Rashford and set pieces...

lsd

The Oracle
Joined
Jun 5, 2016
Messages
10,784
Next time I go to OT and he is lining up to take a free kick I will run on the pitch and take it for him and show him how you do it. He is shite man and I bet he practices more than anyone in the squad because he thinks he's great at them.

Theres no way he practices those kicks
 

SCJY

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 24, 2017
Messages
333
I just wish that he would not keep pulling rank on these free kicks because apart from Cardiff away and a couple of other occasions his quality of delivery has been absolutely dreadful, we could really do with find a specialist on set pieces in the January window.
I'd rather Andreas gets a run in the team. He has a great dead-ball delivery. Anybody ahead of Lingard at this point. If I see Lingard starting again and we lose, I'm taking a break from watching football. Will check back in around Christmas.
 

In Rainbows

Full Member
Joined
Apr 17, 2014
Messages
6,730
Pogba's shite at them too.
Pogba gets a lot of criticism for anything negative and he has changed his game accommodating those views. He used to take a lot of outside shots his first season, but received a lot of criticism and he no longer attempts them like he used to. It's the same with his freekicks. About the only thing he still does, is stay on the ball and use his physical ability to keep the ball. This has caused him to lose the ball at times which he does get criticism.

Rashford gets criticism too, but he hasn't changed the frequency of what he does. I wouldn't mind if he takes them from time to time, but he does need to take less. Ole needs to speak to the team to change that. It's his responsibility.
 

gerdm07

Thinks we should have kept Pereira
Joined
Aug 8, 2011
Messages
2,718
Didn't Rashford score a screamer for England in the WC? I think he takes them because he made one for England and one or two for MU in the last year and a half.

I would let Pogba take free kicks.
 

Harry190

Bobby ten Hag
Joined
Apr 18, 2010
Messages
7,603
Location
Canada
There is a very simple solution. Bring in that kid from Southampton. He is good enough for United. I am convinced he is.
 

Bojan11

Full Member
Joined
May 16, 2010
Messages
33,113
Don't even think , they practice them. Beckham was practice practice practice! With a technique to go with it! Rashford runs up and laces it!!
They all think they can Ronaldo the ball, but he was the same practice with technique.
So was Ronaldo.

He used to beg VDS to stay after training to practice.
 

Snow

Somewhere down the lane, a licky boom boom down
Joined
Jul 10, 2007
Messages
33,225
Location
Lousy Smarch weather
Didn't Rashford score a screamer for England in the WC? I think he takes them because he made one for England and one or two for MU in the last year and a half.

I would let Pogba take free kicks.
Pretty sure he has only scored 3 free kick goals, all of them for us. Fulham, Cardiff and Benfica. Two of them were on the keeper imo, the Cardiff one was good but also quite but I think several of our players would have scored that one.
 

Santoryo

ripping the reward
Joined
Apr 10, 2014
Messages
6,301
It's especially annoying how every set pieces go to Rashford despite him being awful at them. I don't know who or why are we trying to push him as the team start that needs to take everything. Also now thanks to the media noises, Pogba is scared to go anywhere near dead balls and take them away from Rashford. For some reasons the media has decided that Rashford is the be all end all dead balls taker in our team and no one should challenge him on that.

If Ole is doing something right, we're not going to see Rashford near a freekick going forward but i doubt it. I bet the next free kick goes to him again and he'll waste it as usual.
 

minh_loc_xoay

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
244
I mean he’s fecking garbage at free kicks, so why is he taking them?

Not only that but why is he drilling shots from 30 odd yards nearly every game? I’m struggling to remember many long range efforts that he scored.

He’s scored a decent free kick vs Cardiff and that’s it I think. Why aren’t our coaching team telling him to feck off and get in the box where’s his instincts are more likely to get him a goal?
Because Ole is too much of a nice man and the likes of Rashford/Pogba are bullying him for the dressing room power.
Rashford could take bad free kicks regularly and Ole would still not dare to go against their wishes.
 

MikeKing

Full Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2017
Messages
5,125
Supports
Bournemouth
Because Ole is too much of a nice man and the likes of Rashford/Pogba are bullying him for the dressing room power.
Rashford could take bad free kicks regularly and Ole would still not dare to go against their wishes.
:lol: What is this?
 

RedDevil@84

Full Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2014
Messages
21,547
Location
USA
Our fks and corners are almost always a waste of time. And it has been like that for years now. Rashford or Pogba or Young does not matter much
 

roonster09

Hercule Poirot of the scouting world
Scout
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
36,514
I don't mind him taking the ones from distance, the angle is bad for indirect ones, so it's not a bad idea to have a go. It's not as if we are going to create some goal scoring opportunity by taking short free kicks and recycling the possession. But the free kicks around the box should be Pogba's or someone else. If Mata is on the pitch, he should take him. If Pereira is on the pitch then it should be him. It should be among Pogba, Mata, Pereira.
 

Fracture90

Full Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2016
Messages
10,360
Location
Serbia
Me thinks, he's got way too much leeway with Ole.

Got no problem with him taking those long free-kicks from the left , he's got a powerful shot but free-kicks in other positions he's got no job taking.
 

SaintMuppet

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Aug 7, 2016
Messages
859
Location
Thailand
This isn't unique to Rashford, our set plays in general are fecking gash. Despite the fact that free kicks and corners should be a potent weapon in a game, we are absolutely criminal at them. They're just a complete waste of time; there's just no threat there at all.

I think every United fan just shrugs their shoulders when we get a corner.
I shrug my shoulders when we do most things tbh
 

kouroux

45k posts to finally achieve this tagline
Joined
Apr 25, 2007
Messages
95,709
Location
Djibouti (La terre des braves)
I don't mind him taking the ones from distance, the angle is bad for indirect ones, so it's not a bad idea to have a go. It's not as if we are going to create some goal scoring opportunity by taking short free kicks and recycling the possession. But the free kicks around the box should be Pogba's or someone else. If Mata is on the pitch, he should take him. If Pereira is on the pitch then it should be him. It should be among Pogba, Mata, Pereira.
He still tries them doesn't he ?
 

roonster09

Hercule Poirot of the scouting world
Scout
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
36,514
He still tries them doesn't he ?
I mean I don't mind him shooting when the free kick is too central. Its of no use if you try to set up as the angle is too bad to create anything, unless we lump the ball to Maguire who then directs the header into central position.

The ones where you have angle to cross the ball, those free kicks he shouldn't take.
 

mitchmouse

loves to hate United.
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Messages
17,361
wouldn't it be nice if someone came up with some clever freekicks instead of just blasting the ball at the wall/over the bar/miles wide. maybe spend time on that rather than choreographing embarrassing goal celebrations
 

dove

New Member
Joined
May 15, 2013
Messages
7,899
I mean I don't mind him shooting when the free kick is too central. Its of no use if you try to set up as the angle is too bad to create anything, unless we lump the ball to Maguire who then directs the header into central position.

The ones where you have angle to cross the ball, those free kicks he shouldn't take.
Or you can be a bit more creative and pass the ball to someone to create an angle for a cross. I hardly see other team players taking a direct shot from 35 metre free kick. It's just a waste of time especially if you have someone who just sucks at taking them.
 

Judas

Open to offers
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
35,964
Location
Where the grass is greener.
I feel like at times last season we were being a bit more clever with set pieces, seemed to have some routines worked out. Thus far its Rashford whacking it, or just aiming for Slabhead.
 

Enigma_87

You know who
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
27,596
Much like penos this is something that has to be trained on the football pitch. Do we do that? I haven't seen an inch of improvement in that area.

You can't expect to get better without perfecting it.
 

roonster09

Hercule Poirot of the scouting world
Scout
Joined
May 10, 2009
Messages
36,514
I don't mind him taking the ones from distance, the angle is bad for indirect ones, so it's not a bad idea to have a go. It's not as if we are going to create some goal scoring opportunity by taking short free kicks and recycling the possession. But the free kicks around the box should be Pogba's or someone else. If Mata is on the pitch, he should take him. If Pereira is on the pitch then it should be him. It should be among Pogba, Mata, Pereira.
Or you can be a bit more creative and pass the ball to someone to create an angle for a cross. I hardly see other team players taking a direct shot from 35 metre free kick. It's just a waste of time especially if you have someone who just sucks at taking them.
We can do many more things, or expect more but I'm going with what this team is capable of or from what this team have performed.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

Correctly predicted Italy to win Euro 2020
Joined
Dec 21, 2014
Messages
11,420
Location
Manchester
Rashford is shite at them, but at least he's scored 2. Pogba hasn't scored any.

Pogba and Rashford taking them when Mata is on the pitch is fecking criminal. Even Young would be better than those 2.

There is a very simple solution. Bring in that kid from Southampton. He is good enough for United. I am convinced he is.
Ward-Prowse? He struggles getting in the Southampton team mate. Great set piece taker though I'll give you that.

Here's a thought, why not try Martial on one? He's got great technique and gets good curl and power on the ball.
 

Bestofthebest

Full Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2018
Messages
529
The commentators on Saturday mentioned a number of times that the Utd players in the box never moved towards the ball, not even a foot, but were waiting for the ball to come to them. This has been apparent for years now with a few notable exceptions ( Zlatan and Fellini ) In the past we used to have lots of movement in the box at set pieces, some of it dummy runs to move defenders, why not now? While we are on the subject has anyone noticed how many times we lose possession from throw ins? We rarely throw the ball to a runner but to a static person who returns ball to thrower who then loses it. Small things I know but to me shows a lack of coaching and this has been going on for years.
 

DoomSlayer

New Member
Joined
Jun 20, 2019
Messages
4,875
Location
Bulgaria
I don't mind Rashford taking corners but he shouldn't be the undisputed free-kick taker, Pogba should be taking some as well.
 

stu_1992

Full Member
Joined
May 8, 2013
Messages
4,856
Location
Ireland
Yeah he needs to come off free kicks immediately. It's just a waste of time at this point. He will shoot 100% of time, even from angles where a cross into a box would be fat more effective. I'm not sure what he shows in training but his shooting technique on free kicks in games is absolutely awful. I feel like he hasn't even gotten one on target since he last scored one, which was quite a while Ago. Pogba would surely be more useful. He might actually get a few on target for one. Mata too if he's on the pitch too of course.

As for corners, it honestly doesn't even matter. I haven't seen evidence of us having one decent corner taker. Shaw seems to be taking them recently which is just weird.
 
Joined
Jul 31, 2015
Messages
22,542
Location
Somewhere out there
I don't mind Rashford taking corners but he shouldn't be the undisputed free-kick taker, Pogba should be taking some as well.
Well at the weekend that's exactly what happened, Rashford had 2, Pogba got the third.

I don't understand the moaning, we simply don't have a great free kick taker in the side. Rashford is obviously the best of a bad bunch if Mata or Andreas aren't on the pitch.

After Rashford it's Pogba, and he is getting his chances too.
 

NJM78

New Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
Messages
6,345
Location
Cardiff
The thread title should be. Man Utd are shite at free kicks, corners and sometimes even throw ins, regardless of who takes them.

What goes on in training is beyond me!?
 

Lentwood

Full Member
Joined
Jan 2, 2015
Messages
6,783
Location
West Didsbury, Manchester
The odd thing is Rashford was half decent at free kicks until he decided he was the second coming of Ronaldo and started doing the stupid knuckle ball technique.

Pogba should be on all free kicks, Rashford on all corners and Martial on pens. Seems logical to me
 

iKeano

Full Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2015
Messages
1,745
No just Rashford, but Utd in general have been ridiculously bad at set pieces for years now.

Sunday league teams have better set piece set-ups. Our throw-ins, corners, free kicks and now penalties. Just... Mmmeh
 

Gandalf

Full Member
Joined
Aug 9, 2018
Messages
4,759
Location
Alabama but always Wales in my heart
Maybe Bruno Fernandes does give the ball away too much in midfield although I can't believe he is any worse than the current squad in that regard but it is fair to say if we had signed him and put him on set pieces we would be joint top with Liverpool on 9 points right now. Stats will only get you so far in football, sometimes you just buy a player because they address a glaring need and we need a set piece specialist like Boris Johnson needs a fecking haircut.
 

fergiesarmy1

New Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2013
Messages
3,595
The odd thing is Rashford was half decent at free kicks until he decided he was the second coming of Ronaldo and started doing the stupid knuckle ball technique.

Pogba should be on all free kicks, Rashford on all corners and Martial on pens. Seems logical to me
Agree with the first two but have zero problem with Rashford staying on penalties, that penalty miss on Saturday was unbelievably unlucky. Sent the keeper the wrong way and if he had gone the right way would never have got there seeing how close we all know it was to the post but to go out for a goal kick on the other side?

Still Rashford for me on pens.
 

limerickcitykid

There once was a kid from Toronto...
Joined
Oct 3, 2012
Messages
14,051
Location
East end / Oot and aboot
All this talk of Pogba on free kicks and has he ever even scored one? His free kicks are consistently shit, just as his penalties are. Being a good footballer doesn't make you a good set piece taker, of which Pogba has showed no ability to excel at.
 

EricTheKingTheKing

New Member
Newbie
Joined
Jul 12, 2017
Messages
36
Regardless of Rashford, it doesn't seem like we have any plan for corners, free kicks, or penalties. We just kind of wing it, to predictable results. And that's not specific to Ole's United either. It feels like that's been the case for several years now.
100% this.
Our set piece plays are the worst in the league. Some of the tallest players going around and we look less likely to score than any Sunday league outfit.

Defenders have no issue with giving away free kicks or kicking out for corners - it's actually a chance for them to score on the counter against us.

Hopeless.
 

Art Vandelay

Full Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
5,729
Location
Northern Ireland
All this talk of Pogba on free kicks and has he ever even scored one? His free kicks are consistently shit, just as his penalties are. Being a good footballer doesn't make you a good set piece taker, of which Pogba has showed no ability to excel at.
Agreed. Calls for Martial to be on them are equally pointless. Although there's no one really in our starting 11 that looks like they should be on them. Perhaps the issue is Rashford is the only one that actually wants to take them that us usually on the pitch. Rather than him simply being given too much free reign.