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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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Baxter said:
In regards to the wingers, if you were facing a team surely you'd fear Martial and Mhiki more than Rashford and Lingard. Even if they are not at their best it made no sense to leave them out so long.
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Not true especially for this case. Martial had been way off form than he was almost invisible. He is not an established enough a a player to guarantee game winner on his off day. Mkhi did have similar problem in his first Bundesliga season. He's a wonderful player in form but also quite sensitive to be psyched out of game.Mentality is important in pro football. We United should know better seeing how SAF managed the team and the drop in quality under a the clueless Moyes as Giggs put doesn't understand how a big club run.

Playing ineffective players like Lingard and Rashford the winger may not win you the game, but playing a player who can't concentrate in the game may cost you the game. Hopefully we see the end of those 2 scenario and having the starting line up with hungry and most talented players.
 
I think that last season we over-relied on him and ended up overplaying him followed by little offseason what with the Euros, probably a bit burnt out as he is still very young. With his off-the-pitch romantic turbulence on top of this its understandable how his form was poor and Jose was right to take him out of the firing line once it became clear that his form wasn't improving. He gave him chances here and there to see if he looks recovered and this Cup game was one of them. Coming so soon after Jose's pointed comments about competition for places it was great to see Tony respond to this with his hungriest performance this season. He still lacks some sharpness, especially with weight of passes but that will come with a run of games. What was important was to take his chances and earn his place in the side which he certainly has done by scoring a brace of goals, showing that he still has his goal scoring instinct. Both were real fox in the box goals, it will be a great boost to the side having Martial back in form.
 
I cannot describe my happiness when I saw him finally go outside a defender and win a free-kick on the corner of the box in the first half. Think the West Ham player was Obiang.

Pure joy.
 
I am happy for him. I think he feels the pressure, but I am also optimistic that he is able to deal with it. Fantastic performance which should give him self-confidence.
 
Very happy for him and to think he could have scored more goals too. He still needs to work big time on his shooting cause the way he strikes the ball is very awkward.
 
I feel with a fully firing Martial, most of our recent home draws would've been wins. We need him and Mikhi starting.
 
The way he shielded the ball with his left foot before passing it to Martial for our third goal so that defender can't knick it out or tackle him without giving away a penalty was a brilliant move.

Pure class.

EDIT: goddammit i walked in the wrong thread!
 
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The real Martial turned up tonight, so pleasing to see him hungry for goals and making those sort of runs. Tap ins at the back post are something we need to do more of!

Much prefer those hard low balls across goal than stupid chipped high to the back post.
 
He is a joy to watch when he's running at defenders like that. I hope he continues with this form vs Everton and Spurs.
 
Fracture90 said:
The way he shielded the ball with his left foot before passing it to Martial for our third goal so that defender can't knick it out or tackle him without giving away a penalty was a brilliant move.

Pure class.
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Wouldn't be too happy if I was one of the other players watching my teammate pass to himself.
 
Great to see him performing after some of the criticism he's received recently, needs to start against Everton.
 
Played more of an inside forward, much like micky on the other side.

Instructed to or not, he done less defensive work and stayed up the pitch waiting for counter attacks. It was Carrick who often stepped in the space behind him and did the dirty work.

He also seemed less fatigued when receiving the ball, because he wasn't spent out changing the ball backwards.
 
Rumours PSG are going to be in for him in the next transfer window. Really hope he is happy here and can nail down that LW/ST spot now.
 
BringNaniBack said:
Rumours PSG are going to be in for him in the next transfer window. Really hope he is happy here and can nail down that LW/ST spot now.
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Says he has no plans to leave, agent says he same think and that he's happy. It's not like he has a clause. Pretty sure he isn't going anywhere.
 
Best performance this season for him. Chuffed. Desperately needed those goals. Hopefully he kicks on now.

The second I saw the line up yesterday, I knew we'd perform.
 
He was fired up last night from the word go. You could see it in the way he was running at defenders.
 
Thank God he came back!

That was last seasons form. Finally looking at running at defenders. He run at 2 defenders from inside our own half and I thought he had no chance but he moved the ball almost hypnotically and carried us up the field.

I'd have to start him Sunday and hope this run continues.
 
Hoping this is the start of him coming back into form.

We'd be in a much better position in the league if he had been.
 
Shubham Ahuja said:
He performs better without Pogba. With Pogba in the team, it's usually the left winger who has to defend more. This spoils Martial's game.

I personally think he should start upfront against Everton. Jagielka and Williams might prefer facing Zlatan and Seamus Coleman is no slouch.
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Martial destroyed Coleman last season and left him for dead in terms of speed. Ibra was good yesterday and deserves to start next game.
 
Rossa said:
Martial destroyed Coleman last season and left him for dead in terms of speed. Ibra was good yesterday and deserves to start next game.
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Had totally forgotten about that! However, Coleman is a strong character and will want to get one back. Hopefully Martial starts and we'll know if it was a true reflection.
 
Thought he looked brilliant vs West Ham.

Do you guys and girls think his best position in LW or as a Striker?
 
kouroux said:
Very happy for him and to think he could have scored more goals too. He still needs to work big time on his shooting cause the way he strikes the ball is very awkward.
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Have been vocing this for sometimes now, even saying someone like Memphis has better shooting technique
UnitedBoy said:
Played more of an inside forward, much like micky on the other side.

Instructed to or not, he done less defensive work and stayed up the pitch waiting for counter attacks. It was Carrick who often stepped in the space behind him and did the dirty work.

He also seemed less fatigued when receiving the ball, because he wasn't spent out changing the ball backwards.
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Or we don't waste possession much via Rooney, Mkhi and Zlatan leading to us not have to chase back the whole field like at the weekend and better conserve energy. Score early in both halves instead of conceding so early would help too mentally.
TheReligion said:
I was being silly. He did well out wide last night. I still would like to see him centrally though.
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Actually he made quite some good good run centrally. Not necessarily need to play central to be influential, score many goal or focal point of attack as modern wing forward has changed football. That's huge difference than his last few games this season, when he was very poor in movement off the ball, very static out wide.
kafta said:
I feel with a fully firing Martial, most of our recent home draws would've been wins. We need him and Mikhi starting.
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Absolutely. Imagine how our season was if we didn't "waste" money on him on deadline day! Martial is supposed to become that special edge for a top 4 and title contenders. Problem is our base under LVG was not good enough. We didn't have stability under Mourinho yet and Martial was terribly off form himself.
 
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Might be a reach, but earlier today he replaced his Facebook cover photo with a shot of him from the back, showcasing the #11. Could he finally be over his number tantrums?
 
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