Yeah I’m not convinced there’s much in it between Rashford and Alli. Not really sure how good Rashford is honestly, I go back and forth a bit on him, and don’t watch him consistently enough to say for sure. But Alli is being massively overrated here. He’s a goal scoring #10 who is average to poor in every other facet of the game. At first I rated him because he came with the reputation of being a real midfield player, but it’s clear he’s not really that and that it’s not just the tactical position Poch has deployed in him, but rather his qualities dictating the tactical position Poch deploys him in.
I’m not really sure who’s better between the two but I do get the feeling if I had to choose, that I’d go with Rashford. Would prefer a goal scoring forward with dribbling ability than a flawed #10, there are lots of players out there who can make for a good #10 or can be moved a bit higher up the pitch as an 8 and make for a better team overall. Goal scoring forwards are not common or easy to find, especially if Rashford also can be a #9 again, as he started out.
Before this season how good would you have said a Young player would have to have been for moriniho to even consider him having place in his squad let alone put as much faith in him as mou seems to be doing with rashford?
Oh is that what I said? I must have written the “I must be right” part in invisible ink. Some people think Alli is better than Rashford, that is all I meant by it.
Honestly, when I look around the world of football, I think that young, genuine midfielders who are good at real midfield play, like Ceballos or Llorente, are actually the rarity.
Goal scoring 10s/shadow strikers or 7s that could be used as goal scoring 10s don’t strike me as nearly as rare. Your comment would perhaps make more sense if Alli were an 8 or something resembling an 8, but even then, we’ve seen the pitfalls of relying on a goal-scoring 8 (Ramsey in our case). I prefer a true, proper midfield player…give me Xavi, Kroos, Modric, Verratti, Thiago, Koke…
Ali is a big time talent, however, I do get what some are saying with regard to him. If you watched Spuds recently particularly against West Ham you can see that a lot their play breaks down when it reaches him, more than a few of their attacking phases of play came to nothing when the ball came to him and this was at a point when they could have put the game against West Ham to bed.
I don’t think he’s efficient enough at this point, he scores goals sure and makes fantastic runs but he’s game has stalled a little IMO and that’s one of the reasons why he plays so close to goal. He isn’t playing as a #10 at top echelons as he is now and doesn’t quite have the game to play that is required of a CM at a top club either.
Where as rashford on the other hand on track to be a key player for Manchester United,
Obviously he could end up not making it too but as much as I think he’s a cunt the fact that mouriniho seems to trust him makes me pretty confidant he will go on to be a top top player
This is a pretty balanced view I think… I would just point out as well that he is 21, has 76 appearances and is now a key player for a team fighting for CL spots… he has 30 goals and 17 assists during those appearances and is definitely one of their more important players.
I don’t rate him as highly as Mbappe, but to be fair, I haven’t watched much of Mbappe… what I am pretty impressed with re: Alli is that he is fearless - wants to get on the ball and be the man at critical times and fights until the end. He is someone that isn’t fun to play against (regardless of his cuntiness)…
Wrt Wilshere, I think using one game against Barca as basis to say he is better is kind of invalid… yeah, it is a big indicator that he can produce some great quality, but I’d have to say over 50+ games and taking into consideration age, Alli has the edge over Wilshere apples/apples - Jack just never did it consistently or long enough. And all the recent excitement over Jack is largely down to a performance against… Doncaster? His time at Bournemouth was successful by all accounts but I’m not sure we would expect anything less than a good Arsenal player being the best player at a club like Bournemouth…
It’s not about who’s better it’s about potential, for a player to do what wilshire did over 2 legs against Barcelona was enough to show he had the potential to be up their with the very best, alli has been very consistent is is a very good player, I’m not sure he has ever put in a performance that would make you think he could be up their with the very best in his position
Also if you were to read on my point was that I wouldn’t have rated wilshire as 2nd best prospect in the world in the same way alli isn’t
Well it wasn’t supposed to. Of course I’m aware that not everyone will have the same opinion – that is the joy of football. All I was trying to do was explain why I think Alli has been placed higher than Rashford on the list. Both talented players but I personally think Alli has the higher ceiling, you disagree. That’s that.
Rating of prospects is kind of funny business anyway, isn’t it? Like I said, a player who has 70+ senior caps and 30 goals, etc. by 21 for a CL quality (hehe) club is pretty damn impressive and one might even say “he isn’t a prospect any more - nailed on starter for a top 4/5 club.”
Wilshere to me had a bit of magic about him and it was incredibly seductive to think how good he could be, following on the footsteps (albeit differently) of our wonderful Cesc - but Alli is very effective player who has a pretty lengthy and impressive resume now. He might not turn out as good as Mbappe, Dembele, Assensio, etc. (and I would tend to agree with you there), but he is absolutely belonging in the conversation on merit. Predicting how much headroom a player has (i.e., additional potential) is really, really hard anyway.
For what it’s worth I’d bet that I’d you looked at these sort of lists over the years the players listed 25 will have gone on to be better than most of the top 10 or whatever, they really don’t mean much
