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2016-17 Performances

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5.9 Season Average Rating
Appearances
42
Goals
8
Assists
8
Yellow cards
3
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Can't see him playing tomorrow after Mourinho confirmed Young will be playing a part.
 
Who is now doing better on the left wing? Absolutely mental to keep this going on. Where is the accountability of others? Assuming Mkhi is on the right the options are:

Mata: Woeful against Stoke, poor against Reading.

Lingard: Should not start in a front 3, as he creates very little. And is no threat to his marker. He hasn't really stepped up since last season but no word from Jose.

Rashford: Has had a season similar to Martial, but Martial has had more highs and is better suited to the left winger role.

Rooney: Very poor in most games he plays, on the wing he offers no pace or threat. Yet he's guaranteed a place in match day squads and is brought on far too often.

Young: If Mourinho will try to accomodate him over better players, just to keep Ashley Young happy, I won't be a happy pappy.

If he's not rewarded with a start after two assists, it can feck him up. He'll now have to enter the field thinking every touch he makes has to be a goal. What does he have to produce? And why isn't the same requirement of Lingard when he plays?

Too keep singling out Martial when the others have simply not done enough themselves worries me.
 
Martial should be starting on the left but I can understand why Mou is benching him again.

Shame we will have to sit through 60 minutes of Rashford doing feck all on the wings.
 
I'm sorry but Mourinho needs to lay down the Critisicism. If we lose/draw tomorrow it will all be on him for not starting Martial who has looked our best player on the LW.

Saying that, Mkhitaryan and Mata should be enough. But Mata has been worse than Martial the past few games so where is the criticism for him?
 
So... Who starts? Mkhi on the right is fine, but Rashford on the left? He has improved recently too but I think Martial is in better form.
 
Ffs. After the second half he should be starting tbh. Though maybe he was happy enough with rashford in the hull game to have him start and only 1 of the wigan game to start so thats Miki. Maybe martial to start vs Leicester on the weekend?
 
It's obviously a bit of man management. Mourinho obviously feels this tactic will help a young player develop character etc. You've got to trust him on that as he works with the player every day, knows his personality.

What about the team and results though? It's all well and good developing Martial but if that involves not selecting one of our better players it's a real gamble.
 
Dobbs said:
What about the team and results though? It's all well and good developing Martial but if that involves not selecting one of our better players it's a real gamble.
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It obviously doesn't, though. No winger has been comprehensively better than Martial to the extent it'd be a detriment for us to start him ahead of anybody else.
 
Dobbs said:
It's obviously a bit of man management. Mourinho obviously feels this tactic will help a young player develop character etc. You've got to trust him on that as he works with the player every day, knows his personality.

What about the team and results though? It's all well and good developing Martial but if that involves not selecting one of our better players it's a real gamble.
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Risky tactic.
 
Bottom line is we have more chance of winning tomorrow if Martial starts on the left. Rooney, Lingard, Rashford are all inferior to him in that position.
 
DWelbz19 said:
It obviously doesn't, though. No winger has been comprehensively better than Martial to the extent it'd be a detriment for us to start him ahead of anybody else.
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Stats wise, if you take out the cup games against weakened opposition, he's not doing much better than our other attackers.

And all of our attackers have been way below the level required so none of them deserve starting spots.
 
2 assists gets you to the bench because somehow your RW would be left on the bench if you play Martial as a LW. Genius level management. It's okay though; Mourinho can do whatever he wants with his team (as long as they win).
 
“He has to perform better than the others who are competing for the same positions,” Mourinho added.

“His position is one where we have lots of options. Do you want me to leave Mkhitaryan out after being man of the match (against Wigan) and playing so well as he did? I can’t.
The players pick themselves. I am just there to analyse what they do and try to be fair with them. Such a good performance, Mkhitaryan has to play (against Hull). Simple.”



Feck off Mourinho, costing us with your crap
 
Mibabalou said:
Im disappointed he won't be starting and can't really see who is ahead of him right now.

Mhiky is one of the wide men, I guess the other will be Rashford or Mata?
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Obviously Rashford. He was rested against Wigan.
 
"Martial has done enough".
It's not like Rashford or Mata or Lingard have done good recently to be considered in XI.
 
This is surely getting a bit ridiculous now? I mean, I can't imagine the pressure he must feel every time he steps on the pitch, with this ridiculously public 'audition' he's being made to have.

This is not even considering the fact that he's been in the best two wingers we have anyway.
 
We're less likely to score goals when Martial is not playing. I haven't agreed with his handling all season and still don't now.
 
DWelbz19 said:
So... Who starts? Mkhi on the right is fine, but Rashford on the left? He has improved recently too but I think Martial is in better form.
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Mata on the right and Mkhi on the left, I reckon.
 
CM10 said:
Mata on the right and Mkhi on the left, I reckon.
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The issue with this is that Mata was invisible at the weekend. Lingard is generally quite poor and Rashford (who I rate highly) isn't a better wide man than Martial.

Based on form, Martial is comfortably our best option in a wide role.
 
Kag said:
The issue with this is that Mata was invisible at the weekend. Lingard is generally quite poor and Rashford (who I rate highly) isn't a better wide man than Martial.

Based on form, Martial is comfortably our best option in a wide role.
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It's what I think will happen, not what I want. I agree with you.
 
Kag said:
The issue with this is that Mata was invisible at the weekend. Lingard is generally quite poor and Rashford (who I rate highly) isn't a better wide man than Martial.

Based on form, Martial is comfortably our best option in a wide role.
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I think it'll be Rashford and Mkhi.

Maybe this is too much of a tinfoil hat theory, but to me, the way this looks is that Jose is building a narrative depicting Martial as lazy and unworthy so he can more easily justify selling him in the summer to make way for Griezmann and/or others. Probably a far-fetched theory, but his treatment of Martial lends itself to far-fetched theories.
 
Jose clearly expects a lot from him, a lot more than he expects from others. Putting real pressure on him now, I'm not sure that's a good idea
 
More nonsense from Jose. Since when would Martial playing mean dropping Mkhitaryan. What a weird thing to even say. Mhki rarely plays on the left. Can he not just back Martial for once??
 
DWelbz19 said:
It obviously doesn't, though. No winger has been comprehensively better than Martial to the extent it'd be a detriment for us to start him ahead of anybody else.
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Crossed wires. I agree with you.

My point is dropping Martial might help develop his character but it also means the first team is missing one of its better players.

Results have to be prioritised over Mourinho's attempts to toughen up Martial.
 
SteveW said:
More nonsense from Jose. Since when would Martial playing mean dropping Mkhitaryan. What a weird thing to even say. Mhki rarely plays on the left. Can he not just back Martial for once??
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Its beyond ridiculous now. He is using Micky as a new stick to beat Martial with when they don't even play the same position.
 
Any chance people would wait for an actual team sheet rather than a random text before freaking out?
 
SteveW said:
Direct quotes from the manager have to carry some weight surely?
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I've seen enough direct quotes from managers that have been distinctly misleading with regard to team selection in my time that I always wait for team sheets.
 
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