Sport
USING RASHFORD DOWN MIDDLE COULD BE JOSE’S BEST HOPE
Firstly, in no way is the crux of this argument been shaped by Wayne Rooney’s drunken antics while on England duty. A man enjoying one too many beverages on his day off does not warrant the mass hysteria that has ensued. It wasn’t archetypal role model behaviour – correct – but should Rooney be receiving the dressing down he is getting? No.
Purely based on match-winning potential, in the absence of Zlatan Ibrahimovic through suspension, Jose Mourinho has to put aside his shortcomings about turning to youth, and at the very least consider going with Marcus Rashford as the focal point of the attack against Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday.
The Manchester United boss has revelled in his superiority over Wenger since arriving on our shores in 2004. The not-so-thinly veiled jibes have been ever-present, but for the first time in those 12 years since, it is the Portuguese looking up at the French patriarch.
United are struggling to keep the pace with a rejuvenated Gunners, all over the pitch. United’s laboured forwardline, with the ageing Ibrahimovic not built to run the channels and be the first to press, doesn’t have anything like the dynamism of Alexis Sanchez’s incessant harrying and intelligent running.
In midfield, while Paul Pogba has struggled to justify his astronomical fee, Mesut Ozil has added goals to the myriad of talent he possess, and in defence the gulf is even more obvious.
Mourinho has chopped and changed his front three on numerous occasions, with Ibrahimovic the only mainstay. The goals have flowed for the Swede – Ibrahimovic has netted double that of any of his team-mates – but when up against top quality defences, the 35-year-old has been all too easily nullified.
Rashford has seen his first team appearances limited, and when handed a starting berth, it has often been in a wide position – a role Rashford himself admitted in an interview earlier in the season that he is not au fait with.
All the stats suggest his effectiveness is diminishing as a result of this change of position. From shots on goal per game, completed dribbles per game to chances created, Rashford hasn’t hit the heights this time around.
However, cast your minds back to February of last season and you will get all the evidence you need that, deployed down the middle, the bombastic 19-year-old is the impact player Mourinho and United need in such a crucial tie.
Louis van Gaal was floundering ahead of the visit of Arsenal. Injuries had severely depleted his options up front, so feeling like he had nothing to lose, the then United boss went for rookie Rashford as his main striker.
Just as he had done on his Europa League debut, and later on his international debut, the local lad netted with his first Premier League shot on goal, before again scoring minutes later to set United on their way to a 3-2 victory.
It will be different this time, of course, because Rashford is not that unknown entity, but United could really struggle against this energised Arsenal side, and at least have to try to attempt to match the intensity of the Gunners – Rashford is their best hope of doing just that.
Not shorn of confidence, Rashford has the capability to run at the heart of the Gunners rearguard, putting them on the back-foot right from the off, which will in turn lift the crowd and give a cumbersome United the boost they need.
Rooney offers a very different outlet altogether. The United skipper doesn’t possess the running of old, and would be keen to link up play, much like Ibrahimovic does – a tactic the in-form Gunners can pick off at will, and counter to devastating effect.
The signs are the Rooney seems to the frontrunner in Mourinho’s plan.
“He [Rooney] is ready to play.” Mourinho said pre-match “The national team is a different chapter and it’s a chapter that is closed until February or March”
Now is the time to try something a little different though, Jose. So much scrutiny has to have got to affected Rooney’s preparations for Saturday’s encounter. Rashford is primed, and ready to take his chance once again. He just needs to be given that very opportunity.
