The genius of Marcus Rashford

Scoring against crap teams in cup games counts for nothing.

Premier League goals should always be the benchmark ….259 appearances / 80 goals / 3.23 average

Ok, PL games only. Goals per game. Found these in an article from December 2022

25. Steven Gerrard
Games: 504
Goals: 120
Goals per game: 0.24

24. Frank Lampard
Games: 609
Goals: 177
Goals per game: 0.29

23. Jermain Defoe
Games: 496
Goals: 162
Goals per game: 0.33

22. Dwight Yorke
Games: 375
Goals: 123
Goals per game: 0.33

21. Raheem Sterling
Games: 333
Goals: 112
Goals per game: 0.34

20. Nicolas Anelka
Games: 364
Goals: 125
Goals per game: 0.34

19. Teddy Sheringham
Games: 418
Goals: 146
Goals per game: 0.35

18. Robbie Keane
Games: 349
Goals: 126
Goals per game: 0.36

17. Wayne Rooney
Games: 491
Goals: 208
Goals per game: 0.42

16. Les Ferdinand
Games: 351
Goals: 149
Goals per game: 0.42

15. Sadio Mane
Games: 263
Goals: 111
Goals per game: 0.42

14. Robbie Fowler
Games: 379
Goals: 163
Goals per game: 0.43

13. Romelu Lukaku
Games: 278
Goals: 121
Goals per game: 0.44

12. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Games: 288
Goals: 127
Goals per game: 0.44

11. Andrew Cole
Games: 414
Goals: 187
Goals per game: 0.45

10. Michael Owen
Games: 326
Goals: 150
Goals per game: 0.46

9. Jamie Vardy
Games: 286
Goals: 134
Goals per game: 0.47

8. Robin van Persie
Games: 280
Goals: 144
Goals per game: 0.51

7. Dion Dublin
Games: 217
Goals: 111
Goals per game: 0.51

6. Ian Wright
Games: 213
Goals: 113
Goals per game: 0.53

5. Alan Shearer
Games: 441
Goals: 260
Goals per game: 0.59

4. Mohamed Salah
Games: 208
Goals: 127
Goals per game: 0.61

3. Harry Kane
Games: 298
Goals: 196
Goals per game: 0.66

2. Sergio Aguero
Games: 275
Goals: 184
Goals per game: 0.67

1. Thierry Henry
Games: 258
Goals: 175
Goals per game: 0.68

Marcus Rashford
Games: 259
Goals: 80
Goals per game: 0.31

Would put him at number 24 on this list. Just below Defoe. So definitely not "mediocre".

Interesting to see players like Lukaku, Dublin, Vardy and Sterling ahead of him, mind you.

Most of the others are undisputed top class strikers.

EDIT: Shite. This is the top 25 most ever PL goals, ranked by goals/game. So misses out the likes of Haaland.
 
Ok, PL games only. Goals per game. Found these in an article from December 2022

25. Steven Gerrard
Games: 504
Goals: 120
Goals per game: 0.24

24. Frank Lampard
Games: 609
Goals: 177
Goals per game: 0.29

23. Jermain Defoe
Games: 496
Goals: 162
Goals per game: 0.33

22. Dwight Yorke
Games: 375
Goals: 123
Goals per game: 0.33

21. Raheem Sterling
Games: 333
Goals: 112
Goals per game: 0.34

20. Nicolas Anelka
Games: 364
Goals: 125
Goals per game: 0.34

19. Teddy Sheringham
Games: 418
Goals: 146
Goals per game: 0.35

18. Robbie Keane
Games: 349
Goals: 126
Goals per game: 0.36

17. Wayne Rooney
Games: 491
Goals: 208
Goals per game: 0.42

16. Les Ferdinand
Games: 351
Goals: 149
Goals per game: 0.42

15. Sadio Mane
Games: 263
Goals: 111
Goals per game: 0.42

14. Robbie Fowler
Games: 379
Goals: 163
Goals per game: 0.43

13. Romelu Lukaku
Games: 278
Goals: 121
Goals per game: 0.44

12. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
Games: 288
Goals: 127
Goals per game: 0.44

11. Andrew Cole
Games: 414
Goals: 187
Goals per game: 0.45

10. Michael Owen
Games: 326
Goals: 150
Goals per game: 0.46

9. Jamie Vardy
Games: 286
Goals: 134
Goals per game: 0.47

8. Robin van Persie
Games: 280
Goals: 144
Goals per game: 0.51

7. Dion Dublin
Games: 217
Goals: 111
Goals per game: 0.51

6. Ian Wright
Games: 213
Goals: 113
Goals per game: 0.53

5. Alan Shearer
Games: 441
Goals: 260
Goals per game: 0.59

4. Mohamed Salah
Games: 208
Goals: 127
Goals per game: 0.61

3. Harry Kane
Games: 298
Goals: 196
Goals per game: 0.66

2. Sergio Aguero
Games: 275
Goals: 184
Goals per game: 0.67

1. Thierry Henry
Games: 258
Goals: 175
Goals per game: 0.68

Marcus Rashford
Games: 259
Goals: 80
Goals per game: 0.31

Would put him at number 24 on this list. Just below Defoe. So definitely not "mediocre".

Interesting to see players like Lukaku, Dublin, Vardy and Sterling ahead of him, mind you.

Most of the others are undisputed top class strikers.

Vardy & Lukaku are out and out strikers though, and pretty prolific ones.
Sterling doesn’t surprise me considering he spent much of his career in a side that scores for fun.
Dublin surprises me.
 
Vardy & Lukaku are out and out strikers though, and pretty prolific ones.
Sterling doesn’t surprise me considering he spent much of his career in a side that scores for fun.
Dublin surprises me.

Interesting to see he's almost the exact same strike rate as Dwight Yorke. Who I don't ever remember getting much criticism from the fans?
 
Apparently he’s a conference footballer outside of the stats though and in the build up you see.
There’s a lot of seeing what people want to see with Rashford, people have been waiting for him to not be in form to get at him. Even in the post below you were now hearing he’s not a talented footballer? :eek:
 
Ha ha, my God Nani would’ve been absolutely detested by these lot.
Why?

Nani was never as inconsistent as any of the wingers we've had over the last decade or so. He was more talented than any of our attackers are now, and worked much harder than most of our current players. His best was better than any of the current lot. Plus his best and most consistent period came during the only period in his time here that he was played on the right, so seeing as he would almost exclusively play on the right for our current team there's a fair argument that he'd be more consistent now than he was back when he was mostly played on the left.

Of course, on the flip side he'd be surrounded by poor movement, sub-par passing and a relatively poor team, so those things would make it harder for him.

Overall, while Nani probably wouldn't reach his absolute peak level in this team, I'd expect him to be comfortably better than our wingers have been over the last few years. Rashford's had the occasional period where he's shone, but even then it wasn't as good as Nani at his peak (when he literally should have won the PL player of the season and was the main man in leading us to a PL title). While he would still be frustrating, he'd be the least frustrating of the lot around him.
 
Nani:
147 appearances / 29 goals / 5.06 average

Giggs:
642 / 109 goals / 5.88 average

Pires:
198 / 62 / 3.19 average
Nani, Giggs and Pires should be way ahead in the assists column. Also their contributions aside from scoring are superior to Rashford.

Edit: Also, tactically the game was quite different during most of their prime playing career. Most wingers weren't inside forwards setup to score over 15 goals a season, and there was still an emphasis on assists.
 
Last edited:
Nani, Giggs and Pires should be way ahead in the assists column. Also their contributions aside from scoring are superior to Rashford.

Nani, Giggs and Pires often had the likes of Rooney, Ruud, Cantona, Cole and Henry to aim cosses at.
 
Why?

Nani was never as inconsistent as any of the wingers we've had over the last decade or so. He was more talented than any of our attackers are now, and worked much harder than most of our current players. His best was better than any of the current lot. Plus his best and most consistent period came during the only period in his time here that he was played on the right, so seeing as he would almost exclusively play on the right for our current team there's a fair argument that he'd be more consistent now than he was back when he was mostly played on the left.

Of course, on the flip side he'd be surrounded by poor movement, sub-par passing and a relatively poor team, so those things would make it harder for him.

Overall, while Nani probably wouldn't reach his absolute peak level in this team, I'd expect him to be comfortably better than our wingers have been over the last few years. Rashford's had the occasional period where he's shone, but even then it wasn't as good as Nani at his peak (when he literally should have won the PL player of the season and was the main man in leading us to a PL title). While he would still be frustrating, he'd be the least frustrating of the lot around him.

Yeah Nani and Rashford are two completely different players. Rashford has only 2 things on Nani which are his speed (even though Nani was also quick) and finishing, with the later being more due to Rashford playing more as a left forward closer to goal whereas as Nani played more as a winger creating chances. Everything from close control to dribbling to creating chances to work ethic Nani was much better at. For me Nani was easily a better player.

The fact that opinions of Rashford vary from he could be great to he's a championship player at his base level just highlights that he is just a relatively good talented player who struggles mentally to perform at his very best due to his limits technically and limits mentally. If he was put into a Sir Alex team he most likely would be a bench player to come on with his pace to cause trouble. With the state of the current United and its terrible recruitment he is instead a "star" player.
 
Nani, Giggs and Pires should be way ahead in the assists column. Also their contributions aside from scoring are superior to Rashford.

Giggs:
632 games / 109 goals / 162 assists / 2.33

Nani:
147 games / 26 goals / 43 assists / 2.13

Rashford:
259 games / 80 goals / 39 assists/ 2.17

Safe to say Nani & Giggs played with an infinitely better manager and with teams and teammates in a different universe to what Rashford has.
 
.

Overall, while Nani probably wouldn't reach his absolute peak level in this team, I'd expect him to be comfortably better than our wingers have been over the last few years.

I Ioved Nani but let’s be serious here, despite playing with Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney et al, in winning machines. Nani’s output still only matches Rashford.
Just 28 goals, and even playing with those incredible players he managed 43 assists.

No way is Nani as productive with this utter shite over the last 7-8 years.
 
Giggs:
632 games / 109 goals / 162 assists / 2.33

Nani:
147 games / 26 goals / 43 assists / 2.13

Rashford:
259 games / 80 goals / 39 assists/ 2.17

Safe to say Nani & Giggs played with an infinitely better manager and with teams and teammates in a different universe to what Rashford has.
Give Rashford better players to pass or cross to and he'd still fail to notice them in the 1st place. Cavani, Ronaldo, fit Martial and Greenwood weren't slouches either. His best combo though is being played through quickly by Bruno, which in itself is oftentimes frustrating to watch when it fails (over extended periods).

You've still proven my view that I'd take them over Rashy for everything else they offered on the pitch. They're a better fit for their teams and also our current one, seeing how the G/A stats are somewhat similar.

But then comparing Rashford to them was always going to be a tall order anyway. I hope someone at PSG shares your view though.
 
We really do have the worst set of fans in the entire world on this forum.

Half of you must refuse to cheer or celebrate when Rashford scores a goal or contributes to a win, which actually would explain why it's been so miserable for you supporting United the last 5 years, since that would leave us with 0 trophies and probably playing in the Championship.

Probably only a few weeks before some of the more impressive muppets go back to pretending Sancho is better than him.

If he wasn't black AND English he wouldn't be getting half the hate he has been getting.

Yeah he's been rubbish this season but he was much better against Spurs the other day YET (online at least) the hate kept spewing. incredible. we alongside Arsenal have the worst fanbase in the premier league.

From constant fawning over flops like Pogba advocating him to be captain to booing and abusing Maguire in friendly games in Ireland, USA and Australia to simping over wrong uns like Greenwood sums up today's fanbase for me.
 
Give Rashford better players to pass or cross to and he'd still fail to notice them in the 1st place. Cavani, Ronaldo, fit Martial and Greenwood weren't slouches either.

funny you say that as his best assisting seasons by some distance were with fit Martial 2020 and then with fit and hungry Cavani 2021 (+Greenwood). Go figure.
 
Last edited:
If he wasn't black AND English he wouldn't be getting half the hate he has been getting.

Yeah he's been rubbish this season but he was much better against Spurs the other day YET (online at least) the hate kept spewing. incredible. we alongside Arsenal have the worst fanbase in the premier league.

From constant fawning over flops like Pogba advocating him to be captain to booing and abusing Maguire in friendly games in Ireland, USA and Australia to simping over wrong uns like Greenwood sums up today's fanbase for me.
Lazy,

Dave is Spanish AND white, he got dog’s abuse
Harry is English AND white, he got dog’s abuse
Antony is Brazilian, he gets dog’s abuse

The one thing they did / do have in common is that they were perceived to be under-performing and not representing what certain fans wanted for their team.

I’m not even arguing whether they deserve fan’s abuse or not before anyone starts, just that being ‘black AND English’ isn’t the sole reason for ‘half the hate’ (though it may be a contributing factor in some circles)
 
Can this thread now be closed like the other one?
It's getting ridiculous
 
Best Hojlund can hope for from Rashford is when he tries to run straight into a defender, instead of passing, he mis controls it again and the ball breaks kindly.

That was a lovely assist from Rashford! How dare you!
 
funny you say that as his best assisting seasons by some distance were with fit Martial and then with fit and hungry Cavani. Go figure.
Yep we played some good transition football during the lockdown period where teams used to play a high line against us which worked to our advantage. Once teams figured us out our key players struggled to adapt. Which again brings me back to my points about why I prefer the aforementioned players. They offer so much more than g/a. They're also more consistent. We're going in circles here. Have a good rest of the day.
 
Yep we played some good transition football during the lockdown period where teams used to play a high line against us which worked to our advantage. Once teams figured us out our key players struggled to adapt.

But then he did adapt (unlike Martial and others), and had a season with 41 goal contributions in 56 games.

But hell, he then started the season shite, along with Varane, Casemiro, Martinez, Onana, Antony and the hatred was back again even when he has come into form with 2 goals and 2 assists in his past 4, cause… well, because our fans are fecking awful.

You have some weird excuse for everything:

pn: he’d still be shit with top strikers
Debunked showing he’s been at his best with in form strikers
Pn: that’s because teams allowed us to play like that, then worked us out and he didn’t adapt.
Debunked showing he had his best season after “adapting”.

So what excuse now?

The simple fact is, the likes of Giggs & Rooney often went through sustained patches of poor form, but others shared the burden and we won regardless. These days if Bruno or Rashford don’t produce, we’re fecked, hence the anger, expecting them to be supermen, permanently on form even when everyone around them is off form or shite.
 
Last edited:
Interesting to see he's almost the exact same strike rate as Dwight Yorke. Who I don't ever remember getting much criticism from the fans?
Dwight Yorke scored goals on our way to a treble. I get that Marcus is playing on a vastly inferior team, but would he play for a treble winner now? I don’t know the answer, but as with everything on here it’s taken to the extreme while the answer lies somewhere in between, Rashford is far from shit, he’s consistently scored against great teams.

Problem is I agree he’s not good enough to play the way he does, with his head down going for individual glory. However, we have to face facts, he’s far from the biggest problem in our team now, for where we are now, I think Rashford is one of our best (scoring goals and making things happen in attack). Dwight Yorke had amazing players and incredibly football smart people he played with (Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Cole and Solskjær to name a few).
 
Worse still is that this thread is still so full of hate for a player that is clearly coming into form, with 2 goals and 2 assists in his past 4 games.
Yes it's almost as if they're frightened it could be the last chance to spew abuse before they have to shut up for a while again.

Very similar to how the anti-Lineker gammons are triggered on TwiX.
 
If he wasn't black AND English he would be getting double the simping he has been getting.


The media has definitely influenced many of our fanbase by pushing the negative steretyping of rashford, there seems to be a theme with our recent black players like rashford, martial, sancho, lukaku and pogba quick to be labelled as "lazy".
 
If he was marco rashfordino playing on the wing for some also ran in the Spanish league, who scored 41 goals from the wing last season in a team that couldn't otherwise score in a brothel, everyone on this site would be screaming about us buying him.

Hes been our best player over the last 5 years, and last year was the best season any player has had for this team since Van Persie won us the title.
 
The media has definitely influenced many of our fanbase by pushing the negative steretyping of rashford, there seems to be a theme with our recent black players like rashford, martial, sancho, lukaku and pogba quick to be labelled as "lazy".
Yup, our fanbase don't watch any games and rely solely on media narratives because we all know the media is always right about us.
 
Dwight Yorke scored goals on our way to a treble. I get that Marcus is playing on a vastly inferior team, but would he play for a treble winner now? I don’t know the answer, but as with everything on here it’s taken to the extreme while the answer lies somewhere in between, Rashford is far from shit, he’s consistently scored against great teams.

Problem is I agree he’s not good enough to play the way he does, with his head down going for individual glory. However, we have to face facts, he’s far from the biggest problem in our team now, for where we are now, I think Rashford is one of our best (scoring goals and making things happen in attack). Dwight Yorke had amazing players and incredibly football smart people he played with (Beckham, Giggs, Scholes, Cole and Solskjær to name a few).

Yeah, I think a really strong team full of consistent 7 or 8 out of 10 performers can carry one or two flakey players who might be terrible or amazing on any given day. Plus the terrible:amazing ratio will be helped by not playing in a dysfunctional team.

So the likes of Rashford and Bruno are nowhere near as big a problem as you’d think from their performance threads. Although Rashford would be a hell of a lot more popular if he would only follow Bruno’s example in terms of putting in an obvious effort every time he pulls on the shirt.
 
I Ioved Nani but let’s be serious here, despite playing with Ronaldo, Tevez, Rooney et al, in winning machines. Nani’s output still only matches Rashford.
Just 28 goals, and even playing with those incredible players he managed 43 assists.

No way is Nani as productive with this utter shite over the last 7-8 years.
There's more than just goals and assists. He was simply a better all-round player, which has the knock-on effect of making the team as a whole better. He was also in a team built for others to be the main scorers, whereas we are basically built for Rashford to be our main guy now.

I should also stress that I'm talking Nani when playing on the right. On the left he was much more inconsistent; fully capable of having brilliant games but his bottom level was much lower and you never really knew which Nani would turn up. If we were playing him there now I agree he'd probably be almost as frustrating as Rashford, and I think that's what a lot of people mostly remember with him. However on the right his average performance was much better and more consistent.
 
Rashford divides opinions like no other player :lol:

Remember that thread from a couple of years back - Keep or sell? Something like 70% wanted to sell. Then he had a remarkable season and the minority who voted "keep" continually ripped into those who voted "sell". I think at least some of this Rashford dislike comes from posters who voted sell and were reminded by some keep-wankers they've got it wrong. Now those who voted sell back then have the knives sharpened and ready.

So, I absolutely blame the keep-wankers for everything Rashford related
 
. However on the right his average performance was much better and more consistent.

I think this is just what happens with time, Nani had a brilliant 12-18 months. Not unlike Rashford’s brilliant last season.
Before and after that he was constantly slated by many for being “braindead”, “shit decision making”, “no football IQ”, “constantly giving the ball away” etc. That was aimed at him no matter what side of the pitch he played on.
I always forgave Nani as I’ll have a risk taker any day over a Valencia type player, but a huge majority of fans absolutely thought him braindead.

Here’s an article from 2013 after Nani got booed by United fans: https://syndication.bleacherreport....ns-who-booed-nani-are-helping-nobody.amp.html

But Nani is an easy target.

He can frustrate even the most patient fans by running into trouble, giving the ball away and hitting the first defender with crosses into the box. His aimless shooting against Stoke didn't help either.

At 26 years old, United fans are still waiting for him to become the consistent threat his talent deserves. But after six years at Old Trafford, some sections of the support saw the new five-year contact he signed this season as a step backward.

Remind you of anyone @MadDogg or @amolbhatia50k ?
 
Last edited:
I think this is just what happens with time, Nani had a brilliant 12-18 months. Not unlike Rashford’s brilliant last season.
Before and after that he was constantly slated by many for being “braindead”, “shit decision making”, “no football IQ”, “constantly giving the ball away” etc. That was aimed at him no matter what side of the pitch he played on.
I always forgave Nani as I’ll have a risk taker any day over a Valencia type player, but a huge majority of fans absolutely thought him braindead.

Here’s an article from 2013 after Nani got booed by United fans: https://syndication.bleacherreport....ns-who-booed-nani-are-helping-nobody.amp.html



Remind you of anyone @MadDogg or @amolbhatia50k ?

If you're trying to big Rashford up by saying he's been as good as Nani was, then that's faint praise IMO.

Although I do agree that their records are comparable. Both streaky players capable of a brilliant 12-18 months but a tier below the really top PL players. And we all hope Rashford's career from here goes a lot better from here than Nani's did after his hot streak came to an end. Otherwise we'd be better off selling Rashford, either now or in the summer.
 
No, the debate started with a mention of Nani and me replying that Nani would be absolutely detested if he played for us now.
Lots of posters disagree with seems bizarre to me, it’s not particularly controversial.

Ah, ok. Then I'm 100% with you. He wasn't far off being detested for most of his United career. And that was playing in a successful team!