How concerned should we be about Rashford's form?

[hungrywing]

Post-return it looked like the staff telling him to ease back into things while also instructing him to help Martial into some form. I still think there might be a component of Rashford trying to be 'a team player' and looking for others (and we all know we're not the greatest at making runs) instead of just taking his man on. But it also does look like the injury might be weighing more heavily on his mind than I'd personally thought.

I get a lot of abuse on here for the past 3 months talking about how shockingly bad he has regressed as a footballer.

• Strolls around the pitch like he's got 500 career goals and 15 years under his belt
• No courage or adventure - he's now basically a fancy James with the way he avoids channels and acts as a rebounding pass-back wall in possession
• Has eliminated any variation in striking technique. He chooses a knuckleball for a pass, cross, corner, cross-field pass, shot at all times. No float, cut, spin or finesse. This is very concerning because it tells us he's really struggling with his body.
• Looks like he's 30 something with the way he takes players on. No sharpness, agility, or creativity with his footwork.

As a physio myself it looks like he's really struggling with his back. It may not be causing him pain directly but he looks like he's lost that athletic strong core of his. Constantly looks like he's leaning back and stiff as a board. Doesn't want to twist and load that back at all with sudden movements. We see that a lot with spondylolisthesis.

For the 100th time in the past 2 months, I say DROP HIM. Drop him ffs. Let Greenwood step in until Rashford figures out a way to play with his new back.

Is the bolded part what he had? Not just spondylolysis?

 

[Fortitude]

His agility and lateral movements are not a patch on what they were pre-injury. It would be absolutely rotten luck if he's had a career-altering injury at such a young age.

I wouldn't consider this a form issue as it looks quite a bit more serious than that because he's not even attempting half the things he was to say they're not coming off for him - right now, I'd question if he's even capable of those same sudden and explosive actions because we've not seen that from him a single time since returning.

One thing is for sure, however: it would be negligent of us to close out this transfer window fully aware Rashford might well see a portion of the season benched/recovering either through niggles etc or plain not being up to the task of playing multiple games in succession.

We're also playing with fire with a very young player's career if we overplay him and his back goes again.

 

[KetilOwren88]

His form and decision making has been terrible for months, but why is he so far from goal? I wish Ole could give the diamond a chance

 

[Green_Red]

Feeding kids doesn't seem like the kind of things that can wait until after his career his done. I could be wrong though.

Exactly, the idea that kids going hungry should take a back seat to people kicking a piece of inflated leather around a field is the height of absurdity.

His form even before his injury was taking a bit if a dip. There were threads on here stating his penalties were papering over the cracks in his form. Seems those posters may have been right after all.

 

[tjb]

Honestly its not the injury. After the restart there are games he was overrunning. It's form, and for Rashford having great form is rarer than playing like this if we're being honest. It's the reason we need Sancho.

 

[Widow]

Unpopular opinion but I've always thought the hype surpassed reality.

I mean, I see his as a good player but that's it. His finishing isn't good enough to be a top striker and his dribbling skills aren't good enough for him to be an elite winger/inside forward.

It doesn't mean he's bad or that he can't have good games but the key to class is consistency.

Since the restart I feel he has an issue we don't know about. Not just for us but I saw it a few times during the Belgium game too.
A couple of times he got played in behind giving him the chance to burst forward but every time he checked back. Not so he could use his right as when he checked there was plenty of space to run into and when he checked he stopped the play.

I've seen this for United too, as if he is hesitant to burst forward with the ball.

He should be our go to man that breaths confidence in front of goal but I just don't see it atm

 

[MadDogg]

Unpopular opinion but I've always thought the hype surpassed reality.

I mean, I see his as a good player but that's it. His finishing isn't good enough to be a top striker and his dribbling skills aren't good enough for him to be an elite winger/inside forward.

He's never been a particularly good dribbler at speed. What he does normally have though is good trickery from a standing start or at low speed to get himself a bit of space, and then obviously once he's created that space he has the speed to get away from pretty much anyone.

I remember a few of our players were saying that Rashford is the most skilled player when they are doing training, and it seems strange until you take note of some of the ways he's destroyed defenders from standing start. He just can't replicate it when he's travelling at speed (unlike say Martial who can weave in and out of defenders). Probably the most obvious example is the assist against Bournemouth, but he does similar quite regularly.


Since his injury we haven't really seen him back himself to do stuff like that, and even when he does get into space he seems to second guess himself and cuts back to play the easy pass.

 

[Widow]

He's never been a particularly good dribbler at speed. What he does normally have though is good trickery from a standing start or at low speed to get himself a bit of space, and then obviously once he's created that space he has the speed to get away from pretty much anyone.

I remember a few of our players were saying that Rashford is the most skilled player when they are doing training, and it seems strange until you take note of some of the ways he's destroyed defenders from standing start. He just can't replicate it when he's travelling at speed (unlike say Martial who can weave in and out of defenders). Probably the most obvious example is the assist against Bournemouth, but he does similar quite regularly.


Since his injury we haven't really seen him back himself to do stuff like that, and even when he does get into space he seems to second guess himself and cuts back to play the easy pass.

I also think he can show signs of quality, as i mentioned, he just doesn't do it with any sort of consistency. I could find you a video of Luke Chadwick looking good.....maybe

I don't have any hate towards Rashford, in fact I'd love him to grow into the player we expect him to be. Problem is, i feel we pin our hopes on him time and again and he is getting to be more like a 1 in 4 player...1 good game every 4. Getting Lingard vibes (harsh i know). It's almost like he's become unpardonable at times. He isn't at that level!

In all honesty, I can't remember the last time i saw him have a banger of a game. Yes, i watch them all.

I hope he returns to form and soon but i wouldn't mind him sitting out a few games to maybe give him a kick up the arse.

 

[MadDogg]

In all honesty, I can't remember the last time i saw him have a banger of a game. Yes, i watch them all.

I hope he returns to form and soon but i wouldn't mind him sitting out a few games to maybe give him a kick up the arse.

He was in career top form for a couple of months before his injury last season, largely carrying our attack with a bit of help from Martial.

He hasn't looked right since he returned from injury though. When he first returned he actually showed signs of creativity and a passing level that he'd never really shown before, but even that faded after a few games. Hopefully it's just a confidence thing, or at worst a mental hang-up about the injury. What we really don't want is the injury to still be physically impacting him. RvP had a similar injury and said that it never healed 100%.

 

[Bebestation]

His injury is affecting him. This is crap all about his talent.

The guy cant even do the one two partnership with Martial anymore and it makes our whole front line look cold and static not just Rashford.

I have a feeling that after his injury he needs to play as a forward for a bit probably in partnership with the other strikers. I'm not sure he is going to look as quick and skillful on the wings for a whilst.

 

[Red00012]

He was in career top form for a couple of months before his injury last season, largely carrying our attack with a bit of help from Martial.

Hopefully it's just a confidence thing, or at worst a mental hang-up about the injury. What we really don't want is the injury to still be physically impacting him. RvP had a similar injury and said that it never healed 100%.

An injury should not prevent Rashford from making simple 6 yard passes

 

[MadDogg]

An injury should not prevent Rashford from making simple 6 yard passes

Physically no. But if the injury is still impacting him (whether physically or mentally) that will hurt his confidence, and players who are struggling for confidence can struggle to do the simplest things at times. Which only hurts their confidence more, which makes them struggle more, etc. It's a nasty slide that he'll hopefully get out of sooner rather than later.

Now would be a great time to bench him for a while and make him play his way back into the team, but we just don't have the depth to do it. Maybe if Cavani works out we can do it by moving Martial back to the wing again.

 

[Skills]

If that injury really is still bothering him, you have to start wondering about the long term damage that Solskjaers tenure will have caused this club.

£130m on AWB and Maguire which the club won't ever come close to regaining

Playing Rashford through injury to potentially have caused a career changing injury.

 

[MancunianAngels]

Said this before but United fans don't deserve nice things.

The stick he's getting on here is insane

 

[norm87cro]

Not a moderator but there are two threads with different names on this same topic. And btw the guy is class.

 

[DRM]

Needs to bulk up. Hit the gym lad. Send him on loan to bayern

 

[MancunianAngels]

Not a moderator but there are two threads with different names on this same topic. And btw the guy is class.

He is class.

Despite only having 4 full seasons and being thrown in at the deep end as a teenager, he's done well. In addition to all of this, he's performed in a massively under performing side that's now on its 3rd manager since his debut.

 

[Adcuth]

The issue with a lot of our players is they face no competition for their place and mainly just go through the motions in games. Maybe dropping players when they have a shitter regardless of if their back up is on the same level or not would put some fire in the belly.

 

[CM]

Rashford was awful at the back end of last season for sure.

I think he is one of the very few who has started this season okay though. It's difficult to judge when the entire team has looked dysfunctional and off the pace but my hunch is he will come through this rough patch in the next few weeks.