25 February 2016, Manchester United were hosting FC Midtjylland in the Europa League. Manchester United manager at the time, Louis van Gaal, picked Anthony Martial as his starting centre-forward for the game. Unfortunately, the Frenchman went out injured in the warm-up and an academy graduate was chosen as the replacement. This then-relatively-unknown boy later scored twice in the game and started to pull the attention towards him. Just three days after, he made a brace against Arsenal on his Premier League debut.
The academy graduate goes by the name of Marcus Rashford. His brilliant performances continue and since August 2018 he inherited the Red Devils’ number 10 shirt. The bearers of the legendary number include Zlatan Ibrahimović, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and United all-time top-scorer Wayne Rooney. Without further ado, this tactical analysis will inform you about Rashford’s impact at United this season.
Player profile
Rashford started his senior career as a centre-forward. In his inaugural season, the Englishman scored eight goals and made two assists in just 1,415 minutes of football. However, Jose Mourinho played him in various positions when he arrived at Old Trafford four years ago. The Portuguese deployed Rashford as a target man as well as on both flanks in 2016/17.
The season after, Rashford played most of his games as a left-winger. The left flank has become his playing field ever since, even when Ole Gunnar Solskjær took over the helm from Mourinho. Solskjaer has played Rashford in 31 games this campaign with 23 matches as a left-winger. In those games, the 22-year-old has netted 19 times and made five assists. This makes him United’s current best goal contributor in 2019/20. For a fact, he hasn’t played a minute since mid-January due to a back injury. Such performance underlines his importance for Solskjær’s tactics this season.
Works in the half-space
Solskjær tends to pick the 4–2–3–1 as his preferred formation. Offensively, he would tuck Rashford inside to play in the half-space. In the process, this allows United’s left-back to bomb forward and provide width. The full-back then can be served with a diagonal pass before going into the final third.
When United try to attack through the flanks, Rashford would come into the box to offer himself as one of the potential cross receivers. The Englishman would arrive at the far-post when the ball comes from the right flank. In the process, he would try to attack the gap between the defenders. Such a run enables him to attack from the centre-back’s blind-spot.
Another variation of Rashford’s approach in the final third is by using short combinations. He would do this — especially on the left flank — either by combining with the attacking midfielder or with the striker.
