But he didn't sub Ibra off today although Ibra was 'crap' according to you? Do you trust the manager on that? You still complained either way.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 42
- Goals
- 8
- Assists
- 8
- Yellow cards
- 3
- Status
But he didn't sub Ibra off today although Ibra was 'crap' according to you? Do you trust the manager on that? You still complained either way.
Which you stated in response to a poster who said he's been consistently good since December to show that he hasn't been consistent because he hasn't scored many goals.
Yes, we have struggled to score goals, but we have struggled to score goals in some games which otherwise were good performances. Hence, Martial can still have contributed plenty without scoring many goals.
But that's what people are impying, that Mourinho didn't play him knowing we'd have had the biggest chance of winning with him on the left. Obviously that's not true.
I can't come up with any other reasons than him not working hard enough in training, since he's been good in the games.
Are you mad bastards happy now? 
The funny thing is that Martial's return has been the best from all our attacking players in his last 8(9 goals/assists), so arguments about him not contributing enough don't have any ground.
Exactly, rotating him with others was to make him work even harder to earn his place. Since Mourinho knows that even if he was good this year, he is capable of even better. And that's what he has accomplished by doing that.
It sounds like from Mourinho's post match interview that was the case. But a 80% Martial is still a better left winger than a 100% Rashford imo. Martial's problems seems to have stemmed from a lack of game time and Mourinho dealt with it by giving him even less game time. Tbf, Martial's form dropped at the start of the season and he was rightfully dropped, but in the last month or so Martial started to perform well again and he was dropped for the subsequent games regardless of his performances. Mourinho is surely not doing this to spite Martial or anything, but imo he seems to be treating certain players differently. Shaw for instance is not even making the bench currently and this is after his solid performance against Wigan. Darmian, on the other hand, a few months back consistently struggled against quick and strong wingers, but he kept his place as a LB throughout those period of games. This clearly shows that Mourinho is judging players on the things they do off the field (how they train, etc.) But the question that is then raised is should Mourinho drop better players based on them training worse, regardless of whether they perform better than others (most would argue that Martial is better than Rashford as a LW and Shaw a better LB than Darmian.)
Today was what happens when we take advantage of mismatches and also get the ball to him in the right situation to make use of his attacking abilities. Still think we screwed the pooch against Liverpool in not getting him the help he needed in the 3 on 1s he had and not creating the isolations for him to take on their rb that day.
That said - with the way Mata and Mkhi are playing - his real competition is Rashford. Right now though I'd have Rashford be a sub. He is not a wide forward and is not as good at taking players on as Martial. Be nice if for the next few games we settle on this front 4.
That said - with the way Mata and Mkhi are playing - his real competition is Rashford. Right now though I'd have Rashford be a sub. He is not a wide forward and is not as good at taking players on as Martial. Be nice if for the next few games we settle on this front 4.
Can we just forgett about the past and what could have happened had he been playing consistently and be happy that things have worked out and he's looking better then he has all season.
I do like the thought of him and Rashford fighting for that left forward spot.
Well that is true. Isn't it?
49 games last season and he went to the Euros.
Might be a blessing in the second half of the season that he has been rotated so much this season.
Might be a blessing in the second half of the season that he has been rotated so much this season.
Reading the last pages of this thread, it's rather interesting how there seems to be a complete disregard by a few for the fact that we had at least 6 or 7 options for the LW spot in the first half of the season.
On top of that it's all Mourinho's fault, apparently he can afford to self sabotage and not pick what he thinks will be the best 11 to beat an opponent, because he doesn't get judged on results and his job isn't on the line if the team doesn't perform.
On top of that it's all Mourinho's fault, apparently he can afford to self sabotage and not pick what he thinks will be the best 11 to beat an opponent, because he doesn't get judged on results and his job isn't on the line if the team doesn't perform.
Maybe it was about his effort but I still think he dropped him to see if he got his agent to stfu. Since there was no noise from Martial's camp after being dropped after the Wigan match, he continued to work hard in training and played with real desire today in both phases I'd expect him to retain his place in the team.
But that means he's been knowingly lowering our chances to win. How logical does that sound?
How does that work? I mean it literally, what does confidence rehabilitating training consist of? How does it differ from regular training?
What about the question I asked?
What question? In your reply to Raoul?
No the post you just replied to was a question.
So is the bolded bit of your post true?
I'm surprised a number of posters can't conceive of Mourinho making a mistake. He's a volatile character whose let his emotions or decisions negatively affect his team before. On a number of occasions.
Obviously it isn't. I don't think it's inconcievable that he made a mistake. But I can only speak for myself when I say that one of the best managers in the world shouldn't make such a mistake. I don't know what's been happening behind the scenes but I trust the manager has the experience to make the right call.
Yeah, it's not like a manager has never dropped a player to the detriment of the team, I remember Hererra repeatedly getting dropped in his first season when it was clear he was one of our best options in midfield.
Yeah that's the first example that came to my mind.
So these last two weeks, going into the games, you think the team was better off with Rashford on the left over Martial?
Was excellent today and surely has that LW for the next few games at least. Love Mou shouting Go Go when he received the ball.
What did Mou say in his post match about him ?
What did Mou say in his post match about him ?
I was hoping to read a bit about his game today but of course only thing I can see is crying about weather he should have played before and Mourinho criticism.
If Martial gets into form consistently, Rashford can kiss that spot goodbye. His superior ability on the ball gives him the advantage. I am surprised we haven't seen more of Marcus on the right.
He did say that it was these two weeks when Martial worked hard to warrant a place. So if he didn't before that obviously it was the right decision. Against Leicester, he was hardly needed. And it's not given he would have been better than Rashford.
For all we know, not playing these last two weeks was what made him work harder and be this good today.
Thank god he's back, we've been needing his direct dribbling ability for weeks now. Hopefully Martial can find form at the business end of the season, just when we need it.
He's been playing well since late December.
Imo this was his best game, did you miss the part about him not working hard? Playing well in the lower level cup games doesn't make him an automatic starter in the league.
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I don't. Rashford isn't a winger.
Martial needs to start every week. He has the ability to just ghost by players like no-one else in the squad can.
looks like what Mourinho did as with Mikhi worked.
The lad is not leaving at this rate.
The lad is not leaving at this rate.
At least he uses his left foot to put in balls into the box something which was missing with Rashford who always opt to cut inside because he doesn't have a left foot(a bit like Valances in this regard).
If Rashford had a left foot to put in balls into the box first time like Martial, he could have also been racking assists.
If Rashford had a left foot to put in balls into the box first time like Martial, he could have also been racking assists.
Strangely enough this get overlooked.
For me Jose is one of those managers that will not play players until they respond to what he expects of them. If this means they don't play, so be it. If they don't respond, irrespective of potential, they be moved on. We've seen this of players that were at Chelsea. Let's hope mentally, he's turned a corner cause ability is there for all to see.
In training, like Mourinho said.You think he hasn't worked hard in his last few games? He clearly has
I don't. Martial will comfortably win that battle because he's better in that position. Rashford should be developed as a centre forward. No idea why we keep giving him 20 mins on the wing when we could give 35 year old Zlatan a rest and give him a few mins up front.
Delighted he played well today and got his goal. Hopefully time for the media to leave this story alone.
I don't think Rashford and Martial are ready to lead the front line for us quite yet. Zlatan gives us more at the moment than Rashford would up top. Two or three years from now is a different thing (and I hope they know that as well). Right now, I think the competition is good for them.
I remember one of the pundits mentioning it and it's not something you'd notice on Tv but his movement really could be better. Always coming towards the ball wanting it at his feet and only very rarely looks to run in behind. Which can make him a bit predictable. He also has a habit of shaping to run, then not fully committing, which can make a decent pass look very poor.
A minor gripe, though. Overall he played well and I'm really pleased he scored. Good to see Mourinho making a fuss of him on his way off too.
A minor gripe, though. Overall he played well and I'm really pleased he scored. Good to see Mourinho making a fuss of him on his way off too.
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