Is it time to burst “Rashy’s” bubble?

[HJ12]

He's very young and the expectation being heaped upon him is unfair in my opinion. He really should be playing second fiddle to a top striker at United at this point to allow him some leeway - he's not at Rooney's level when they were similar ages so we cannot stick our heads in the sand and treat them the same. I suppose with Lukaku being (alot) less than what we thought he'd be, Marcus has found himself as the main guy a bit too early in his development. It also doesn't help that when he is taken out of the firing line (e.g. in Jose's time here), we have idiot pundits who call on him to leave the club as he won't be getting enough minutes here to aid his progression, blah blah - conveniently forgetting the fact that he's playing plenty of minutes for his age already.

Bottom line is we need to manage him alot better, and if we do this I believe we'll still have a good striker on our hands. But we definitely need a main guy up top that isn't Rashford at this point.

 

[manutddjw]

He reminds me of that person you always run into when playing pick up basketball that wears the headband and has the latest shoes, but then he starts playing and he’s taking shots from everywhere and missing and then you realize he’s actually terrible

 

[Wumminator]

@Wumminator any thoughts on these reactions? You were giving me stick a few weeks ago for saying Rashford isn’t good enough to be our striker.

It’s still pathetic.

 

[Needham]

He was overrated when he first came in. But let's not bully him now. Talented player who I want to stay.

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

Good players. But we were a club that regularly dropped rvn, berbatov, tevez and saha for off forms, discipilinary issues in the past. So this kid can wait. A few loans, transfers with buy back clause or even straight off loading is fine.
You guys have to choose between being ruthless or being sentimental. 6 years without a title for this club is embarrassing. Now is not the time to be traditional. Now is the time to be aggressive.

 

[Dan_F]

I cringe every time I read the thread title. Ole really needs to stop with that shit.

 

[dannyrhinos89]

He’s a shit Theo walcott.

 

[Beagle]

There are some extreme opinions on here. People like to encourage going with youth but they're not happy until they have the finished product. Rashford has been very hit and miss I agree and to be a nailed on starter for a title hopeful team he needs to be more consistent. But the things we knock him for are issues all young players face. Decision making, composure and other mental attributes. Not all talented players mature at the same rate and they usually develop in their own way. Not all of them are blessed with similar football intelligence.

Considering everything Rashford is still the best player to come through at United over the last couple of decades. He's certainly not irreplaceable due to his roots but we should at least hold him to the same standards as we'd do for any other 21 year old from some other club. When I watch him play I get frustrated but then I wonder it's not his fault there is so much responsibility on him. Form doesn't last forever and as a young man he's still probably figuring out what is going wrong with his game. Things that were working for him couple of months back are going tits up now. Must be a new experience for him.

United have relied on him since Ole arrived and he's delivered quite a bit but not everything the team needed. These are hardly grounds for slander. None of it changes the fact that he can potentially become one of the most important players in this team over the course of the rebuild that is to come.

 

[SER19]

Rashford has great potential. A lot of top strikers really kick on a little later.

Hopefully in time, we will reap the reward of so much experience in formative years.

But right now, I'm not sure he'd start up top at more than a handful of premier league teams.

 

[Silas]

There are some extreme opinions on here. People like to encourage going with youth but they're not happy until they have the finished product. Rashford has been very hit and miss I agree and to be a nailed on starter for a title hopeful team he needs to be more consistent. But the things we knock him for are issues all young players face. Decision making, composure and other mental attributes. Not all talented players mature at the same rate and they usually develop in their own way. Not all of them are blessed with similar football intelligence.

Considering everything Rashford is still the best player to come through at United over the last couple of decades. He's certainly not irreplaceable due to his roots but we should at least hold him to the same standards as we'd do for any other 21 year old from some other club. When I watch him play I get frustrated but then I wonder it's not his fault there is so much responsibility on him. Form doesn't last forever and as a young man he's still probably figuring out what is going wrong with his game. Things that were working for him couple of months back are going tits up now. Must be a new experience for him.

United have relied on him since Ole arrived and he's delivered quite a bit but not everything the team needed. These are hardly grounds for slander. None of it changes the fact that he can potentially become one of the most important players in this team over the course of the rebuild that is to come.

Pogba.

 

[steakpie]

He could be a good squad player but I don't think he will ever be good enough to be our main attacker.

 

[Beagle]

Pogba.

Not sure about the technicalities but wasn't he poached from Le Havre?

In any case Pogba has shown thag he can be a far better performer in a better team. I'd believe the same is true for Rashford too. In a more functional unit all players thrive and especially young, developing ones.

 

[Fortitude]

On the one hand, he's not a very good striker.

On the other hand, he's a kid and he shouldn't have to bear the burden of a whopping shite squad on his shoulders.

He should be coming into a United team as the striker with the lowest expectations on his shoulders. There's no one there to provide guidance or an arm around his shoulder, which Rooney and Ronaldo had in abundance.

Rashford is not the problem, he's a academy player thats been rushed into the first team. The problem is the trash recruitment we have been spending millions on that have been equally poor.
Rashford should be a squad player at this stage of his development, not a lead striker

He's very young and the expectation being heaped upon him is unfair in my opinion. He really should be playing second fiddle to a top striker at United at this point to allow him some leeway - he's not at Rooney's level when they were similar ages so we cannot stick our heads in the sand and treat them the same. I suppose with Lukaku being (alot) less than what we thought he'd be, Marcus has found himself as the main guy a bit too early in his development. It also doesn't help that when he is taken out of the firing line (e.g. in Jose's time here), we have idiot pundits who call on him to leave the club as he won't be getting enough minutes here to aid his progression, blah blah - conveniently forgetting the fact that he's playing plenty of minutes for his age already.

Bottom line is we need to manage him alot better, and if we do this I believe we'll still have a good striker on our hands. But we definitely need a main guy up top that isn't Rashford at this point.

These hit the nail on the head. We're in such disarray that this is being lost in the kerfuffle - Rashford has no mentors or guiding lights in the squad; all teenagers who aren't prodigies immediately revert to type in times of woe and it's the seniors and coaches that correct that.

We're letting our youngsters down in not having anyone to guide them in the side.

Rashford should be aspiring to emulate an elite striker who is keeping him out of the team. He should not be the leading striker for a club of this size and supposed aspiration.

 

[Red00012]

It’s still pathetic.

It’s far from pathetic. The love in because Rashford is a product of the youth academy and English is embarrassing. A squad player who thinks he’s playing FIFA when he gets the ball , kicks it past the defender and runs after it.
Hes not good enough to lead the line. It’s not even yesterday’s performance and his sitter, it’s been going on for 3 months.

 

[Wumminator]

It’s far from pathetic. The love in because Rashford is a product of the youth academy and English is embarrassing. A squad player who thinks he’s playing FIFA when he gets the ball , kicks it past the defender and runs after it.
Hes not good enough to lead the line. It’s not even yesterday’s performance and his sitter, it’s been going on for 3 months.

He’s literally our best attacking player.

 

[Schneckerl]

I thought he was supposed to be better than Mbappe.

 

[Hawks2008]

I thought he was supposed to be better than Mbappe.

Mbappe isn't close to Rashford. Mbappe plays in a farmer's league and wins little trophies like the World Cup.

Meanwhile, Rashy runs a lot

 

[MadMike]

I cringe every time I read the thread title. Ole really needs to stop with that shit.

He’s the manager, he needs to show neutrality and fairness towards his players otherwise the players’ belief in him will get undermined.

Some players play shit and get rightly benched and get the cold shoulder (Martial, Lukaku etc). Meanwhile Rashy continues playing every game, taking all the FKs, getting praised and getting called by his nickname in the press.

It’s weird.

 

[Kostov]

I mean he is a very good young player but all that ass licking by Ole towards him was cringeworthy. Same as Lingard and Pogba and comes back to bite him on the ass.

 

[Silas]

He’s literally our best attacking player.

Only for now, with everyone else out of form.

 

[AdNani]

It’s far from pathetic. The love in because Rashford is a product of the youth academy and English is embarrassing. A squad player who thinks he’s playing FIFA when he gets the ball , kicks it past the defender and runs after it.
Hes not good enough to lead the line. It’s not even yesterday’s performance and his sitter, it’s been going on for 3 months.

Imagine fans of a club that’s been built on young academy products, being excited when we’ve clearly got a very good but inconsistent academy product in the team, it’s not Rashfords fault he’s the best option, there’s a thread on the forum saying Start all the kids against Cardiff, I dread to think some of the posts in it if that happens and god forbid they don’t put in a world class display

 

[thaddy]

Marcus Rashford manc born and bread, well so was Danny Welbeck and hes on par with him when he was at United. Hes quick off the ball but my god hes shocking on it.

 

[Saf94]

People have to realise that every striker misses opportunities. Messi and Kane both have conversion rates of 15%. That means they miss 5/6 opportunities... (source: https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...-the-top-scorers-in-europes-top-five-leagues/)

How many chances did Rashford have yesterday? He gets one decent chance which he misses and then we destroy him. The fact is it’s been so long since we’ve watched proper football we don’t realise the problem is not that our strikers aren’t clinical (Lukaku included) it’s thag we hardly create chances and the chances we do create are garbage.

How difficult was that chance for Rashford? Moving ball, taking it first time, defenders surrounding? How many tap ins do guys like Sterling and Salah score? They score a lot because they get a lot of chances AND a lot of high quality chances. We are so terrible at shifting the defence we literally haven’t created a high quality chance that I can remember.

So yeah don’t blame our strikers for missing 1/2 chance because no one in world football is that clinical. Even Aguero would struggle in our system

 

[kafta]

He is a very talented player, but he shouldn't be our starting striker.

He is not clinical enough, and he needs to mature.

We need a proven goalscorer who will take the easy chances, like the days of Ruud or RVP.

 

[Dan_F]

He is a very talented player, but he shouldn't be our starting striker.

He is not clinical enough, and he needs to mature.

We need a proven goalscorer who will take the easy chances, like the days of Ruud or RVP.

Agreed. It wouldn’t do him any harm to learn from a top striker. Mind you he does have Ole as manager.

 

[Judas]

Needs to be taken out of the firing line for his own good, people shouldn’t be talking about such a promising player with such venom, but when he’s playing every week we’re going to see this sort of inconsistency. Feel like he’s not getting the protection from the manager that would benefit him at the moment.

 

[CaptainAvengers]

Ole is his mate, he won't tell him he's rubbish not fit for this club.

We lack leadership from the top. We need a ruthless manager who has no heart in upsetting people.. that's the type of rebuilding that needs to be done for the long-term 5 year plan we need alongside a DOF.

 

[africanspur]

Why would you want to burst the bubble of a young player who, as far as I'm aware, has not shown any attitude problems and especially when he plays in a position where confidence is so important?

 

[MikeKing]

Why would you want to burst the bubble of a young player who, as far as I'm aware, has not shown any attitude problems and especially when he plays in a position where confidence is so important?

So he doesn't stagnate.

 

[johanovic]

I think there is room for a lot of improvement in his play but he´s by far the best attacker we have so he will be staying.(Unless he does not sign a new contract)
We need to have 4 to 6 attacking players (strikers+wingers) competing for a place in the team. Lukaku,Sanchez,Martial,Mata,Lingard can all leave.

 

[africanspur]

So he doesn't stagnate.

You can do that without bursting his bubble. Guide him, , nurture, teach, encourage, sometimes have a go if he's been shit, not improving or not putting in effort.

Sometimes you of course need to ground young players but bursting their bubble sounds a lot more drastic than that.

 

[Vidyoyo]

The 'problem' with Rashford is because Martial, Lukaku, Sanchez and Lingard have been extremely poor this season. We've become reliant on him but he's young and inconsistent - neither of which is rare.

 

[Michael Gutteridge]

These hit the nail on the head. We're in such disarray that this is being lost in the kerfuffle - Rashford has no mentors or guiding lights in the squad; all teenagers who aren't prodigies immediately revert to type in times of woe and it's the seniors and coaches that correct that.

We're letting our youngsters down in not having anyone to guide them in the side.

Rashford should be aspiring to emulate an elite striker who is keeping him out of the team. He should not be the leading striker for a club of this size and supposed aspiration.

Rasford is the problem, he seems to think that he already merits a huge pay rise and if things don’t go his way he seems to get into a right strop

 

[MikeKing]

You can do that without bursting his bubble. Guide him, , nurture, teach, encourage, sometimes have a go if he's been shit, not improving or not putting in effort.

Sometimes you of course need to ground young players but bursting their bubble sounds a lot more drastic than that.

Yeah, I think maybe doing those things you mentioned becomes impossible or at least a lot harder to do when you have to penetrate that bubble to get it in there.

 

[africanspur]

Yeah, I think maybe doing those things you mentioned becomes impossible or at least a lot harder to do when you have to penetrate that bubble to get it in there.

I mean you guys will obviously know a lot more about it all than I do but I've not come across anything that suggests Rashford has become a drama queen or isn't working hard etc.

I think you also have to take into account that he's still very young and surrounded by quite a lot of chaos, with attacking play often not being defined very well. I mean he's 21 and played under what, 3/4 managers already? All with very different philosophies and approaches. Its difficult surely to improve on a steady trajectory in those circumstances?

 

[edgar allan]

Only for now, with everyone else out of form.

Are you expecting Lukaku, Sanchez and Martial to bounce back into form soon?

 

[santosh]

Looks like Rashford has lost some pace. I don't see him outrun anyone on the wing anymore.

 

[InspiRED]

Are you expecting Lukaku, Sanchez and Martial to bounce back into form soon?

Well we seem to be waiting months for Rashford to bounce back into form, why is he different from those mentioned?

 

[Fortitude]

Rasford is the problem, he seems to think that he already merits a huge pay rise and if things don’t go his way he seems to get into a right strop

Rashford doesn't know any better because of no elders putting him in his place. Do you think his conduct and attitude would be the same if Zlatan was still here, for example?

 

[edgar allan]

Well we seem to be waiting months for Rashford to bounce back into form, why is he different from those mentioned?

Poor form can be tolerated easier than lack of desire and effort in my book.
He has youth as an excuse, what excuse has Lukaku and Sanchez got?