[littleman]

That's a really good performance from the clip.

The best thing about Rashford is how endlessly penetrative and energetic he is. He really pushes and stretches the opposition defense. Looks like he also put in a few good passes more typical of a playmaker for the national team, but I think he's destined for a penetrative forward role.

I really think he's the local talent with the best chance of making it big since the class of 94. Apart from his current and potential skill, he has a top mentality unlike basically every other person that's come through. If he manages to avoid injury in the next few years, he'll be going places.

Genuinely excited.

 

[littleman]

One other thing about Rashford, just watching all his goals scored so far.. he's skinned Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea all before the age of 20.

I know he doesn't have the consistency right now, but to be short of 20 and having scored WINNING GOALS against those teams for Manchester United. Damn.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Yeah I'd say it's almost impossible to go from being so heavily one footed to the two footed dexterity of Ronaldo. Which I suppose is a big deal. Then there's the heading ability.

Who knows with Rashford though.As you say his repertoire is expanding at pace.

I remember being taken aback by Ronaldo turning into such a force in the air. Wasn't something I associate with his first few years at United. Rashford might surprise us yet.

 

[dal]

Which is actually what Ronaldo himself was like at Rashfords age. Sky's the limit for Rashford, it's all about working hard and refining his game which he seems more than willing to do.

People talk about Liverpool's front 3, Martial, Lukaku, Rashford could be just as potent given the opportunity.

That's just plain wrong, don't want to derail the thread but ronaldo never ever looked like a championship player, he had the beating of most defenders even in 03/04, you looked at how he beat defenders he was senseational, I remeber thinking beckham had left then watched his first Bolton game and thought wtf, he's unreal.

He may have made a few wrong descions because he just loved taking players on, I for one enjoyed that ronaldo even more than the one today.

He always looked like a premier league level player even then he hardly ever lost the ball unless he was fouled. Always a threat, always.

Rashford seems to have ronaldos mentality, if he does, that in itself is brilliant, even saying this ronaldo was almost twice the player at the same age.

The good thing is rashfords technique seems to be improving it seems to me which tbh is quite rare to witness, he hits a ball with venom and dip and it's wicked and his crossing seems laser guided some times, his movement is class too, he seems to be improving but comparing to ronaldo is silly he was breathtaking and his technique and trickery was never in question.

If rashford is half the player, i.e. 15-20 goals a season from wide I'll be impressed

 

[LuisNaniencia]

That's just plain wrong, don't want to derail the thread but ronaldo never ever looked like a championship player, he had the beating of most defenders even in 03/04, you looked at how he beat defenders he was senseational, I remeber thinking beckham had left then watched his first Bolton game and thought wtf, he's unreal.

He may have made a few wrong descions because he just loved taking players on, I for one enjoyed that ronaldo even more than the one today.

He always looked like a premier league level player even then he hardly ever lost the ball unless he was fouled. Always a threat, always.

Rashford seems to have ronaldos mentality, if he does, that in itself is brilliant, even saying this ronaldo was almost twice the player at the same age.

The good thing is rashfords technique seems to be improving it seems to me which tbh is quite rare to witness, he hits a ball with venom and dip and it's wicked and his crossing seems laser guided some times, his movement is class too, he seems to be improving but comparing to ronaldo is silly he was breathtaking and his technique and trickery was never in question.

If rashford is half the player, i.e. 15-20 goals a season from wide I'll be impressed

Ronaldo made 30+ appearances in each of his first 2 seasons and scored 4 goals then 5 goals. Granted this is only one stat, but he was a million miles away from the world class player he would become.

 

[Varun]

Ronaldo made 30+ appearances in each of his first 2 seasons and scored 4 goals then 5 goals. Granted this is only one stat, but he was a million miles away from the world class player he would become.

Judging a young winger in his first season at the club by the goals he scored is just wrong. You just need to have seen both Ronaldo and Rashford to know that Ronaldo was on a different level and that's not a slight on rashford either because Ronaldo was a different level to most players.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

Judging a young winger in his first season at the club by the goals he scored is just wrong. You just need to have seen both Ronaldo and Rashford to know that Ronaldo was on a different level and that's not a slight on rashford either because Ronaldo was a different level to most players.

As I said I know it's only one stat but I only mentioned it to exemplify Ronaldo was not the player he became in the next few season where he scored 20-30+ goals.

I'm not trying to say Rashford will reach Ronaldo heights, but to me it seems people have a foggy memory of Ronnies first 2 seasons. Then again it could be me with the bad memory.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

Said this in pre-season but he's better on the right. No clue why he always plays on the left where he often looks out of sorts. Play him on the right and Martial on the left, have patience and we'll see some real rewards in the near future.

 

[Varun]

As I said I know it's only one stat but I only mentioned it to exemplify Ronaldo was not the player he became in the next few season where he scored 20-30+ goals.

I'm not trying to say Rashford will reach Ronaldo heights, but to me it seems people have a foggy memory of Ronnies first 2 seasons. Then again it could be me with the bad memory.

Yes, Ronaldo back then wasn't close to being the monster he became later but he was still an outrageous talent and already doing things the likes of rashford or most players really simply can't. Just watch the highlights of his first season at the club, you just knew you were watching something special. Rashford whilst a talent is nowhere close and again, that's not a slight on him.

 

[littleman]

I watched Ronaldo in his first few seasons, every game. There was potential but there's gross over exaggeration about how he was already different etc.

Rashford is not Ronaldo but this is amazing talent for 19. Whether it'll continue to grow, who knows.

 

[FromTheBench]

I watched Ronaldo in his first few seasons, every game. There was potential but there's gross over exaggeration about how he was already different etc.

Rashford is not Ronaldo but this is amazing talent for 19. Whether it'll continue to grow, who knows.

I agree. Ronaldo was not considered as big a talent as Rooney back then and had some games where he constantly lost the ball many times. He did some fantastic stuff and highlight reel stuff but he is being overrated post facto.

Infact, even before his breakout season when Ronaldo and Rooney had that Incident in Portugal vs England in the summer, most would have sold Ronaldo and kept Rooney if they had to choose and that was further down the line when Ronaldo had already improved a fair bit.

 

[Dante]

I agree. Ronaldo was not considered as big a talent as Rooney back then and had some games where he constantly lost the ball many times. He did some fantastic stuff and highlight reel stuff but he is being overrated post facto.

Infact, even before his breakout season when Ronaldo and Rooney had that Incident in Portugal vs England in the summer, most would have sold Ronaldo and kept Rooney if they had to choose and that was further down the line when Ronaldo had already improved a fair bit.

Ronaldo had the potential to be a world class tricky winger. That's all that anyone could see when he was a teenager.

What he eventually became was a powerhouse goalscorer.

I never believe anyone who says they could tell he was gonna get a Ballon d'or from the moment they first watched him. It's like somebody saying that they knew Einstein was a genius after they say him paint a picture as a kid. They'd be right, but only in the wrongest way possible.

 

[Minkaro]

Starting to see his future as a winger more than a striker tbh.

I'm tempted to agree. With his pace, trickery, and (based on that England game) passing ability, it almost seems like a waste to ask him to go up front and stay there. It actually wouldn't surprise me if he played as a winger for a while, and then actually moved into a #10 role when he eventually did move central.

That said, some of his finishing in the first 20 goals video posted in here a while back is sublime, and you wouldn't want to lose that. I think it's nice to have somebody that could theoretically play anywhere in the front 4 positions, and I don't think it'd hurt him to do so (not like, say, Jones, where people thought, and I tend to agree, playing CM/RB/CB stunted him).

 

[Rozay]

I agree. Ronaldo was not considered as big a talent as Rooney back then and had some games where he constantly lost the ball many times. He did some fantastic stuff and highlight reel stuff but he is being overrated post facto.

Infact, even before his breakout season when Ronaldo and Rooney had that Incident in Portugal vs England in the summer, most would have sold Ronaldo and kept Rooney if they had to choose and that was further down the line when Ronaldo had already improved a fair bit.

I think that was largely an English media assessment of them tbh, not a universal consensus.

 

[Dante]

I think that was largely an English media assessment of them tbh, not a universal consensus.

Odd thing to convince yourself of. Rooney was up for FIFA player of the year in 2004
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-10-06/rooney-up-for-fifa-player-of-the-year-award/563738

 

[Litch]

What a talent!!! What I love about this lad is in his development he's proving he's much more than a centre forward. We've seen him take free kicks and the ball to Kane was truly high quality, all of this at 19 at the highest level. This lads ceiling is ridiculously high....

 

[khoazany]

He's always been a pretty good striker of the ball from distance I just don't think we've seen enough of it from him. Scored some belters for the academy and some brilliant free kicks.

Exactly. In fact it was so frustrating watching him in the U18s sometimes I just wanted to shout: "Marcus you're a striker now scores some poacher goals please". He scored 12 goals that season I think but all were outsider of the box/solo effort/free kick/penalty.

 

[Android1974]

Starting to see his future as a winger more than a striker tbh.

Nor one nor the other, wide-forward it is.

 

[izec]

His shooting and crossing technique has improved. Long may it continue.

 

[Trizy]

Martial may be a tad more naturally skilled on the ball but Rashford's mentality guarantees success in the long run. I fully understand Jose's decision to start him over Martial at the start of the season.

A tad? Martial is one of the best dribblers in tight crowded spaces I've ever seen and at pace. Rashford just runs past 1 player at a time because he's faster.

I still don't get the Rashford hype, he's a striker that can't finish 1v1s.

 

[Rozay]

Odd thing to convince yourself of. Rooney was up for FIFA player of the year in 2004
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2004-10-06/rooney-up-for-fifa-player-of-the-year-award/563738

As is always the case after a successful international tournament. I haven't 'convinced myself' of anything, that was my observation at the time.

I used to notice how grudgingly the pundits gave any praise to Ronaldo, and they basically used to put him down in order to praise Rooney, in a similar way that the caf seems to couple the destinies of United players together. On here, the likes of Jones/Smalling, Rashford/Martial, Mata/Mkhitaryan of the current squad all come as a pair. One gets praise, other gets criticism, and if you 'prefer' one, praised is muted for the other.

United were England's biggest club, and the 'plan' was always for Rooney to become the best and most important player. When Ronaldo started outperforming him consistently, it was bitterly received. And before that, the efforts were to discredit him as a showpony and diver.

 

[podurban2]

A tad? Martial is one of the best dribblers in tight crowded spaces I've ever seen and at pace. Rashford just runs past 1 player at a time because he's faster.

I still don't get the Rashford hype, he's a striker that can't finish 1v1s.

This is utter bs.

 

[Dante]

A tad? Martial is one of the best dribblers in tight crowded spaces I've ever seen and at pace. Rashford just runs past 1 player at a time because he's faster.

I still don't get the Rashford hype, he's a striker that can't finish 1v1s.

Rashford's dribbling is massively underrated because he's English.

 

[ryan cook]

Rashford's dribbling is massively underrated because he's English.

You literally just have watch his highlights from the Malta game to know how good of a dribbler he is.

 

[Dante]

You literally just have watch his highlights from the Malta game to know how good of a dribbler he is.

Bursting through at full pace with quick change of direction is one skill. Dribbling at less than full pace with a soft touch and a body feint is a different skill. Rashford can do both. Losing control when you're doing the former is not unusual. Rashford is quick enough to pull it off most of the time. And when he does, it puts him in more dangerous positions than close-control dribbling would. It's a risky manouevre, but one that's often worth taking. It shouldn't detract from assessment of his (also) demonstrably good dribbling ability.

 

[dal]

Ronaldo had the potential to be a world class tricky winger. That's all that anyone could see when he was a teenager.

What he eventually became was a powerhouse goalscorer.

I never believe anyone who says they could tell he was gonna get a Ballon d'or from the moment they first watched him. It's like somebody saying that they knew Einstein was a genius after they say him paint a picture as a kid. They'd be right, but only in the wrongest way possible.

Watch the Bolton game again, I bet there was a lot of people thinking feck me he could be the best in the world, just like the United players when they played against him told fergie to sign him
He made John O'Shea dizzy scored 3 goals against us

Then watch euro 2004 he gave away a penalty if memory serves right then scored a goal in the same match he looked absoloutley incredible, him and robben were compared when they first came anyone could see they were great talents

everyone knows he wasn't the finished article but everyone must have thought after the first season he had the tools to be one of the best, tbf he's just one of those players who you watch and think fuk me he's got it.

Shame he just concentrated on goals, he lost his ability to beat easily man after 2006/2007, That for me was his best season 20 goals 20 assists perfect winger.

 

[dal]

I'll take this back to rashford now lol,

he's brilliant for us at the moment can play different roles young and bred at the club which means he won't sulk as much and he can do a job in the team at his young age.

He's put on a lot of timber aswell and seems to spot a pass, his development will be interesting to watch.

 

[Manny]

Lots of overrating of the young Ronaldo in here. Even that one Bolton game seems to have skewed a lot of opinions about him.

I prefer a the young, 18-19 year old Rashford to young Ronaldo. He's a less infuriating, less erratic, a better striker of the ball and overall a smarter player. For the sake of comparing progress, Rashford turns 20 this season, Ronaldo turned 20 in 04-05, his second season.

Obviously, that's not to say that Rashford will become a better player.

 

[ChaddyP]

Lots of overrating of the young Ronaldo in here. Even that one Bolton game seems to have skewed a lot of opinions about him.

I prefer a the young, 18-19 year old Rashford to young Ronaldo. He's a less infuriating, less erratic, a better striker of the ball and overall a smarter player. For the sake of comparing progress, Rashford turns 20 this season, Ronaldo turned 20 in 04-05, his second season.

Obviously, that's not to say that Rashford will become a better player.

THIS

 

[ManuMou]

His versatility is also key. He can play through the middle, left and right. It's not easy to fit into starting XI in a big club like United when you have to compete with so many top class players at such a young age without much experience.

His attitude, especially willingness to learn, will definitely allow him to develop into a top class player, if not world class.

Both Rashford and Martial are the most exciting attacking players to watch since Rooney Ronaldo, in terms of their potential. I am so excited to watch all of Pogba, Mkhi, Rash, Martial, and Lukaku as our strike force (not so much about Mata, personally), regardless of who is starting. It's quite a balanced strike force. Creativity, dribbling, pace, and finishing. However, composure is the weakest spot among all. Rooney used to provide us with the composure in the final third and Mkhi is lacking this. Mata could provide us with the composure at the expense of width. That's the thing. When Jose played all of Pogba/Mkhi/Mata in the first 3 games, our middle is very, very congested, not helped by our weak fullbacks. That's one of the main reasons that we couldn't break all three teams' defense when they parked the bus, and we had to break it from set pieces (Swansea, Leicester) and counter (West Ham). The result masked our congested middle in the final third and inability to break the bus, same as last season. There are two solutions, either use more width (ie play both Martial and Rashford on LW and RW, respectively) or improve our fullbacks (ie Shaw miraculously come back on form. Sadly I don't think Valencia can improve by a lot anymore). Although Matic and Lukaku changed our attack dynamism positively and our attack (especially counter) is much much better than last season, I think we still need to solve this "congested middle" issue.

 

[MadDogg]

I never believe anyone who says they could tell he was gonna get a Ballon d'or from the moment they first watched him. It's like somebody saying that they knew Einstein was a genius after they say him paint a picture as a kid. They'd be right, but only in the wrongest way possible.

Most of us first saw him in his debut with us against Bolton. There were plenty of people instantly saying that he had the potential to go on to be the best player in the world. There were literally opposition fans after that match throwing in the towel and trying to hand us the title that season (of course we didn't end up winning it, but it showed how terrified they instantly were of him).

With all due respect to Rashford, Ronaldo's pure talent was on another level. There's nothing wrong with that - other than obviously Messi and maybe (and I do emphasis 'maybe') Neymar I don't think there's been any other player since who's had that level of talent. It took him a few years to kick into gear and start making the most of that talent, and during that time big question marks were raised about him maybe not reaching it, but the potential was always there. He'd only been here a few months or so and Best was saying that for the first time the 'new George Best' tag was actually flattering to him.

If people want to say that Rashford now is a better player than Ronaldo was at his age, that's fine. But saying he's as talented? Not even close. Rashford is a very talented player, more than many give credit for, but it's a big reach to Ronaldo level.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Well deserved start.

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[K2K]

Most of us first saw him in his debut with us against Bolton. There were plenty of people instantly saying that he had the potential to go on to be the best player in the world. There were literally opposition fans after that match throwing in the towel and trying to hand us the title that season (of course we didn't end up winning it, but it showed how terrified they instantly were of him).

With all due respect to Rashford, Ronaldo's pure talent was on another level. There's nothing wrong with that - other than obviously Messi and maybe (and I do emphasis 'maybe') Neymar I don't think there's been any other player since who's had that level of talent. It took him a few years to kick into gear and start making the most of that talent, and during that time big question marks were raised about him maybe not reaching it, but the potential was always there. He'd only been here a few months or so and Best was saying that for the first time the 'new George Best' tag was actually flattering to him.

If people want to say that Rashford now is a better player than Ronaldo was at his age, that's fine. But saying he's as talented? Not even close. Rashford is a very talented player, more than many give credit for, but it's a big reach to Ronaldo level.

Hyperbole in the extreme

 

[Dante]

Most of us first saw him in his debut with us against Bolton. There were plenty of people instantly saying that he had the potential to go on to be the best player in the world. There were literally opposition fans after that match throwing in the towel and trying to hand us the title that season (of course we didn't end up winning it, but it showed how terrified they instantly were of him).

With all due respect to Rashford, Ronaldo's pure talent was on another level. There's nothing wrong with that - other than obviously Messi and maybe (and I do emphasis 'maybe') Neymar I don't think there's been any other player since who's had that level of talent. It took him a few years to kick into gear and start making the most of that talent, and during that time big question marks were raised about him maybe not reaching it, but the potential was always there. He'd only been here a few months or so and Best was saying that for the first time the 'new George Best' tag was actually flattering to him.

If people want to say that Rashford now is a better player than Ronaldo was at his age, that's fine. But saying he's as talented? Not even close. Rashford is a very talented player, more than many give credit for, but it's a big reach to Ronaldo level.

He was a tricky, agile winger. He turned into a powerhouse goalscorer. Did you really see that from his debut? Of course not. Like I said, that Bolton match was like seeing a brilliant painting from a 10 year-old Einstein and declaring him a genius.

 

[K2K]

He was a tricky, agile winger. He turned into a powerhouse goalscorer. Did you really see that from his debut? Of course not. Like I said, that Bolton match was like seeing a brilliant painting from a 10 year-old Einstein and declaring him a genius.

Einstein ?

I stand corrected but he wasn't much of a painter.

 

[LuisNaniencia]

Good to see Southgate has half a brain.

 

[edcunited1878]

Marcus Rashford being said in the same sentence as Ronaldo already....calm down lads, calm down. Enjoy his ups and downs and embrace his love for the Red of Manchester.

 

[ivaldo]

Marcus Rashford being said in the same sentence as Ronaldo already....calm down lads, calm down. Enjoy his ups and downs and embrace his love for the Red of Manchester.

Not really. The vast majority of people are just using Ronaldo, possibly the greatest ever player, as an example that even the very best have flaws that at such a tender age. That's all.

 

[Neuron]

Einstein ?

I stand corrected but he wasn't much of a painter.

I think that's the point.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Assisted Dier.