I'm a big fan of of Rashford's but he's really quite inconsistent ain't he?
I would say he's as inconsistent as the roles he's given in the first team. There's a big difference between being a choice in all three attacking positions, on paper, and being able to perform at the highest level whatever the circumstances. Furthermore, he's still developing as a footballer, he's not the finished article yet. In this sense, he will always need time to adjust to new roles/instructions.
Watching him this season, it comes as no surprise that his best performances came when he was starting on the left but constantly looking to cut inside and receive the ball in the half spaces between the lines. From there, facing the goal & and going 1v1 -while running with the ball- against the opposition FB, that's his favourite game, the one that suits his pace and his forward instincts best.
His formed dipped when he was asked to play as the lone man upfront with no Bruno and no wingers to support him. His back injury didn't help either but i doubt he'll ever become the type of forward who will look to receive the ball with his back to goal and who will thrive on the half-turn by linking up with others.
Since the restart, his role has changed from that of the inverted forward to the one of the inverted winger. He starts his moves deeper and he is the one who must hug the sideline and provide width on the left. But he's neither a wide play-maker nor the Hazard-type of winger who will open up spaces for his teammates by drawing defenders to him and then dribbling past them. At least not yet.
His technique is also pretty good when he's on the ball and running at defenders. He has difficulties when he must make things happen from a standing position and far away from the box. He's predictable in these situations because the defender can allow him to run down the wide channel, knowing that he will have to bring the ball back to his right foot. So, he needs options and we're trying to offer him some: Shaw/Williams on the underlap, Bruno/Martial moving close to him etc. Thing is these are secondary attacking options, meaning we must establish control of the proceedings in the attacking half for them to occur. When we can't, Rashford usually looks bad on that left side of ours.
Tbf to him, he's trying his best and he's enjoyed some good games there since the restart. But it's been mostly games in which we managed to get all of him and Bruno, Pogba and Greenwood high up the pitch in interesting positions between the lines. In other words, in games when he had support. Something similar has happened with Greenwood too. As long as we can create opportunities for him to go 1v1 and finish, he looks like the best talent in the world but when he actually has to play as a winger, he goes awol for huge parts of the game.
We'll see how it goes and how someone like Sancho can influence our atracking plays. On one hand, the tactical decision to alter his role to stretch the pitch for the benefit of Pogba and Bruno finding pockets of space in the central channels has bore our best results since the season began. On the other, Rashford's role now looks similar to the one Mourinho had imagined for him (with the exception of being, first and foremost, a provider for a target man in the box, of course). This remark is just an observation, i'm not insinuating anything...
Anyway, he may get better in this role in time. But until he reaches the desired level, his performances will always depend on how well the players around him perform and on how much support he'll receive from them. He can be a crucial player for us but not a focal point yet.
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