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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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I don't get why everyone is being so defensive and calling other posters "cnuts" for saying he had an off day. I thought he was very average.


Stop being a cnut ;), we won scored three goals and have Zlatan, Paul & Maureen.

Get happy, crack a brew!
 
He's a dribbler allright. He really commits the opposition defence with his dribbling, and that opens up more possibilities in our attack. He can have an off day but the threat he possesses is constant and helpful to our set up.
He is an automatic choice for me, the decision making, and final execution will improve over time, he's only 20 so I fully expect him to push on even further.
 
Can I get some opinions on this: does he actually have elite level (C Ronaldo, et al) level pace? I have seen him be fast, and I reckon physically he can't be far off, but he doesn't really seem to turn the gas on as often as some players. Not that this is necessarily a huge negative, I just wonder if he's got more to give on the counter attacking side of the game.
 
Can I get some opinions on this: does he actually have elite level (C Ronaldo, et al) level pace? I have seen him be fast, and I reckon physically he can't be far off, but he doesn't really seem to turn the gas on as often as some players. Not that this is necessarily a huge negative, I just wonder if he's got more to give on the counter attacking side of the game.
He's definitely not as blistering as Ronaldo but Ronaldo's game wasn't this polished when he was 20. Not saying he will reach Ronaldo's level mind you.
 
Can I get some opinions on this: does he actually have elite level (C Ronaldo, et al) level pace? I have seen him be fast, and I reckon physically he can't be far off, but he doesn't really seem to turn the gas on as often as some players. Not that this is necessarily a huge negative, I just wonder if he's got more to give on the counter attacking side of the game.
I think it also have something to do with his dribbling technique - someone like Bale kicks the ball forward and run towards it, while Martial's main priority is to control the ball - so he rarely runs at full speed.
And he probably isn't as fast as Valencia/Ronaldo/Bale at their best anyway
 
Our overall game is slow, and we are back to being slow centrally this season, having removed Rashford from the team. His spell towards the end of last season where he was devastating coincided with Rashford being brought into the side, and the two of them linked together at high speed.

One man, just because he is fast, cannot inject speed into the game of a team that plays a slow game.
 
He's fast as lighting and an excellent dribbler. He will be a world class player. There will also be some dips in form too. There always is.

Overall sky is the limit.
 
Looked fine to me. Was better in second half as was the whole team attacking part of the team. made some good runs to draw defenders and create space in the final 3rd. Looks like someone just shaking off the rust and Coming back to form

Yep, not an amazing performance but not a poor one, and better than in the community shield match too.
 
Realistically speaking, what do you guys think will be his ceiling? Prime Ribery with more goals? Suarez without the defensive effort, but better at playmaking?
 
Realistically speaking, what do you guys think will be his ceiling? Prime Ribery with more goals? Suarez without the defensive effort, but better at playmaking?
If I had to have a punt I'd guess Sanchez/Hazard/Bale level. Not quite Ribery/Robben but undoubtedly top tier. More polished dribbling, finishing, interplay and movement.
 
Hard to say. Until I see some real progress in weak areas of his game... namely, off the ball movement and runs, finishing and consistency, I can't make a call. Right now, he does three things: Hold up the ball, run+dribble and link up.

He has the talent to be as good as he wants. But given some of his personal life choices already, I'm not convinced the brain is at the same level as the body lol.
 
Hard to say. Until I see some real progress in weak areas of his game... namely, off the ball movement and runs, finishing and consistency, I can't make a call. Right now, he does three things: Hold up the ball, run+dribble and link up.

He has the talent to be as good as he wants. But given some of his personal life choices already, I'm not convinced the brain is at the same level as the body lol.

What?
Martial's finishing is his weakness? Are you kidding me.
 
Our overall game is slow, and we are back to being slow centrally this season, having removed Rashford from the team. His spell towards the end of last season where he was devastating coincided with Rashford being brought into the side, and the two of them linked together at high speed.

One man, just because he is fast, cannot inject speed into the game of a team that plays a slow game.
Agreed. Adding Pogba and Rashford back into our team will transform it again. Hopefully Mourinho get's the chance to see that, but I can't see him dropping Rooney until the midweek games come.
 
Realistically speaking, what do you guys think will be his ceiling? Prime Ribery with more goals? Suarez without the defensive effort, but better at playmaking?
Prime Ribery would be :drool:

Ribery was one of the best in the world for a time.
 
Hard to say. Until I see some real progress in weak areas of his game... namely, off the ball movement and runs, finishing and consistency, I can't make a call. Right now, he does three things: Hold up the ball, run+dribble and link up.

He has the talent to be as good as he wants. But given some of his personal life choices already, I'm not convinced the brain is at the same level as the body lol.

How much have you actually seen of him? His finishing is an asset, last season he was our most consistent outfield performer, and he has an incredibly intelligent footballing brain. Not sure what his life outside of football has got to do with anything.
 
How much have you actually seen of him? His finishing is an asset, last season he was our most consistent outfield performer, and he has an incredibly intelligent footballing brain. Not sure what his life outside of football has got to do with anything.
He is indeed a great finisher when he's in the box, but he hasn't shown once that he has a great shot in him from outside the box like Zlatan, Rooney, Memphis, Mata. Most of the time it's Martial running at the goalkeeper with the ball, keeping his cool, and finishing.
 
He is indeed a great finisher when he's in the box, but he hasn't shown once that he has a great shot in him from outside the box like Zlatan, Rooney, Memphis, Mata. Most of the time it's Martial running at the goalkeeper with the ball, keeping his cool, and finishing.

His effort against Stoke proved he certainly has got a great shot in him. The fact he's so devastating running at players means long range pot shots from outside the area are far less likely to produce a goal. I'd say its Memphis who has to prove it if anything. Scoring for fun in the Netherlands means feck all if he can't replicate it here.
 
Realistically speaking, what do you guys think will be his ceiling? Prime Ribery with more goals? Suarez without the defensive effort, but better at playmaking?

Why do people think that Martial can be like Ribery? He is still young and may well develop play-making skills but I haven't seen anything yet to suggest that he has it in him. To be great at dribbling is one thing, to be a playmaker is a completely different thing. I see him as a striker, can become among the very best in the world.
 
Why do people think that Martial can be like Ribery? He is still young and may well develop play-making skills but I haven't seen anything yet to suggest that he has it in him. To be great at dribbling is one thing, to be a playmaker is a completely different thing. I see him as a striker, can become among the very best in the world.
Let's be serious here, Martial has a very good creative pass on him, revisit his chipped ball to Lingard in the dying moments of the 0-0 Manc Derby last campaign. While envisioning him to become playmaking type is possibly an incorrect assertion, to rule anything out with this precociously talented young player would be foolish.
 
Let's be serious here, Martial has a very good creative pass on him, revisit his chipped ball to Lingard in the dying moments of the 0-0 Manc Derby last campaign. While envisioning him to become playmaking type is possibly an incorrect assertion, to rule anything out with this precociously talented young player would be foolish.

To be a creative wide forward is one thing, to be in the mould of Ribery is quite another, IMO. Prime Ribery was one of the best playmaking players in the world. Can't see Martial becoming like Ribery at all.
 
Hard to say. Until I see some real progress in weak areas of his game... namely, off the ball movement and runs, finishing and consistency, I can't make a call. Right now, he does three things: Hold up the ball, run+dribble and link up.

He has the talent to be as good as he wants. But given some of his personal life choices already, I'm not convinced the brain is at the same level as the body lol.

Huh? You could say that about a huge number of pro footballers. It's very unlikely that any of his relationship stuff is going to affect him long term.
 
Part of why he is not at 100% yet could be also due to having a new manager, and playing alongside some new players, and not just his personal life.

That said, i think he's done fine, and there's no need to worry, this kids gonna be a monster. Him, Pogba and Shaw down the left will be absolute pornography.
 
Hard to say. Until I see some real progress in weak areas of his game... namely, off the ball movement and runs, finishing and consistency, I can't make a call. Right now, he does three things: Hold up the ball, run+dribble and link up.

He has the talent to be as good as he wants. But given some of his personal life choices already, I'm not convinced the brain is at the same level as the body lol.
You seem to very keen at knocking Martial, not sure why, he's better than any of your players at a similar age. As a Real Madrid fan it would be unfair to expect you to see recognise premium young talent.

To be honest it would be absurd to call his finishing a weakness, this is a boy who scored 17 goals last season in the league's most dysfunctional side (bar Aston Villa).
17 goals is a fine, fine tally for anyone primarily deployed on what became an island - The Manchester United Left Wing area.
 
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Part of why he is not at 100% yet could be also due to having a new manager, and playing alongside some new players, and not just his personal life.

That said, i think he's done fine, and there's no need to worry, this kids gonna be a monster. Him, Pogba and Shaw down the left will be absolute pornography.


Completely agree.

As for that last line: :drool:
 
You seem to very keen at knocking Martial, not sure why, he's better than any of your players at a similar age. As a Real Madrid fan it would be unfair to expect you to see recognise premium young talent.

To be honest it would be absurd to call his finishing a weakness, this is a boy who scored 17 goals last season in the league's most dysfunctional side (bar Aston Villa).
17 goals is a fine, fine tally for anyone primarily deployed on what became an island - The Manchester United Left Wing area.

Shots fired! :devil:
 
His effort against Stoke proved he certainly has got a great shot in him. The fact he's so devastating running at players means long range pot shots from outside the area are far less likely to produce a goal. I'd say its Memphis who has to prove it if anything. Scoring for fun in the Netherlands means feck all if he can't replicate it here.
You can find goals like that in every competition. That was just one goal, in the whole season, for all we know he was just lucky... He has to show things like that more often to get a label of having a great shot in him. Like you said, he luckily doesn't need that due to being such a quick dribbler that he barely needs to take a shot from afar.

There's a reason why Rooney, Mata, and Memphis are always behind the ball for freekicks. They got it in them, they've shown it at training, and on the pitch, multiple times. For the same reason it was Martial who took a penalty last year, he can keep his cool, and just finish it.
 
You can find goals like that in every competition. That was just one goal, in the whole season, for all we know he was just lucky... He has to show things like that more often to get a label of having a great shot in him. Like you said, he luckily doesn't need that due to being such a quick dribbler that he barely needs to take a shot from afar.

There's a reason why Rooney, Mata, and Memphis are always behind the ball for freekicks. They got it in them, they've shown it at training, and on the pitch, multiple times. For the same reason it was Martial who took a penalty last year, he can keep his cool, and just finish it.

Like so?

 
Why do people think that Martial can be like Ribery? He is still young and may well develop play-making skills but I haven't seen anything yet to suggest that he has it in him. To be great at dribbling is one thing, to be a playmaker is a completely different thing. I see him as a striker, can become among the very best in the world.

1) I was asking, as I've seen him compared to Ribery more than a few times already not just here but in other forums as well.

2) He's 20. His creativity beyond anyone in his age group, not underestimating Ribery but I'm just saying that Martial does have the tools.

FWIW, I think he'll be more of a Suarez type than Ribery.
 
Some of you forget that the likes of Ribery were pretty much unknown entity at Martial's age and never show such talent at that point. Martial is a mega talent and at 20 is already showing some impressive stuff, his potential should be higher but he'll have to fulfill it first otherwise there won't be any knowing.
 
I think the difference between Januzaj in 2013/14 compared to the last two seasons has scarred people in such a way that after a couple of bad/average performances, they believe the same will happen to Martial. Januzaj was something else in that season and almost everyone was sure he was heading for the top. He played with such maturity and consistency, much akin to Martial last season and his sudden drop in form ever since wasn't expected by anyone. Not even by a lot of rival fans.

Best attitude is to keep an open mind and see what happens. I'm ignoring pre season performances. They mean feck all and am bemused as to why people are reading so much into his performances there. In the two competitive games we have played he was poor in the first and markedly improved in second, despite playing on the whole, quite an average performance. All I read from this is that he is improved on his community shield performance and I see no real reason to suggest he won't further improve and reach the levels he did last season. Maybe he wont, who knows? But there has been no real/logical red flags to suggest this, especially considering his age/experience and inconsistency that is likely to come with it. Rather, it is people's worries taking over and reading too much into every move he makes.

It may sound silly, but I really do believe Januzaj's 'rise and fall' so to speak is a big factor in a lot of peoples worries, although indirect. Then again, it may just be a case of the classic caf habit of a lot of posters not being able to remember further back than the last 3 games.
 
The biggest problem is getting him involved with actual touches and touches in the right areas.

We're finding it hard to isolate him with the full backs and atm there's isn't a natural triangle of link up play on his side compared to the right.

He needs to find a balance with Shaw, find a balance with the central midfielders (e.g when Herrera plays, his tendency is to dictate the right side of the pitch and Fellani is just all over) and hope to link up with the two central attackers like Zlatan (should come in time) and Rooney (we know that ain't fecking happening).

Also I think he's playing waaaay too orthodox as left winger. He's quite disciplined, not sure through tactics or his own choice but he's playing as a left sided midfielder, tracking back full back runs and then dribbling from the half way line. Expending too much energy in the wrong places imo.

We should be looking to control the game and give him the ball much higher up the pitch. It's earrrrrrrrrllllllly days but those are the main concerns for me. His individual ability is not in doubt.
 
I'm not worried about him at all. He had a very long hard season where he was overplayed and then had a long Euros, leaving him with an almost non-existent pre-season. It will take a few weeks for him to return to match fitness and form.
 
He is indeed a great finisher when he's in the box, but he hasn't shown once that he has a great shot in him from outside the box like Zlatan, Rooney, Memphis, Mata. Most of the time it's Martial running at the goalkeeper with the ball, keeping his cool, and finishing.

Really? When was the last time any of those three scored a long shot? Memphis was maybe the only one who scored a long shot last season and it was in the UCL qualifiers iirc.

And this was in an LvG team where everyone seemed as though they were instructed not to shoot from outside the box (too risky), well except for Memphis.

Martial was already shown that he strikes the ball well. That miskicked volley which led to an assist for Rooney was poor, but do you really expect footballers to nail a volley with their weaker foot all the time? They do that on their strong foot all the time!

Martial's shown that he's a complete player (imo), and while he hasn't started well, it's only the beginning of the season. He's also been closed down more keenly by the opposition so far.

I'm excited to see how he develops under Mourinho, especially once we add more pace to the team.
 
To be a creative wide forward is one thing, to be in the mould of Ribery is quite another, IMO. Prime Ribery was one of the best playmaking players in the world. Can't see Martial becoming like Ribery at all.

I wouldn't say it's impossible. It was only a decade ago when Zidane had retired and people were saying Ribery wasn't up to it when France were struggling.

It's also just over a decade ago when Cristiano Ronaldo was a wiry winger with bad hair who nobody could ever envisioned to develop into a physical beast with the best heading ability in the world.

Like Ferguson says, young players may surprise you.
 
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