What about the Cardiff one? Ole’s first ever game with us ?
Rashford on free kicks
- Thread starter R.N7
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
I think people fail to appreciate how few free kicks are scored. Maddison scored the most in the PL last season with a total of only 3.
It was a brilliant freekick. It moved so much I thought it took a deflection.
It was a brilliant freekick. It moved so much I thought it took a deflection.
Not even a debate, surely the knuckleball technique is 10 x as difficult, so Chelsea one without question! He side footed the Celta Vigo one.
Will be a while before we see another one as he he said himself the ball is different and moves a lot more than the premier league ball.
Brilliant strike
Brilliant strike
If you were part of our travelling fans at 'the Bridge' last night, you will be able to tell your grandkids "I was there" every time they show that goal over the next twenty or more years, aren't you glad you bought the ticket?
Football memories are made of nights like these.
Also the singing was great, could hear it all the way up in Manchester, well done.
Football memories are made of nights like these.
Also the singing was great, could hear it all the way up in Manchester, well done.
Law of probability said he was going to score one sometime.
Only if he does it another 6 or 7 times over the course of the season will I be impressed.
Only if he does it another 6 or 7 times over the course of the season will I be impressed.
Show me who scores 6-7 free kicks consistently in a season? Take a moment before you type.
You're asking for numbers that no-one else (bar Messi) produces.
Only Messi and maybe Beckham, but very harsh to compare him to those 2
Aside from the fact that you actually can't hit the ball the same way 100 times.
There's always going to be differences in speed/power etc. Practice can minimise these but we're talking about people not machines.
Mata while technically good rarely gets enough power on the shot to trouble to the keeper anymore.
Mata is our best short FK takers on the edge of the box, but he's useless beside that.
For the long ones Rashford will take all of them form now on I guess, though and despite the sensational FK yesterday, he still fecks up more than he delivers from those FKs.
Hopefully Mata won't be on the pitch!
Closer in it's Fred or Pereira for me. Fred's come quite close a couple of times from close range hasn't he?
He said after the game the EFL ball moves a lot more then the PL ball and he’d been practicing.
I know he has put alot of Freekicks in the stand last season and a few this, but if anyone of you have watched his last few, you'd know he is getting closer.
I forgot who we played and he smacked the post this season.
Even Ronaldo had a spell where freekicks were not working out for him until one went in.
Hopefully the confidence from this one will mean he hits alot more in the back of the net.
I forgot who we played and he smacked the post this season.
Even Ronaldo had a spell where freekicks were not working out for him until one went in.
Hopefully the confidence from this one will mean he hits alot more in the back of the net.
He should take these central kicks and leave the wide ones to Pogba, Mata, Pereira and even Young.
One of my favourite goals ever and one of my favourite reactions by a goalkeeper who has just conceded. DJ just stood there 'like wtf just happened'.
To be fair, Rashford on free kicks now is what CR7 was for the last few seasons at Madrid, without the past glory to live on. Didn't Ronaldo set some freakish record for consecutive ones without scoring? It was obvious by then he was nowhere near good enough anymore, but who was gonna stop him trying? Once in a (long) while one might go in. Clearly both of them do enough in training with those funny things for a wall, but struggling to score past actual humans in games.
The big difference being Rashford is on an upward trajectory and likely to get better, whereas Ronaldo was demonstrably getting worse at free-kicks.
My point exactly. We’ve been laid low these last years, so much so that we’ve fans from wee teams like Leicester come and give snide opinions and remarks about our team and our players on a United forum. Go figure.Only Messi and maybe Beckham, but very harsh to compare him to those 2
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Eh? So you want him to do something no one in PL ever did?
These are the players who scored most free kicks in PL in last few seasons.
2018-19 : Maddison - 3
2017-18 : Alonso - 2
2016-17 : Coutinho - 3
2015-16 : Willian - 2
2014-15 : Eriksen - 3
2013-14 : Yaya - 4
2012-13 : Snodgrass - 3
Aim for the stars, hit the moon.
Those 'real world' factors generally have very minute effects on the technique. If that wasn't the case, then other forms of shooting and passing would be similarly hit and miss as they would also be subject to the same 'real world' conditions. What we can observe is that these more conventional passes are very consistent in their accuracy when delivered by a skilled player. Think Beckham, Scholes, Alonso, etc on passes; Messi on freekicks, etc.
Clearly these other techniques (driven passes, whipped crosses, etc) are generally predictable and predictably vary in correlation with the skill of the kicker not the 'real world' conditions.
According to the many experts here.... he should stop taking freekicks...
Ta-ra.
The point is that the technique differs and the one that he favours has very little allowance for error hence him missing so many.
There's a reason why some players are consistently good with freekicks no matter the conditions whereas Rashford pretty much skies them wide the majority of the time. He's not good enough to use this free kick and him scoring one doesn't change the fact that we're better off with someone else taking freekicks.
He’s wasted so many. It was an incredible goal but if it takes him another 100 attempts to score one again then yes he should stop despite this.
To his credit though, he’s clearly practising and improving, and has even started to adopt different techniques depending on where he’s taking them from. So we shall see.
As long as he doesn't go another 50 odd free-kicks before he scores another one, I'm happy for him to stay on them 
Did Ibra ever score a free kick for us in PL. I remember he took all our free kicks and they were constantly awful, always hit the wall. I recall him scoring a free kick in league cup maybe, and that famous one in final
Not sure if this view has been posted or not yet, but my word does that ball move.
It looks like the ball is being remotely controlled!
It looks like the ball is being remotely controlled!
Let's be honest most of them have been awful. Hitting 1 absolute worldie doesn't change that.
Same with Ronaldo, his conversion ratio compared to Messi / Pjanic etc is so much worse.
I personally don't think Rashford should be on FK duty unless at that sort of range.
I still feel he shouldn’t take the closer freekicks when there are players like pereira, young and pogba when available.
Beautiful knuckleball but it was a fluke. These type of hits are beautiful when they come off but they rarely do. It’s why Ronaldo is struggling to score them at Juventus right now but won’t let better players like pjanic or dybala take them.
Beautiful knuckleball but it was a fluke. These type of hits are beautiful when they come off but they rarely do. It’s why Ronaldo is struggling to score them at Juventus right now but won’t let better players like pjanic or dybala take them.
Scoring from that distance is incredibly difficult, but Rashy’s technique lends itself to a greater likelihood of success than from spots just outside the box.
This is a free kick to regale for the ages. Whinging about previous misses the point that we want Rashford taking free kicks from thus range.
This is a free kick to regale for the ages. Whinging about previous misses the point that we want Rashford taking free kicks from thus range.
yeah, knuckleball fks have a better chance at long range. Trying to knuckle it from 20 yards is just a wall-smashing job.
Pereira/Mata to take close range free kicks, Rashford to take the long range ones. I don't know why this obvious system can't be implemented.
Pereira/Mata to take close range free kicks, Rashford to take the long range ones. I don't know why this obvious system can't be implemented.
I love Martial's reaction. WTF... well.
He can smash them all as far as I’m concerned, even when he doesn’t have the same type of ball to manipulate as last night. But he has to consistently work the keeper.