MMM (Mason, Marcus, Martial) = BBC (Bale, Benzema, Cristiano)

Desert Eagle

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Because Rashford's a left winger?

I would say that Sané, Reus, Sterling, Pulisic, Bale and even Hazard are shaky shouts at best this season, although for sure Hazard is an outstanding player and I think it's fair to allow him an off year and Sané is likely to be up there if he gets himself fit again at Bayern. Mbappé is clearly a level above Rashford but he's also not really a left winger, so basically it seems you're reaching a bit here.
he's played as a striker more than a left winger going by career stats.
 

Moby

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Juan mata is a more inventive player than marcus rashford. You're welcome to debate it if you disagree.
There's no debate needed there for anyone who has a functional brain and a set of eyes and has watched both of them play for us. Mata wouldn't create the kind of chances Rashford does in one game if he was gives ten times the playing time on the pitch. He's one of the most garbage and least creative players in the squad who stinks up the pitch standing stationary everytime he's told to play. Another absolute clueless statement in the long list you have managed to pollute this thread with. You have no idea whatsoever what creativity in football means.
 

sp_107

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Few good matches and people are wetting themselves. When they dont do well against few good teams then people will scream for lacking quality signings.

Even these 3 are the best at this moment what are other options we have on the bench? I think we still need few signings in front 6 positions to challenge tittles.

I give credit to OLE for clearing so many average player and he is in for one last cleanup of players like Jesse, Alexis, Juan, Jones, Smalling and Rojo.

If he can add 3/4 quality signings we can really look forward to the exciting times
 

anant

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Why only left wingers? Off the top of my head wingers better than him include neymar, bale, rues, hazard, mane, sane, sterling, mahrez, salah,mbappe,sterling, pulisic.
Considering all them play in a team as good, if not better than ours, have better finishing, game awareness and 1st touch, as per you - why have only Salah, Sterling and Mbappe scored more than Rashford this season?
Not saying that Rashford is better than Neymar or Mane, but you do realize that any player would have to be doing somethings right if they are getting the numbers that Marcus is getting this season
 

Desert Eagle

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Considering all them play in a team as good, if not better than ours, have better finishing, game awareness and 1st touch, as per you - why have only Salah, Sterling and Mbappe scored more than Rashford this season?
Not saying that Rashford is better than Neymar or Mane, but you do realize that any player would have to be doing somethings right if they are getting the numbers that Marcus is getting this season
remove those two words and how much weaker is your point?
Rashford is doing plenty of things right. He's a good football player just not on the level of the other 5 mentioned in the thread opener imo.
 

TwoSheds

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he's played as a striker more than a left winger going by career stats.
And Greenwood has played more as a right winger than a striker going by career stats, it doesn't necessarily make him a right winger. It's clear that Rashford sees his future as largely on the wings and so does our manager so I don't agree with that line of argument really.
 

MalcolmTucker

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lets leave pulisic out of it. that one is more a personal preference based on the little i've seen. I think you'd be hard pressed to find a non united fan that rates rashford above the other four. Reus, sterling and sane if you look at the past couple seasons massively outperform rashford. 4 champion leagues aint bad for a golfer.
Reus doesn't even play on the wing and hasn't for years, he plays as a false 9 or in behind and even then, he has a weaker goal to minute ratio than Rashford this season. I doubt you have even watched Reus in the last 3 years if you count him as a winger and are just pulling names out of your arse.

Bale you're having a laugh, he has played feck all football in these last two years and has an average of a goal every 420 minutes this season. He has 4 CLs but If you want to talk about past acheivements why don't we drop Bruno and get Rooney seeing as he has a CL and is England's top scorer? Shall we also get Sanchez back? Every criticism you levelled at Rashford applies to Bale and while Rashford hasn't hit the peak Bale did for Spurs, that was an absolute age ago and Bale is not that player any more.

Hazard this season has scored 1 goal. That's a goal every 1320 minutes. Hazard played great last season so it's fair to say he is just having a bad season at a new club and has been struggling with injuries. It's also worth noting that during his best season for Chelsea, he scored 21 goals with 5 penalties, Rashford is going to beat that this season.

Pulisic was benched by an 18 year old Sancho and Thorgan Hazard - imagine being a United fan and actually making a case for Pulisic being better than Rashford currently?

Mahrez and Sterling have been decent but I think Rashford has outperformed them both this season while playing for a struggling team.

Mane, Salah, Mbappe and Neymar are better than Rashford, fair enough but the rest are at the very best debatable.

You say Rashford has scored a lot of penalties but he won 4 of them this season so completely discounting them doesn't tell the whole story. He hasn't played great since he's been back but he's been out for 5 months before that he was our player of the season and was scoring important goals for us when we were threadbare.

remove those two words and how much weaker is your point?
Rashford is doing plenty of things right. He's a good football player just not on the level of the other 5 mentioned in the thread opener imo.
Rashford is also younger than those players and this is his breakout season where he has become an undisputed starter - what is the point in comparing his previous seasons when he was a youngster in and out the team with players who are in their prime and completely discounting the current one? What was Salah, Mane and Mahrez doing at 22 years old? Sterling and Sane had their breakout seasons at the same age and that was for a record breaking Man City side yet Rashford will end up with more goals this season than they did at his age.
 
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AshRK

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remove those two words and how much weaker is your point?
Rashford is doing plenty of things right. He's a good football player just not on the level of the other 5 mentioned in the thread opener imo.
Just asking why should this season be removed?
 

anant

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remove those two words and how much weaker is your point?
Rashford is doing plenty of things right. He's a good football player just not on the level of the other 5 mentioned in the thread opener imo.
So, you're telling me that I should exclude a 22 year old's 1st season where he has started games consistently (EDIT: from breakout season) and then compare him with 30 year old players?
Bale scored 12 goals when he was 22, Benzema 9 (although he scored 23 in the season before, but then again I'd expect Marcus to score 3 more this season) and Ronaldo scored 23 in the season he turned 22(although no one's saying he is as good as him). Neymar scored 15 in the season he turned 22!
I'm not limiting the player to his goals, and Rashford may not be at the level of Messi or Ronaldo (and no one is claiming that), but he is just 2-3 levels below them, which is really really good
 
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Desert Eagle

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breakout season eh? Funny thing to say about a guy who's played 50 games the past 3 years for us. I have never said to ignore this seasons stats only that you use the stats from other seasons as well. If you want to cherry pick rashfords best ever spell and compare it with other players go ahead. This season Marcus rashford has the stats of a top player. It doesn't make him a better finisher, his heading is still garbage, his touch and passing is average for a man united attacker, his game intelligence is lacking for someone who's had more game time than almost anyone in our team the past 4 years.

Let me just be clear again. I'm not saying he's shit, lets sell him. I'm saying easy with the hype, he's the most likely to end up on the bench out of the front three and imo to have a team capable of winning leagues and cls he needs to be on the bench more often than not.
 

anant

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breakout season eh? Funny thing to say about a guy who's played 50 games the past 3 years for us. I have never said to ignore this seasons stats only that you use the stats from other seasons as well. If you want to cherry pick rashfords best ever spell and compare it with other players go ahead. This season Marcus rashford has the stats of a top player. It doesn't make him a better finisher, his heading is still garbage, his touch and passing is average for a man united attacker, his game intelligence is lacking for someone who's had more game time than almost anyone in our team the past 4 years.

Let me just be clear again. I'm not saying he's shit, lets sell him. I'm saying easy with the hype, he's the most likely to end up on the bench out of the front three and imo to have a team capable of winning leagues and cls he needs to be on the bench more often than not.
Considering this is the 1st season where he is the undisputed starter, I'd say that it's a breakout season. And I literally am comparing Rashford at 22 with some other players that you listed earlier at the same age. Not even close to cherrypicking. And like I said earlier, a player with average finishing, poor heading, average 1st touch and passing and subpar game intelligence doesn't score 20 goals in a season at this age!
A player with those attributes wouldn't have better goal scoring stats than some of the generation's finest players at the same age.
 

MalcolmTucker

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breakout season eh? Funny thing to say about a guy who's played 50 games the past 3 years for us. I have never said to ignore this seasons stats only that you use the stats from other seasons as well. If you want to cherry pick rashfords best ever spell and compare it with other players go ahead. This season Marcus rashford has the stats of a top player. It doesn't make him a better finisher, his heading is still garbage, his touch and passing is average for a man united attacker, his game intelligence is lacking for someone who's had more game time than almost anyone in our team the past 4 years.

Let me just be clear again. I'm not saying he's shit, lets sell him. I'm saying easy with the hype, he's the most likely to end up on the bench out of the front three and imo to have a team capable of winning leagues and cls he needs to be on the bench more often than not.
By breakout season we mean the season that he's put it all together and become consistent performer. The same way Bale and Ronaldo went from being dangerous youngsters to becoming productive contributors over the course of a season. Both were around the age Rashford is now.

Anyway, it's disingenious saying Rashford has played 50 games each in the 2 seasons prior to this one. He had 99 appearances and came on as a sub 37 of those games and was subbed off 36 times. To put it in perspective, Greenwood has 43 appearances this season so far.

I'm not sure you can call a whole season a cherry pick, especially when it is the current one ffs :lol:. @anant was comparing the players you listed at the same age as Rashford, how is that a cherry pick? You say his heading is garbage yet he's scored a couple this season including a great one vs. Newcastle, how many have the likes of Neymar, Mahrez, Sterling, Sane, Reus, Hazard scored? His heading is fine for a left sided player. Rashford's finishing, passing, heading and game intelligence has got better, that is evidenced by the fact that his stats have improved - they aren't completely exclusive from each other. He's not perfect but he's also only 22, has a wide skillset and enthusiastic attitude yet there's people like you that want to bad mouth him despite him having a great season. I don't get it.
 

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I don’t understand why United fans would argue about Rashford like this.... He’s probably a 100m player at this point. Is he perfect? No. In fact, I called him Danny Welbeck 2.0 in August of last year, something I’ll regret forever. But he’s a great player. The players you are comparing him to are so different. He’s not a Sterling, Pulisic, Hazard type winger, where he breaks you down through dribbling. Nor is he a classic winger like Sane, where he is mostly serving the ball into the box.

He’s more of a winger/striker hybrid. He strikes the ball better than any of the above. He’s an underrated passer in the box. He’s an incredibly hard worker. As his frame gets thicker, he may be able to play more 9.

Finally, he’s a PR / manager’s wet dream. A leader, socially conscious, mature and humble. Hope he’s with us for a long time.
 

Rolaholic

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We've come such a long way from this


To MMA lighting up the score sheet this season. Ole deserves a ton of respect for helping restore a lot of peoples faith and pride in the club. The way he's handled their development has been nothing short of outstanding and it's starting to pay dividends consistently now.

The team's future hasn't looked this bright since Fergie was roaming the touchline
 

The_Midfielder

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I don’t understand why United fans would argue about Rashford like this.... He’s probably a 100m player at this point. Is he perfect? No. In fact, I called him Danny Welbeck 2.0 in August of last year, something I’ll regret forever. But he’s a great player. The players you are comparing him to are so different. He’s not a Sterling, Pulisic, Hazard type winger, where he breaks you down through dribbling. Nor is he a classic winger like Sane, where he is mostly serving the ball into the box.

He’s more of a winger/striker hybrid. He strikes the ball better than any of the above. He’s an underrated passer in the box. He’s an incredibly hard worker. As his frame gets thicker, he may be able to play more 9.

Finally, he’s a PR / manager’s wet dream. A leader, socially conscious, mature and humble. Hope he’s with us for a long time.
This.

People have short memories ..
Lookup Rashford vs Spurs at OT
He singlehandedly won that game for us without Pogba, Martial, Bruno.... we haven't had a player perform like that game since since Ronaldo/Rooney days
 

Fredo

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Look at those 3 little devils, disregarding the games we recently had(not covered in those highlights) but seriously they scored some sublime goals this season.. Cant help but be excited about the future
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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Mason is hands down the most unpredictable player in the box. It's different from the likes of Messi or Ronaldo where you know what they are going to do but you can't stop. With Mason I have no clue. Is he going to cut in. Is he going do some step ov....shoots, scores
 

BringNaniBack

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Mason is hands down the most unpredictable player in the box. It's different from the likes of Messi or Ronaldo where you know what they are going to do but you can't stop. With Mason I have no clue. Is he going to cut in. Is he going do some step ov....shoots, scores
It's brilliant, I see no way a defender can stop him unless they get a lucky block. He is so unpredictable, he's impossible to read, you have no idea when hes going to stop the step overs, no idea if he's going to go left or right , no idea what foot hes going to shoot off. Defenders worst nightmare.
 

Skills

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Barring any serious injuries, one would expect Rashy to break Rooney's goal scoring record - Marcus has 65 goals already - Rooney had 77 at around this age for us (however, the gap would be reduced thanks to the season still going on). This is despite the fact that Rooney was playing in a much better team. Additionally, Rooney suffered a steep decline as he had run himself into the ground by the time he was 27-28, something you wouldn't expect off of Rashy.
It's amazing how our 'fans' undervalue one of the finest strikers to have come out from our academy to the extent that they label the current version of Bale and Pulisic as better than Marcus!
I wouldn't count on it. 250 goals is a lot - even Rooney barely crawled over the line.
 

Greck

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I don’t understand why United fans would argue about Rashford like this.... He’s probably a 100m player at this point. Is he perfect? No. In fact, I called him Danny Welbeck 2.0 in August of last year, something I’ll regret forever. But he’s a great player. The players you are comparing him to are so different. He’s not a Sterling, Pulisic, Hazard type winger, where he breaks you down through dribbling. Nor is he a classic winger like Sane, where he is mostly serving the ball into the box.

He’s more of a winger/striker hybrid. He strikes the ball better than any of the above. He’s an underrated passer in the box. He’s an incredibly hard worker. As his frame gets thicker, he may be able to play more 9.

Finally, he’s a PR / manager’s wet dream. A leader, socially conscious, mature and humble. Hope he’s with us for a long time.
A lot of the hate is the irreversible damage Jose did to their image. He and Martial both have a sect waiting to rehash the 'not good enough, sell them' narrative after every quiet game. It's tiresome.
 

Skills

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Could have easily scored even more if he played as striker the whole time..
Rooney played as a striker the vast majority of the time. The only time he actually had an extended run on the wing was towards the end of 08/09 (and that was only really in the CL and a few times when we threw the kitchen sink with all 4 of Berba, Tevez, Rooney & Ronaldo), but outside of that he was almost exclusively one of the front 2.

He was never really the main scorer though, up until Ronaldo left - which is fair enough. As good as Rooney was, he had to accommodate an even better player for the teams sake. Rashford might have the same problem, if the club continues to improve.
 

SirScholes

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All 3 have potential to be stars, all 3 have work to do in certain areas but that’s absolutely ok considering their age.
Just a quick scan looks like Rashford is being treated a little harsh because he’s off the boil but he was the fire that kept us going (along with Fred and Mctom) when all our decent players were out injured.
He’s shown he has the ability in just needs to find his feet again
 

anant

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I wouldn't count on it. 250 goals is a lot - even Rooney barely crawled over the line.
Yeah, but Rooney was done by 2012 or so in terms of goalscoring. He was what 26 then? Rooney's case is unique - he ran himself into the ground, his workrate for phenomenal and with the number of games that he had been playing, he aged too soon.
With the advancement of sports medicine and sports science, you'd expect Rashford to be better managed and should he stay injury free, I'd expect him to break the record or atleast get in the thereabouts
 

Cloud7

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Yeah, stop disrespecting Rashford, let's just put it this way.

The Explosive one - Rashford
The French Assassin - Martial
The White Pele - Greenwood
Wayne Rooney didn't die for this :lol:
 

RedCoffee

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BAMM!

Bruno, Anthony, Marcus, Mason.
20 Goals each next season in all competitions.
80 Goals, Wow!

Wham BAMM thank you ma'am.
 

11101

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There's no debate needed there for anyone who has a functional brain and a set of eyes and has watched both of them play for us. Mata wouldn't create the kind of chances Rashford does in one game if he was gives ten times the playing time on the pitch. He's one of the most garbage and least creative players in the squad who stinks up the pitch standing stationary everytime he's told to play. Another absolute clueless statement in the long list you have managed to pollute this thread with. You have no idea whatsoever what creativity in football means.
You need to clarify that - are you talking about current Mata or peak Mata? Current Mata is barely able to keep up with the league pace anymore but Rashford will do well if he ever reaches the level of creativity he had at his peak.
 

InfiniteBoredom

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You need to clarify that - are you talking about current Mata or peak Mata? Current Mata is barely able to keep up with the league pace anymore but Rashford will do well if he ever reaches the level of creativity he had at his peak.
Mata at his peak wasn’t really about creativity. He got a ton of assists through dead ball situations and got a sublime nose for goal (which was still there for his in his first 3 seasons with us), and was great at drawing fouls and playing quick one/twos high up the pitch - which lead to a lot of the aforementioned dead ball situations.

When you think about the defence splitting passes kind of creativity the likes of Silva, peak Ozil, De Bruyne have, or the ‘dribbling past 4 players’ creativity like Messi, Neymar, Hazard have, Mata possessed neither of them.
 

11101

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Mata at his peak wasn’t really about creativity. He got a ton of assists through dead ball situations and got a sublime nose for goal (which was still there for his in his first 3 seasons with us), and was great at drawing fouls and playing quick one/twos high up the pitch - which lead to a lot of the aforementioned dead ball situations.

When you think about the defence splitting passes kind of creativity the likes of Silva, peak Ozil, De Bruyne have, or the ‘dribbling past 4 players’ creativity like Messi, Neymar, Hazard have, Mata possessed neither of them.
He was also fantastic at sitting in front of defences and playing balls in behind. Rashford doesn't really excel at passing of any type, his game lies elsewhere.
 

MalcolmTucker

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He was also fantastic at sitting in front of defences and playing balls in behind. Rashford doesn't really excel at passing of any type, his game lies elsewhere.
Mata has fantastic and more consistent technique but I wouldn't even say his passing is more creative than Rashford. Look at the ball Rashford played in behind for Bruno against Bournemouth at 0-0 which Bruno lobbed over. He plays lots of clever balls around the box and it doesn't always come off but he's certainly exhibited more creativity with his passes than Mata has since he's been here.

I think the fact that Mata is a diminutive technical Spaniard and Rashford is an explosive English forward colours how people view them. Once you factor in Rashford's ability to dribble and create something out of nothing then I think it's pretty obvious who the more creative player is.
 

11101

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Mata has fantastic and more consistent technique but I wouldn't even say his passing is more creative than Rashford. Look at the ball Rashford played in behind for Bruno against Bournemouth at 0-0 which Bruno lobbed over. He plays lots of clever balls around the box and it doesn't always come off but he's certainly exhibited more creativity with his passes than Mata has since he's been here.

I think the fact that Mata is a diminutive technical Spaniard and Rashford is an explosive English forward colours how people view them. Once you factor in Rashford's ability to dribble and create something out of nothing then I think it's pretty obvious who the more creative player is.
Now? No. Mata back at Chelsea or even when he first joined us then yes, by some distance.

Rashford's best season so far saw him come in with 1.5 passes that led to chances per 90 mins. This season he is on 1.2. Mata never dropped below 3 when he was at Chelsea. His worst ever season is still above Rashford's best.

Assists are a more difficult metric as it requires somebody to actually finish the chance, but the theme is the same. Mata's worst is equivalent to Rashford's best.

Rashford has other talents, but passing and vision is not a strength of his. He's the one to get on the end of balls from our actual creative players in Pogba and Bruno.
 

MalcolmTucker

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Now? No. Mata back at Chelsea or even when he first joined us then yes, by some distance.

Rashford's best season so far saw him come in with 1.5 passes that led to chances per 90 mins. This season he is on 1.2. Mata never dropped below 3 when he was at Chelsea. His worst ever season is still above Rashford's best.

Assists are a more difficult metric as it requires somebody to actually finish the chance, but the theme is the same. Mata's worst is equivalent to Rashford's best.

Rashford has other talents, but passing and vision is not a strength of his. He's the one to get on the end of balls from our actual creative players in Pogba and Bruno.
I don't think the guy who was comparing Rashford and Mata's creativity was talking about Mata from 7 years ago when he played for a different team though.