He has done about as well as any attacking player can in Van Gaal's system at United. He's had good periods and periods where he has been ineffective, but good on the whole, especially considering he was 19/20 in a new country/league and in a struggling team where the entire tactic is give him the ball and hope he does something.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 49
- Goals
- 17
- Assists
- 11
- Yellow cards
- 4
- Status
That's true, the whole team has been average. When it's the odd player/s, then clearly you hold the player himself accountable. But when it's the entire team?
That's my point, I'm tired of seeing all the players being individually lambasted at the exception of the fans favorite. At the exception of De Gea all our players have been individually and collectively below par, CBJ is the other exception.
The players shouldn't be lambasted when we all know that a lot of the problems comes from the management.
Lord...
Well he had a very promising start to his career with us and shows something special every now and then but he has pretty much settled on the level of the rest of the team by now.
He needs to play more with his head up (he has a tendency to run into traffic) but fundamentally he looks knackered after playing so many games this season. Great squad management by yesterday's hero.
Put him back in the centre. Play Young, or dare I say It Memphis out wide.
Considering the context of Martial's move and the way we have played this season I find calling Martial average very strange indeed (unless you believe there is much more to come). He's not been consistently brilliant but he seems to make our most threatening contribution every single game even when overall he's been poor. For a guy that was supposed to be a panic buy and that was already written off before he came he has acquitted himself fantastically. In a team like ours every time he doesn't score a chance he will look worse off because its the only chance that sticks out. However it shouldn't be normal for the best chance of the game to be your left winger leaving 3 people for dead and not finishing as well as he could have. Part of me thinks Martial snatches a bit at chances because he's conscious of the fact that he might well not get another.
Clearly however with the talent Martial has at his disposal if we are being critical there are often situations where he should do better but I think in a more settled, offensive minded team he would also do better generally. Martial is rightly cut slack because firstly he is the only one who seems to show attacking intent and secondly no one really expected him to be such a permanent fixture within the team. There is more to come but he's been a rare shining light in a dire attacking season.
Next time you watch United pay attention to the attacking movement around Martial, it's genuinely shocking and disheartening. Rojo barely every gets on the overlap and Martial only really has the option to knock it into a forward or pass square to a stationary midfielder. When Martial does beat a man on the outside there tends to be very few numbers in the box to aim for. The only frustration with Martial is sometimes when he comes inside he takes a bit too long to decide what to do but I'm not sure if cutting inside and shooting is part of his game as much as it is for someone like Depay. There are definitely things to work on but there's no way I can bring him to the level of the rest of the squad, inept coaching or not our only hope in every game is Martial (and sometimes Rashford). In a way this is kind of reminiscent of Januzaj's breakthrough season but there is clearly a lot more end product and physicality in Martial's game.
Clearly however with the talent Martial has at his disposal if we are being critical there are often situations where he should do better but I think in a more settled, offensive minded team he would also do better generally. Martial is rightly cut slack because firstly he is the only one who seems to show attacking intent and secondly no one really expected him to be such a permanent fixture within the team. There is more to come but he's been a rare shining light in a dire attacking season.
Next time you watch United pay attention to the attacking movement around Martial, it's genuinely shocking and disheartening. Rojo barely every gets on the overlap and Martial only really has the option to knock it into a forward or pass square to a stationary midfielder. When Martial does beat a man on the outside there tends to be very few numbers in the box to aim for. The only frustration with Martial is sometimes when he comes inside he takes a bit too long to decide what to do but I'm not sure if cutting inside and shooting is part of his game as much as it is for someone like Depay. There are definitely things to work on but there's no way I can bring him to the level of the rest of the squad, inept coaching or not our only hope in every game is Martial (and sometimes Rashford). In a way this is kind of reminiscent of Januzaj's breakthrough season but there is clearly a lot more end product and physicality in Martial's game.
There is no need to right essays about it, he has been average. I'm a huge fan and I was a fan way before the caf knew his existence but he has been average. He has a great potential and I have absolutely no doubt that he can become a top player.
Martial today looks like Martial 2 years ago, one good move in the game and then nothing.
Martial today looks like Martial 2 years ago, one good move in the game and then nothing.
His run at 60 minute was out of this world. One of the best pieces of football that I've seen in the whole season. Can't wait until he's mature enough to finish more of his chances, in 2 or 3 years he can (and hopefully will) be one of the best players in the league (and, who knows, maybe even the world?).
Some nice moves, even though being double and triple marked didn't help him, obviously. The turn when he left 2 players for dead was so Iniesta-esque
Not a great performance, an average onee, actually, but still a very promising one
Some nice moves, even though being double and triple marked didn't help him, obviously. The turn when he left 2 players for dead was so Iniesta-esque
Not a great performance, an average onee, actually, but still a very promising one
He hasn't been average, one of the few bright lights of our season. But it's worrying how much responsibility he is having to shoulder in our attack and if it goes on beyond this season it will be a concern for his development.
He and the Mrs separated according to this:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...-Anthony-Martial-dumped-by-wife-Samantha.html
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...-Anthony-Martial-dumped-by-wife-Samantha.html
People labeling his seasons performance average. 
He's a kid and he has lots of rough edges (running back into traffic and generally taking too much out of the ball among them) but with time, patience and a manager who can guide him he'll be a proper player. I do worry that the expectations of him at this point might prove to be damaging to him, though. He's basically being asked to carry a very average side.
I don't understand how you feel fans have been too harsh on players because of the coaching and then proceed to call Martial average, flying in the face of most opinions. You seem to want context for the rest of the players and none for Martial? Even if you know him better than most that's a strange way of going about things. He's 20, he cost a lot, he was written off and he carries our attack. More developed players like Di Maria and Depay have not even managed to settle.
behave. without him this year we'd be 10th
He has not been better than Di Maria, they have both been average, I don't blame him, I don't condemn him, I don't say that he is an average player, that he has an average potential, I say that his performances have been average like most of his teammates. In terms of creativity or finishing he hasn't been special, he showed that he has the talent but he has not exploited it.
Being average doesn't mean that he is shite and to be perfectly explicit I put all the blame on the staff.
I thought they were talking about this particular game? If not, then wowPeople labeling his seasons performance average.
I wouldn't say his season is average, but he's been playing on his own for some time and today it was an exaggeration. It's not a surprise that his best action (probably the only good one today) was that run where he dribbled half of their team. He relied everything on his dribble and he didn't try anything different, and it's not the first time it happens, nor the second.
Many times we play slow football against a parked bus and he has no chance of doing anything, so he has an excuse for me. But today there was room to play faster and take profit of spaces, and he ruined many actions by keeping the ball too much, or facing a wall of defenders when a fast and simple pass to a more uncongested zone would have been much more productive.
He needs to read games and situations better and use some different tools, and he has showed before that he's able to do it, even when we are shit as a team. It's true he's played a lot of games, but he didn't look tired in that run where he nearly scored, or missing his wife or anything. And he was pressing at the end of the match with energy, so I don't buy any excuses today. He's a massive talent and he can play much better than this.
Many times we play slow football against a parked bus and he has no chance of doing anything, so he has an excuse for me. But today there was room to play faster and take profit of spaces, and he ruined many actions by keeping the ball too much, or facing a wall of defenders when a fast and simple pass to a more uncongested zone would have been much more productive.
He needs to read games and situations better and use some different tools, and he has showed before that he's able to do it, even when we are shit as a team. It's true he's played a lot of games, but he didn't look tired in that run where he nearly scored, or missing his wife or anything. And he was pressing at the end of the match with energy, so I don't buy any excuses today. He's a massive talent and he can play much better than this.
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He might be average for his standards but relative to the rest of the team he's been much better, even when he does not play well like today he's still the most likely to make anything happen. There's a huge difference between Martial's persistence amidst a shower of shite and Di Maria's gutless displays at the end of last season, irrespective of who the coach is. It's this difference that means fans cut Martial slack.
I think it's unfair to put in him in the same category as his teammates, we've scored 71 goals in 50 games this season it appears, 20 of them have had direct contributions from Martial. In our first 6 games without him we scored 10 goals. He then played some part in every game from Liverpool at home on Sept 12 to Watford away on Nov 21, where we scored 2 goals. Martial then played every match up until the Midjytlland game at home where we scored 5 and the Arsenal game at home after where we scored 3. He's played every game since. From my back of the cig paper calculations, in the games Martial has played (41) we have scored 51 goals, he has contributed to 20 of those which is 39.2%. That is a lot for an average contribution.
Sidebar: The Brugge and Midjytlland games skew the goals scored without Martial quite heavily (12), otherwise it's 8 goals in 6 games which is closer to type so you can nip that 'we're better without him in the team' hot take in the bud and if anyone can be arsed here's the links for those calcs and I'm off to write my dissertation, good night all:
http://www.statto.com/football/teams/manchester-united
http://www.stretfordend.co.uk/seasons/season2016.html
People labeling his seasons performance average.
He's done as well as you could really expect anyone too with this style of football and considering how young he is. He's been one of our best outfield players defiantly.
I keep saying it, Van Gaal should have built the team to extract the most of Martial. Leave Martial 1-1 Vs anyone and he will beat them more often than not.
I dont get this at all.
What were you expecting of Martial this season? Surely he's exceeded expectations.
I can only assume he's a WUM, it's just such utter nonsense to call him average this season when he has been quite easily our best outfield player, our top scorer and is 20 years old.
Indeed.
I can understand @JPRouve 's point. Seeing him at Monaco last year you could expect a more consistent threat and more end product from him.
Of course you can't blame him, he's been overplayed and it's hard for anyone to shine in that team.
He only played four full games for Monaco last season. Moving to a different country at a young age, to a better standard of football, what kind of end product did you expect from him?
Describing Martial as average this season is one of the craziest things I've seen on here.
The thing that sticks out is that he still manages to have more moments of quality than any other player we have or have had in the past couple of seasons basically. None of the senior, better paid players are managing the impact he has had even if it's not ultimately up to what he is capable of, because we as a team are in such a state. When we have an actual good team around him then we'll surely see him shine.
Very true. Was quite quiet today, but he had that brilliant moment where he was able to burst through three or four defenders and nearly scored. He's a constant threat, and by far the most dangerous outfield player in the team right now.
He should have shot across the goalkeeper instead of trying to be clever and reverse the shot. It needed a finish similar to his debut goal. That's usually his go to finish, so I was amazed when he reverted to something different.
Had he scored, it would have been one of the goals of the season. He completely took four Spurs players out of the game with that run.
Had he scored, it would have been one of the goals of the season. He completely took four Spurs players out of the game with that run.
Calling his season average is one of the stranger things I've read here. Even stranger coming from a decent poster.
In what world has Martial been average? That's as mental as calling Rojo a good player.
If we hadn't signed him, this season might have just about finished me off.
If we hadn't signed him, this season might have just about finished me off.
Calling Martial's season average is OTT. His stats are average but they do not tell the whole truth by far.
Still, there is a tendency on this forum to highlight only the good sides of Martial's game and to turn a blind eye to its weaknesses by explaining them away with LVG's inept tactics or the lack of quality in the team.
Yesterday he had one absolutely brillliant run but apart from that he was dogshit.
Maybe he has played too many games this season, maybe he is trying to do too much on his own, maybe he has to learn when it is good to retain the ball and dribble and when it is better to release it quickly. Cruyff said about 10 years ago that Messi should learn when it makes sense to dribble and when he has to pass the ball if he wants to become a truly great player. Martial is still very young though. A new manager, new tactics, new team mates will help him to develop further.
Still, there is a tendency on this forum to highlight only the good sides of Martial's game and to turn a blind eye to its weaknesses by explaining them away with LVG's inept tactics or the lack of quality in the team.
Yesterday he had one absolutely brillliant run but apart from that he was dogshit.
Maybe he has played too many games this season, maybe he is trying to do too much on his own, maybe he has to learn when it is good to retain the ball and dribble and when it is better to release it quickly. Cruyff said about 10 years ago that Messi should learn when it makes sense to dribble and when he has to pass the ball if he wants to become a truly great player. Martial is still very young though. A new manager, new tactics, new team mates will help him to develop further.
Maybe I'm wrong but I'm not impressed by his performances at all. He has regressed or at the very least stagnated this season, the only thing that he improved is his left foot. Maybe I'm harsh and it's true that he is our best attacking player but our attaack is absolutely wank, our attack is around Monaco's and it's a terrible attack this season.
To be fair to the lad, he is working with 0. More or less when he got the ball he had to try and take on the whole Spurs defense by himself, especially when Rashford went off. Anytime he attempted to link play with the other attacking players they lost the ball.
Don't think he played well, however its difficult to do that in those circumstance I think.
I completely agree.
I know what you mean, but he's a one man attack atm. no supply from midfield whatsoever, he's expected to carry the ball past 2-3 defenders everytime and that's just not realistic. He also looks absolutely knackered, doubt we were expecting to play him as much as we have.
Rumours his wife has gone back to France and they have split due to her being homesick....
That's what living in Manchester does to women who are used to decent cities.
I think Martial has been a bit average since he returned from injury, but I wouldn't label his entire season average. But I did not watch him at Monaco.
He's played far too many games and has been asked to lead our attack. Let's see how he does next season in a better functioning team hopefully.
He's played far too many games and has been asked to lead our attack. Let's see how he does next season in a better functioning team hopefully.
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