Where will Rashford play?

Leftback99

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Let's just hope Martial is fit first, I don't fancy our prospects against Leicester without him.
 

Black Adder

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On the left with James on the right.

It would make too much sense to leave James on the left and we don't do that at United.
 

Sandikan

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Play your best players in their best positions - simple as that.
If anyone has to be a "square peg, round hole" situation, make it a supporting cast member.

Otherwise you simply risk reducing both players contribution.
 

POF

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James has done well in his first few games for United but to suggest he's better on the left than Rashford is extremely premature.

He is playing well there for now so it might be worth rewarding him with a run in the side on the left but I'd be surprised if he's still seen as the best option in 5 or so games.

I really hope that United's biggest problem in attack this season will be how to get Rashford in the team. But I seriously doubt it.
 

Sparky Rhiwabon

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James is much more effective on the left, and is the man in form right now. Martial has made a good start as a #9, so does that mean Rashford will start on the right?

It would be bad management if Ole shifts James to the right just to put Rashford on the left. The man in form should start in his favoured position. Mourinho made this mistake when Alexis was signed, Martial was in arguably the best form of his United career, yet was shifted out to the right to make way for Alexis.
Won't we play our RW on the right??
 

Esquire

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If we are gonna buy Sancho, definitely put Rashford on the left and teach him how to cross.
 

charlenefan

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James hasn't been anything special on the right and Rashford is also a right footed player so on the left he'll also be cutting on his right foot and shooting. James seems to be better and more consistent than him in doing this, at least.
And that's based on your expert analyses of a total of 4 games (1 of which James didn't even start)
 

charlenefan

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The difference between Robben and James though (aside from the obvious quality gap) is that James is more than capable of putting in good crosses with his left, so he could easily feign to cut in then take the outside on occasion to keep defenders guessing.
His crosses are largely useless given we have no tap in merchants at the club though. If Lukaku were still around I could see the merit of playing to James crossing ability alas if the Southampton game is anything to go by it'll just increase the frustration
 

charlenefan

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How about we deal with that when it's snuffed out? Doesn't make sense to move him while it's still working and he's in good form. Especially when it would be someone that's been poor recently taking his spot.
Great forward thinking right there
 

Greck

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On current form James is producing more and should be on the left but have to take issue with the notion that he's more effective than Rashford. We saw what Rashford and Martial did in their first seasons before defenders knew to shade them to their left. Right now James is benefitting from the same. When defenses adjust his dribbling and left foot will be tested on every take on. There's still some way to go before making sweeping conclusions. We can at least agree that he won't score a goal a game
 

Walters_19_MuFc

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I wouldnt say James has been 'much more effective' than Rashford.

Rashford was fantastic against Chelsea and arguably our best player against Wolves. James good against Palace and Soton.

We have two good options there. However, as it stands, i'd like to see Rashford and James on the flanks, both rotating like Rashford and Sterling normally do for England.
 

SadlerMUFC

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I see them as a fluid front 3 that interchange throughout the game. It should probably start with James on the left, Martial in the middle and Rashford on the right, but they can all rotate into each others positions with the exception of James in the #9
 

Reynoldo

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I think all 3 will be rotated in the front 3:-

Rashford Martial James
James Rashford Martial
Martial Rashford James
James Martial Rashford

Can see all 4 of those being components in every game to mess with the opponents defence
This hurts my brain
 

redshaw

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Could be tough for him to get a regular start for United and England soon. Might have to accept being second choice or move one day.

If James carries on he'll be starting left. Martial if fit starts down the middle and if Martial fails then a new striker would be brought in next season to play ahead of both. We could also get a player more comfortable to play on the right next year but for now Rashford is best there. England it's Sterling Kane and Sancho with Rashford coming on or starting through others being injured. He's a good squad option and has done well in the England games and could even be favoured tactically by Ole and Southgate at times.
 
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pocco

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He showed more at LW recently then Rashford has ever really. Scoring on his right and putting in dangerous crosses with his left, you can't move him back to the right.

To be honest though I said after pre season that he looks more a LW than RW and Ole started him at RW, so who knows what he will do when Martial is back.
 

gerdm07

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I think it's inevitable that our starting front are James, Martial, and Greenwood at some point this season. Martial and James are better at those positions than Rashford period. And Greenwood is just a better player. To round out our attack I would like Pogba at AM and play Matic (yes I know, I wish we had another option) and McTominay as DMs.
 

Dearg hÉireann

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Give him a try on the left side of the bench, let's see how he fares out there for a change. Just a pity Martial picked up that injury before the break. I'm sick of the needless running down blind alleys with Rashford.

Yes he can do great things sometimes but most of the time it's unreal how his lack of football intelligence can hamper our overall team performance.
 

roonster09

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He showed more at LW recently then Rashford has ever really. Scoring on his right and putting in dangerous crosses with his left, you can't move him back to the right.

To be honest though I said after pre season that he looks more a LW than RW and Ole started him at RW, so who knows what he will do when Martial is back.
Maybe you are exaggerating to make the point but that's not true at all.
 

el3mel

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And that's based on your expert analyses of a total of 4 games (1 of which James didn't even start)
Well that's better than forcing an idea he's better on the right without even a single game to prove that :lol:, especially when you want to play Rashford on the left who has exactly the same problem you see in James while playing there.
 

Gator Nate

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I think all 3 will be rotated in the front 3:-

Rashford Martial James
James Rashford Martial
Martial Rashford James
James Martial Rashford

Can see all 4 of those being components in every game to mess with the opponents defence
You forgot:
Rashford James Martial
Martial James Rashford

;)

But I tend to agree with you. Ole is going to do it to keep the opponents guessing.
 

Majima

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Exactly how they have played so far.

Martial & Rashford are our main attackers so they can interchange positions between the left & upfront. They are at their most dangerous doing that.

I don't subscribe to the thought of breaking that up just because James is on a hot streak within 4 matches.
 

OleGunnar20

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Should be on the right with James out left, but I think Ole will keep it reversed unfortunately.
 

Dante

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I'd love it if James could average 1 goal per game this season. But he won't.

Rashford will start on the left more often than not.
 

wolvored

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I would let the 3 rotate, even let James play the striker. See if a system works better than the 5 other options
 

fps

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I don't think James is much more effective than Rashford, he's put in some great early performances but Rashford is a menace. Perhaps he could play on the right a bit, mind.
 

Random Task

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I don't think James is much more effective than Rashford, he's put in some great early performances but Rashford is a menace. Perhaps he could play on the right a bit, mind.
I think Rashford has looked more effective coming in off the left flank, as down the right he tends to go missing a lot. James seems to be equally efficient down both flanks though.

I'd go with a front three of Rashford - Martial - James and give them license to interchange throughout the game.
 

CR1

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Right now I'd start Rashford centrally together with Martial, with the added responsibility of occasionally drifting out wide right in order to provide width there.

--------Martial Rashford--------
James----------------------------
---Pogba---Fred---McTominay---
Shaw - Maguire - Lindelöf - AWB
--------------DDG-----------------

James and others will need to be rested/rotated at some point though and then the attackers will pick themselves.

Last season, Rashford managed 10 league goals in spite of playing 50 % of the season out of position in a highly dysfunctioning team and another 25 % of the season injured. He was absolutely flying when Ole came in, scoring top class vital goals like that one against Spurs.

He's got great pace, movement, dedication, work rate and many other attributes. Particularly, he's very good at stretching the opposition's defense and running onto through balls from the likes of Pogba. Yes, there's also a lot of room for improvement with regards to his box-play.

But just because he's been out of form in the last few games doesn't mean he should be written off as not good enough. Maybe he should be rotated, at the most.

I think Rashford can get 20 league goals in a season where the team is playing well as a whole and he is starting centrally, but even if he doesn't he's still a very useful player in many other ways. Does Firmino get 20 league goals a season for Liverpool? No, yet they won the CL with him as an integral part of their team. It's all about finding the best roles for each player and getting the most out of the squad as a whole.

Also, I think football might be moving away from the 30-40 goals a season strikers anyway. I think the most PL goals any player scored last season was 22. Rashford still got half of that despite the factors I mentioned above.
 

RedCurry

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That's what competition is for. For now, James should and will start on the left and Rashford will have to compete for the other two spots in the attack. So to answer the question - either striker, RW or bench. But that can easily change.