because there are already a few of those!!

I want to know how many fans are out there who've become so disillusioned with him that even another temporary run of goalscoring form won't be enough to redeem him.

I felt similar with de Gea when he was going through a run of inexplicable howlers. I felt like, I don't even care if you pull a miraculous save out of the top corner anymore cos you've let in so many powder-puff shots that I don't trust you anymore. I never got that trust back in de Gea and I don't think I'll ever trust Rashford again.

It would want to be a rapid and sustained period (and I mean a full season and beyond, not 2 months) of top form from him to make me change my mind.

 

[Red the Bear]

Yeah, we're only 7 games in.

 

[clarkydaz]

Not really. It's all quite predictable now

 

[Luffy]

I would care whenever he scores a goal like against Arsenal. Even if we're losing. I like watching football and I guess I'd enjoy him having a great run. That's not incompatible with what I do think of him generally.

 

[NLunited]

He is dependent on the team to create space for him. If teams dig in more he will have trouble and will have to adjust his game more.

 

[KD6-3.7]

I was critical of him during his last purple match so it won’t change anything for me. The evidence was there for all to see that whenever he eventually starts performing again it will only last a certain amount of time.

 

[JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo]

Of course I'll care. We need fecking goals

 

[Stig]

If he has a purple patch it will only be temporary and that's not what we need .

 

[Red_toad]

Find it very random that fans wouldn’t want all players to perform at their peak levels.
personally be very happy if Rashford gets another 20 odd goals this season. Ladsout of form and it’s yet another pile in on a certain player

 

[RedDevil@84]

I am not sure what do you mean by will you care. We need goals and if it comes with his purple patch, so be it. I would love him to bang it in, regardless of whether I think he will or will not do it again.

Besides, he has already signed the extension. So it doesn't matter if me or any of the fans care or not. The club has already decided that he is worth investing in and they have. That money is gone. My approval means jack shit.

I think Rashford is the poster boy of the club. The club knows it and he knows it. There won't be an ETH vs Sancho situation with Rashford, because Rashford is much more mature and loves the club.
And in a hypothetical world where there evolves an ETH Vs Rashford situation, ETH is a goner. The club is gonna choose Rashford every time. And ETH knows it.

Personally, I think this is what Rashford is. He will blow hot and cold, be effective and not. He doesn't seem to be in the path of a late bloom or something. When he burst onto the scene, I thought we will have a player who can develop into a star. But that belief paper has been folded and put in the back pocket a year or more back. I would like to see how we start doing with Rashford on bench. But I don't think that is gonna happen.
Garnacho is promising, but again a kid. He is not gonna steal Rashford's position on a regular basis.

 

[garelo]

He is dependent on the team to create space for him. If teams dig in more he will have trouble and will have to adjust his game more.

Thats not it. if you notice during the game he was often surrounded by 3-4 opposition players, that itself created space for his teammates but rather than pass the ball to his teammates who were in more advantageous position he decided to dribble past multiple players instead. hes supposed to be our superstar yet at 25 hes still making rookie's mistake.

 

[Thom Merrilin]

My mind has been made up for a while now. I like Rashford and think he's a good player and probably a decent human as well. He's not world class though and never has been despite the numbers.

 

[stw2022]

He is dependent on the team to create space for him. If teams dig in more he will have trouble and will have to adjust his game more.

The thing is the team do create space for him. Movement around him is acually very good, but he ignores everything.

There's a Twitter video showing times the full-back has created space on the overlap for him either by dragging defenders away or putting themselves in position where they could easily be played in and be in position to put dangerous cross into the box. Rashford ignores them every single time.

Only Haaland has had more shots in the league than Rashford. 28 shots....1 goal

 

[norm87cro]

I would enjoy focusing more on:
1) our pompous manager making bad decision after another and publicly throwing all the players he doesnt like under the bus
2) our "fixed" defence with the injury prone Varane and Lindelof the rag doll defender (since you made this thread maybe I should make another one about this collosal fraud)as our main options at CB
3) the fact that Antonys case maybe turns out to be worse than Greenwoods and despite their absence Garnacho not getting into the starting 11. This fact alone makes Rashford pretty hard to drop since he has no competition. (at least we have Sanch... oh wait our manager burnt that ship as well)
4) the Glazers being the owners (probably should be number 1)

Rashfords having a bad run and probably a bad season as is our whole entire team. If everybody else was playing better your thread would probably have much more following. Last season he was great and if you are great the whole season that isnt a "purple patch" but a consistent run of form. Im not saying we should ignore it but the mans form is priortiy number 8 or 9 the way things have been going in this club.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Wouldn't mind keeping him if he is having purple patch of 10-20 games every season.

The only thing is that, he shouldn't be automatically first choice during his bad run of forms, as he has been one of most detrimental factor in our team during those period. Sill a very good player when attacking on the break, and we may need such weapons in some games.

 

[stw2022]

We would have more points without him this season. No doubt. We saw in the cup just how much we created simply by moving the ball with pace and purpose in the final third. He's the footballing equivalent of John Goodman in that Family Guy sketch; eating absolutely everything we make leaving starving team mates looking on enviously.

The irony for Marcus Statsford though is that what he does now actually looks good on the stats (if you ignore how many chances he missing) as look how many chances he's getting.. must be playing well, right?

 

[norm87cro]

Wouldn't mind keeping him if he is having purple patch of 10-20 games every season.

The only thing is that, he shouldn't be automatically first choice during his bad run of forms, as he has been one of most detrimental factor in our team during those period. Sill a very good player when attacking on the break, and we may need such weapons in some games.

This is probably one of the more objective assessments of Rashford on this site and if we had depth on this position I would completley agree with the first choice comment. Say if we had Sancho, Antony and Greenwood on our disposal. Hopefully Antony comes back and the manager mixes up him with Rashford and Garnacho since those are the only options currently

 

[RedChisel]

I'd be happy if I never saw him in a United shirt again. A nothing player who's had a couple of decent seasons and that's it.

 

[stoinz]

Why not? I'm hoping he does because I dunno who will get us goals if he doesn't.

 

[mikeyt]

He's been in the first team set up now for what 7/8 years, yet his decision making is still woeful. When young players develop, quite often decision making is what separates the top players from those that are simply 'good'. Rashford scored a lot of goals last season and fair play for that but he'll never be that top, top player we really crave in attack. I'd argue our best performance this season was with him not playing and I'd like to see him dropped.

 

[stw2022]

I'd be happy if I never saw him in a United shirt again. A nothing player who's had a couple of decent seasons and that's it.

His non-penalty goals record in the league vs number of appearances he's made each year

5 (11)
5 (32)
7 (35)
10 (33)
11 (31)
11 (37)
4 (25)
17 (35)


For a forward 17 in a league season is a decent return but it's bizarre some use it as evidence of him being world class

 

[girish]

If helps the team win points, I would absolutely care.

 

[Judas]

Of course? This place is so weird. He’s not in form and he’s got a lot of aspects in his game that need improving, but he’s still for better or worse our most important and dangerous attacker.

 

[Gopher Brown]

I’ll be delighted when he hits form again. To suggest that you’d ignore it is ridiculous. Lots of players are streaky in their form and have been heralded through the years as ‘club legends’

 

[Slevs]

Of course I'll care, it'll mean we get more points.
However, it won't change the fact that eventually I'd want an actual team player with a brain playing on the left wing instead of this brainless pace merchant who can't see his teammates.

 

[BootsyCollins]

Well, yes? Why would a United fan not be happy when a United player plays well?

Rashford is always called a bad player who hits good form, never a good player who falls into bad form from time to time.

 

[justsomebloke]

If Marcus somehow stumbles upon one of his ever elusive "purple patches" this season and scores say, 10 goals in his next 10 games, has the damage already been done for you? Is your mind already made up on him?

His bad runs of form are so God-awful, so long and so devoid of any redeeming characteristics that I'm going to find it hard to jump on the Rashford train if it ever pulls into the station again. I'm not sure I'd even care at this stage.

I've been fooled too many times by Marcus's purple patches, they can be spectacular but they're usually very fleeting. Unlike world class forward players on other teams, there doesn't seem to be a base level of performance that we can expect from him. If he's not firing on all cylinders, then every single aspect of his game falls off a cliff.

So, regardless what Marcus may or may not do for the rest of the season, has your mind been made up about him? And what would he need to do to win back your trust?

This is too far beyond reason to be worth discussing. Bolded part: Easily checkable through stats, and needless to say you are completely wrong.

 

[AndySmith1990]

I don't rate him. When LVG promoted him to the senior team I did. He looked like he had real potential. That potential has amounted to nothing. Nothing has improved about him as a player. The only change I can notice is with him as a person. His ego and opinion of himself has grown whilst his talent has stagnated.

He won't have another purple patch until his contract is due for renewal and we hear stories planted by his agent of PSG and Barca being interested.

Right now he's detrimental to the team. He doesn't even understand the meaning of the word team. In his head he is Ronaldo. Unfortunately for him he's not got a fraction of the talent or work ethic. The guy needs bringing down a peg or two and dropping to the bench

 

[Borys]

He is dependent on the team to create space for him. If teams dig in more he will have trouble and will have to adjust his game more.

That's true - partially. First of all, when he receives a ball and is against 4 players, the "lack of space" is not an excuse to run at them and lose the ball easily. What he needs to do in that situation is to revert back to "basics", and he doesn't seem capable of doing so what is a big problem.
Secondly, He was against one CP defender a few times last game, but he's clearly in bad form right now as he did nothing with this.

Both him and Bruno focus too much on getting through on goal in the simplest, fastest way.

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

I am not sure what do you mean by will you care. We need goals and if it comes with his purple patch, so be it. I would love him to bang it in, regardless of whether I think he will or will not do it again.

Besides, he has already signed the extension. So it doesn't matter if me or any of the fans care or not. The club has already decided that he is worth investing in and they have. That money is gone. My approval means jack shit.

I think Rashford is the poster boy of the club. The club knows it and he knows it. There won't be an ETH vs Sancho situation with Rashford, because Rashford is much more mature and loves the club.
And in a hypothetical world where there evolves an ETH Vs Rashford situation, ETH is a goner. The club is gonna choose Rashford every time. And ETH knows it.

Personally, I think this is what Rashford is. He will blow hot and cold, be effective and not. He doesn't seem to be in the path of a late bloom or something. When he burst onto the scene, I thought we will have a player who can develop into a star. But that belief paper has been folded and put in the back pocket a year or more back. I would like to see how we start doing with Rashford on bench. But I don't think that is gonna happen.
Garnacho is promising, but again a kid. He is not gonna steal Rashford's position on a regular basis.

Great response. Unfortunately, I think every single thing you say is true.

This club has a tradition of having individual players that seem to achieve iconic, almost ****-like status (eg Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo) moreso than say, Liverpool, where even the star players are just cogs in the machine.

Yet Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, who were all instrumental in winning league titles and/or European Cups for the club, never wielded the same amount of power that this player does, who's barely achieved a fraction of what they did!

Absolute madness!

 

[Utd heap]

If a Man Utd player starts playing really well will you enjoy it?

Is that this thread?

Absolutely bizarre, get a grip

 

[Crashoutcassius]

The team are so bad going forward himself and Bruno are the only ones that can create a chance themselves, much like it was under ole. We are more moments FC now than we were then. There is simply no plan to the attack. Drop rashford and Bruno and we wouldn't even be moments FC, we would just not score

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Great response. Unfortunately, I think every single thing you say is true.

This club has a tradition of having individual players that seem to achieve iconic, almost ****-like status (eg Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo) moreso than say, Liverpool, where even the star players are just cogs in the machine.

Yet Best, Cantona, Beckham, Ronaldo, who were all instrumental in winning league titles and/or European Cups for the club, never wielded the same amount of power that this player does, who's barely achieved a fraction of what they did!

Absolute madness!

What power has he been demonstrated to wield out of interest

 

[RedChisel]

Of course? This place is so weird. He’s not in form and he’s got a lot of aspects in his game that need improving, but he’s still for better or worse our most important and dangerous attacker.

Should a near 26 year old who's been in the United team for 8 years still be requiring so much improvement in his game though and still be so inconsistent?