Mourinho defends use of Rashford

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Jose Mourinho: Man Utd boss defends Marcus Rashford playing time

People have really focused this argument in the wrong place because the argument isn't about the amount of playing time the stats prove he's getting plenty of that under Jose the issue is since Sanchez came in January his minutes reduced rapidly because that rotation he had with Martial on the left side stopped.

However, his job requires him to win so that always comes ahead of player development if Rashford was like Mbappe he'd be in the team every week but he isn't he has good and bad games so he's in and out once he gets that consistency in his game he'll be in as the standards at Utd are so high.
 
..but let’s face it Sanchez hasn’t exactly set OT on fire since he came. Could anyone make a convincing case for Sanchez or Martial over Rashford?
 
I think it’s fairly easy to make a case for Sanchez over the two of them. Can you make an argument for the other way around?
 
Rashford isn’t a Mourinho type centre forward. Lukaku isn’t an out and out target man but he can play the role better than Rashford.
 
I actually like Rashford trough the middle because of his runs. Just his finishing that lets him down.
 
The stats suggests there’s little between Martial/Rashford/Sanchez in terms of goals, assists, chances created etc last season but we all know why Sanchez gets picked.

Rashford I think just needs to bide his time and make sure when he gets games he makes the most of his chance he needs to earn that starting spot but he deserves to be judged fairly.

For Rashford/Martial it feels like one bad half they’re getting subbed or dropped Sanchez/Lukaku can have 2 or 3 average games and not be dropped that’s my only real issue with Jose.
 
What was all that stuff about the boys being obsessed with me on Sunday morning and being criticised for dropping Rashford when he’s suspended anyway and it’s not his fault? Did anyone else spot it? It was bizarre.
 
The stats don’t suggest there is little between them at all actually. Sanchez is above both of them since signing in terms of assist/goals per minute played. And Martial has been poor since the end of October before Sanchez signed. And Sanchez offers a lot more than both when not scoring and assisting and he doesn’t hide when we’re losing like Martial. Can’t throw that accusation at Rashford he’s a confident kid.
 
If either of them could find the performance Sanchez did against City and Spurs in the semi I’d be inclined to agree. Rashford I do actually see as a big game player. Martial in big games has done it twice?
 
I agree, rashford is a little wasteful in front of goal, but he’s only 20. Owen and Rooney burnt out by playing too young. I think Jose is doing ok by Rashford. Martial just has an attitude problem. Sanchez hasn’t set the world on fire yet but he shows, doesn’t hide and creates. He has the experience too.
 
‘Marcus Rashford has played 126 games for United since his debut. More than any other player in the premier league’
 
The stats don’t suggest there is little between them at all actually. Sanchez is above both of them since signing in terms of assist/goals per minute played. And Martial has been poor since the end of October before Sanchez signed. And Sanchez offers a lot more than both when not scoring and assisting and he doesn’t hide when we’re losing like Martial. Can’t throw that accusation at Rashford he’s a confident kid.

These stats are surely skewed by the fact he’s started most of the games and played a lot more minutes.

I take your point about him always wanting to get on the ball which helps but he’s been a major disappointment so far really hoping to see him step up.

Worth noting that it could be worse for Rashford he could be Martial certainly feels like Jose is prepared to give Rashford a lot more time than he is Martial.
 
Sanchez has definitely been disappointing. If he hadn’t been there wouldn’t be a conversation about which one deserves to play out of the three as in form he’s obviously a few levels above the both of them. If they can even got to his level they’d have made a good career!
 
Sanchez has definitely been disappointing. If he hadn’t been there wouldn’t be a conversation about which one deserves to play out of the three as in form he’s obviously a few levels above the both of them. If they can even got to his level they’d have made a good career!


I would tend to agree he's been disappointing but Rashford is one for the future and needs a run of games and confidence. We ain't gonna win the league so why not just give the future a chance?

...anyway , what do you or others make of Jose's strange comments about sunday mornings/ the boys being obsessed with Mou / being criticised for leaving a suspended Rashford out / not his fault etc etc ?

I'm really quite surprised that no-one appears to have noticed or commented on it. My immediate reaction was - what is he talking about? He seemed to be suggesting that...

a) his players are obsessed with him
b) on Sunday morning his players would question or criticise him for leaving Rashford out (but he's suspended anyway)
c) they wouldn't have the intelligence to realise that Rashford was suspended
d) it wouldn't be his fault for leaving Rashford out (but he's suspended anyway!!!)

This did sound to me like some veiled and bizarre dig at the press using his own team possibly? What was even weirder was that the press who were there didn't respond or laugh or ask him about it. Was Jose expecting them to take the bait and ask him about his comments?

I was expecting someone to ask.....

" Hey , Jose - are you really suggesting that you are going to be criticised by your players on sunday morning for leaving Rashford out when they know full well he's suspended? And that they are obsessed with you as well? Can you explain what on earth you are talking about? "


But they said nothing and no-one here seems to have picked up what a weird thing it was to say. Everyone has moved on as if he didn't say it. On utube , on this forum , the press and I'm left thinking WTF?
 
Jose was talking about the press not his players
Yes , I get that but it was still quite bizarre. Did the press not realise this? There was no reaction whatsoever. And why not be more direct and just talk plainly? And use his own team to do this?

It’s also possible that he was talking to the fans? He seems to be implying that anyone who criticises him is obsessed and being irrational because “it’s not his fault” . How can it be?
 
I think it was probably directed at some of the press and ex players who seem to think rashford should push for a move.
 
It was aimed entirely at Jamie Carragher and no one else.
 
No one asked him who it was aimed at and he didn’t say either. It was just skimmed over as if it never happened.
 
Because everyone knew who it was aimed at

So he's basically saying that anyone in the press who criticises him is obsessed and irrational? Nothing seems to be his fault then?

He selected and bought two 30 odd million centre backs who apparently during the summer were just not good enough (and still aren't? ) , so much so that he wanted Woodward to give him more money to rectify his mistake. Making a mistake is not a problem in itself but he should have owned it and admitted that he bought badly. It would be easier then to have more respect for him. Instead we get the "it's not my fault and if you think it is then you are obsessed and irrational". It's just poor in my opinion.

Btw - as I'm saying all this I'm aware that it may sound obsessional and out of place because we have just won two games. However , I'm not one of those to just jump on bad results. I'm saying after we have won, This is just a false dawn right now and I will not hide away in the woodwork waiting for another crisis , run of bad results and awful performances (and trust me they will come) before saying it. He's still not the right man for us , he's overrated and surviving on the mystique of his past glories.
 
In fairness he is saying his signings haven't been great just by saying he needs a centre back. He doesn't have to come out and own the problem especially as those players might improve with the new centre back.
 
What’s this Rashford press conference got anything to do with our CB’s? Carragher said Rashford should leave United because he doesn’t get enough minutes. Mourinho responded with facts and made it clear to Rashford he doesn’t want him to leave.
 
I think itsallinthemind is one of those people who wake up thinking how to slag Jose off ;-)
 
I think itsallinthemind is one of those people who wake up thinking how to slag Jose off ;-)

.......or someone who wakes up thinking how he can help free other United fans from their Jose polluted delusional thinking so that maybe the club can finally move in a more positive direction away from his toxic negativity and caution?

I'm actually United obsessed in reality. The "obsession" with Jose is only a by product of a desire to see United flourish again.

Once he's gone he will mean less than nothing to me. He can retire on a beach in Portugal and I can get on with watching a different manager actually try and get this team playing some fluent and good quality football.
 
Can't you see you are being toxically negative? we had a slow start to the season with players coming back from the WC. It isn't that big a deal, 6 points behind the leaders, 4 behind City.
Jose hasn't said anything negative, what has he said that bothers you? that the press have nothing better to do than wake up and write false stories about Man Utd. That's just a fact and it just adds fuel for fans like you who can reguritate how bad everything is. When the last two results have been good, the players look like they are playing for the shirt and the manager and they say Jose in training isn't Jose in the press room. The two games we lost were down to 5 mins of awful defending, not 90/180 mins of football. And to be fair to Fellaini he has come in to protect them and allow us a little more freedom going forward.
 
I agree that there are some short term positives but ultimately I tend to look at the bigger picture and the long term. The short term ups and downs don't concern me too much. Think logically about it for a second. You think Jose is the right man , right? Therefore , when bad results and poor performances arrive you just see them as blips and you ignore them. You logically see no reason to abandon your positive position on Jose just because we lose badly or play rubbish. Your position (if I have assumed right) is logically consistent. I have no issue with it

My position is just a mirror image of yours except I have decided he's the wrong man. Therefore , two wins do not change that. Why should I get behind Jose now? Anymore than you should call for his head after the Brighton game? The fact that you disagree with me is taken as a given , but I fail to see how I'm toxically negative simply by being consistent regardless of wins or losses.

I lost my faith in Jose a long time ago and it ain't coming back that easily. The Sevilla defeat told me all I needed to know about where his mind was at. Ironically that was a game where I thought Jose's tactics were toxically negative and toxically over cautious (in both legs). I wanted us to be far more positive in our play !! He lost me completely that night.

You see United fans like me (and there are many) can't really win. If we abandon our negativity towards Jose on the basis of a few encouraging signs then you would say we are fickle. If we only criticise Jose when we get beat then you say we are jumping on bad results. No . The only way is to be consistent. If you actually believe that something (like a tumour) is cancerous and harmful to your body you will be "toxically negative" towards it and try everything you can to get it cut away to save the body. Some days you might feel better and fool yourself into thinking "it's not so bad after all" but then you sober up and remind yourself that cancer is dangerous and although it goes into remission it's still there in the system. You see me as toxically negative? I see you as unrealistically optimistic. I think the very best we can hope for is a 3 way shoot out between us and Spurs and Arsenal (maybe Chelsea) for 4th place. Liverpool and City? Forget it. Cloud cuckoo land thinking.

But then again I would delighted to be proved totally wrong and have egg all over my face......I just don't think it will happen though. Whatever cancer infected that dressing room at Chelsea is still there now in the background. Can't you see it? The problem with his press conference is that it was him feeling he had to be defensive again and imply that nothing is "his fault". All criticism of him is "irrational". And if he's got something to say to the press then he should just say it without all the games and codes. He bought the centre halves that screwed up and cost us the points that we now trail behind the leaders. He admits that they aren't good enough (in public) and then wonders why they lose confidence? Then he blames Woodward for not throwing good money after bad? But hey ho , it's not his fault ...it's a media conspiracy of course.
 
He was referring to one thing and that was his use of Rashford and then backed it up with facts. (I say facts he was actually wrong and he’s used Rashford more than he said)
 
What is annoying is because of that stupid red card he's missing 2 games where he might have got to start at centre forward as we probably do need to give Lukaku some rest after the world cup to keep him fresh for the whole season. If the team run the score up a bit you might find Lukaku could be subbed with 20 minutes to go if we could get 3 or 4 ahead giving Rashford some time in the middle but that rarely happens.

Young Boys he probably wouldn't rest Lukaku but you'd imagine league cup at home to Derby is where he'd likely be getting thr starts he needs at centre forward as cup games where were he got those games last season as Lukaku shouldn't really be playing the league cup games.

I think Mourinho sees him as his number 2 striker which at 20 is a great situation to be in but his problem is the number 1 isn't a guy who gets injured a lot and he is number 1 by a long way in the managers eyes and also cost the club £75m. However, if Rashford can learn to score the kind of scrappy goals Lukaku gets himself then he's certainly got teh more explosive goals that Lukaku lacks but there's time for him to learn this.

This isn't something you learn on the pitch you learn through working one to one with coaches on your finishing doing them over and over again so they become almost automatic and watching other players looking at the movements they make in the box to find space. People talk about it like it's an instinct but it isn't it's a skill these players know the positions to get into when the ball is out wide they are always looking for space.
 

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