[FootballHQ]

Invisible. Only word for today’s performance

Not holding it against him, been rushed back from injury because circumstance demanded it.

Hopefully he can find his grove again before the end of the season, and doesn’t have the rest of his season be a whimper because of this injury.

Really missing the Post-WC Rashford. He made such a difference in our play, and having someone taking their chances was invaluable.

He wasn't 100% but I thought he was always a threat, had shots at goal and good runs and nearly scored near the end when Sanchez tipped it very well round the post.

You will surely rest him for some league games as you need him 110% to have any chance of beating Man. City.

 

[criticalanalysis]

Terrible game from him, he and Eriksen are a bad combination off the ball as they cover similar area. Right side was much more balanced.

I would like Rashford to just play it around when it's not happening for him. Make less risky dribbles, try something different.

Yeah that's the most frustrating thing. I can barely take him being indifferent on the pitch without the ball because he's such a threat for us but when he gets the ball, just pass and move man.

 

[Abraxas]

Nothing worked today. When he did isolate the full back he invariably tricked himself or kicked it into the guy's shins, or ran out of play.

 

[Jam]

He wasn't 100% but I thought he was always a threat, had shots at goal and good runs and nearly scored near the end when Sanchez tipped it very well round the post.

You will surely rest him for some league games as you need him 110% to have any chance of beating Man. City.

Annoyingly we play Thursday Sunday Thursday Sunday now I think?

Spurs, your lot, Brighton, West Ham.

The middle two fixtures will be the toughest, for me now start on the bench against Spurs and maybe 60/60 in the two tougher games, review him before West Ham and make a decision then.

He needs some minutes, we need him, but he needs to be looked after as we’ve all seen what pushing him back into the team does to his body / his confidence.

If we mishandle him now he could just have a stinker between now and the summer. He’s very much a confidence player.

 

[redIndianDevil]

He was like a FIFA player today. Get the ball and try to perform a skill move but nothing was coming off today. He should ideally be carrying the ball and stretching the play like Mitoma does. But he has done more than his fare share this season so can’t fault him too much.

 

[The United]

His defending today was terrible. Someone said he pretended like he was defending It looked that way to me as well. For all Antony's faults, the right side would be fully defended.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

His defending today was terrible. Someone said he pretended like he was defending It looked that way to me as well. For all Antony's faults, the right side would be fully defended.

Pretty sure he's instructed to stay a bit further up.

 

[united_99]

His defending today was terrible. Someone said he pretended like he was defending It looked that way to me as well. For all Antony's faults, the right side would be fully defended.

If he wasn’t following instructions he wouldn’t be playing that much.
You have to ask yourself why it was him who after returning early from his injury was played for 120 minutes and not any of our other attacking players.

 

[hodgey123]

He is just not fully fit at all. I hope we do not rush him back again - it massively set him back last time.

 

[Gavinb33]

He didn't have a great game overall, he was the only one who looked like scoring though

 

[Born2Lose]

Pretty obvious Brighton targeted that side today knowing Rashford doesn't track back. How Ten Haag can't see it is beyond me, same blindness he has for De Gea.

 

[Lecland07]

He has definitely been rushed back.

 

[top1whoisman]

 

[kidbob]

I get why we feel we have to do it but I'm worried for his long term form now. Ole made him play when he wasn't right and now ETH is doing the same. I get that Garnacho is injured too but I really hope this doesn't have a long term effect on him running into next season. It's a real pity Sancho has never been able to hit his Dortmund heights here and how that has pushed us into playing Marcus when he should be recovering.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Best I've seen him play for sometime in that 1st half. Unfortunately, like everyone else, went to sh*t in the 2nd.

 

[Mike Smalling]

Looked sharp in the first half, and got involved in the build-up centrally, which was nice to see.

 

[Sylar]

Really good first half and goal. He hardly saw the ball second half.

 

[The Corinthian]

Is that 29 for the season? The most a player has scored in a season post Fergie. Hoping he can get past the 30 goal barrier overall.

 

[Nou_Camp99]

We wouldn't even be top half without him. Thats how poor our other forwards have been.

Next season we need far more from all of them.

 

[Sylar]

Is that 29 for the season? The most a player has scored in a season post Fergie. Hoping he can get past the 30 goal barrier overall.

He should now, probably aiming for 35. 7 league games + 1 cup game (8) to get 6 is doable

 

[Doracle]

Decent performance but could probably have made a bit more of a couple of situations in the second half. One lovely pass through the legs of a defender into Martial near the end. Even a little off his top form, he’s still out most consistent threat by a long way.

 

[Lecland07]

We barely had the ball in the second half, but I thought he did alright with the very few opportunities he did get to have the ball. He looked great in the first half.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I like him as a striker. To some extent I have more confidence in him scoring when he plays there than on the left

 

[wangyu]

I like him better on the left.

 

[groovyalbert]

He's been awesome this season. Kind of odd to have a player 1 away from 30 goals for the season, but still not be that close to 20 league goals. His Europa/League Cup goal rate is very impressive.

 

[TwoSheds]

Dribbling has been off lately but scoring is the main thing. We struggle to put our chances away except for him. Even Bruno this year.

 

[Alemar]

29G / 9A is a very good return, it needs to be said. Hopefully he finishes the season strongly and gets to 35G with a double digit assist figure.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

Being our best attacker this season, by far, basically carrying us for 85% of the season and being shifted from the left to center and even to the right, to accomodate the lesser flop in different areas is not an easy task, congrats to him.

 

[FrankDrebin]

I like him better on the left.

I prefer him as a forward now.

 

[Ish]

We wouldn't even be top half without him. Thats how poor our other forwards have been.

Next season we need far more from all of them.

Absolutely. A start would be getting a CF who is actually both, capable and available! At least the bar for our CF role hasn’t been set high at all.

Think the last really excellent CF we’ve had was RvP. Possibly Ibra (if you consider price/age). But shudder to think how we’ve not sorted out that position since SAF retired and considering all the money we’ve spent

 

[Stadjer]

Not good today... or atleast i expect more from him these days. Made runs but missed the chance (offside one first half) or couldnt control the ball when receiving the ball after he made a run.

 

[Frank White]

Made the runs but his touch wasn't there today, still played a hand in the goal mind however tame the shot was. Has played a ridiculous amount of football recently in such a short period especially for a player coming back from injury.

 

[Abraxas]

It wasn't his day but I liked the willingness to make the right runs and the energy he showed out of possession. He just couldn't seem to get his touch right to take a decisive shot despite many decent opportunities.

 

[top1whoisman]

Made the runs but his touch wasn't there today, still played a hand in the goal mind however tame the shot was. Has played a ridiculous amount of football recently in such a short period especially for a player coming back from injury.

Yeap, pretty much this. His explosiveness in the runs in behind will always give him a couple of chances, but he failed to control quite a few decent through balls today. It was a tame shot for sure, but he caught Martínez off guard as he wasn't expecting a shot that early.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Ok, I change my mind, he definitely isn't a striker. He's got great movement but had he been on the left today I think the result would've been alot more comfortable.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Not his best day, but ultimately we don't win that game without him and his runs - they were a nightmare for the Villa backline all game.

 

[MadDogg]

Strange game. His off-the-ball movement was good, his pressing was probably the best it's been in what feels like years, but once he got on the ball it never really worked. Had a good impact on the game overall and I really do hope that the pressing is something we'll see more often going forward.

 

[The United]

If he wasn’t following instructions he wouldn’t be playing that much.
You have to ask yourself why it was him who after returning early from his injury was played for 120 minutes and not any of our other attacking players.

I know this post was written a couple of games ago. When I said it seemed like he was pretending to defend, I meant he was not exactly doing as much as, let's say, Antony in general. But he did that in some odd games, not all the games. So it was easy to forgive him, and being the top goal scorer helps.

It is why having more forwards would help with competition and a general improvement in quality.

 

[acnumber9]

Strange game. His off-the-ball movement was good, his pressing was probably the best it's been in what feels like years, but once he got on the ball it never really worked. Had a good impact on the game overall and I really do hope that the pressing is something we'll see more often going forward.

He was a better touch away from probably getting two or three goals.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

He was a better touch away from probably getting two or three goals.

Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt due to the wet pitch, I hope...