To get the ball you have to move around, to get the ball over the pitch, you have to be in movement. When he is one of the most used passing combos on the pitch, it certainly doesn't indicate that his movement is dross.
That could mean what you're saying but at the same time, to me it just says he's getting the ball a lot. Yes you can credit his positioning and movement, but that's just the virtue of our style.
Every single one of our players see the ball a lot during games. We don't penetrate or play through the middle. That might be a Mourinho thing but clearly, Carrick and Herrera and even Pogba have been tasked with recycling possession and closing attacks. Thus their only option is to pass to the wide players, hence why Martial, Valencia, Miki and even Darmian (whenever he plays) see the ball the majority of the time.
I haven't based an entire argument around anything. I've proven 3 things, where two of those things are pretty fecking obvious.
1: Martial moves around, a lot. See passes received.
2: It depends on opposition. See Lingard against Sunderland vs Lingards two matches against West Ham.
3: It depends on defensive responsibility and who you are playing with.
You haven't proven anything, those are your personal opinions based on a picture and two game samples (of which I will give you benefit of the doubt on) because Martial moving to receive a lot of passes does not mean good movement. Or rather I should say, it does not indicate he can not improve or vary his movement.
If I bring up those 'Carrick covers the most distance' stats, does that mean he's the most valuable player to us defensively? No, that just means he covers a lot of ground. Intensity of runs, tackles, interceptions, being on the front foot, making intelligent decisions, on and off the ball pressure etc are all things that should be taken into consideration. These are things when I mean variation.
It's the same for Martial.
How many times haven't we seen Pogba knock one over the defenders, only to look up and see that Zlatan never started the run ?
It happens. Players can't constantly make runs. It doesn't mean that the movement isn't good enough.
You claimed the following
So do you have any measured stats to bring up ?
Ibra is the poorest example of lack of movement in the squad because he is absolutely the worst due to age/playing style/position/natural instincts.
Of all the other forward players, I'm not saying they're better than Martial overall (far from it) but Rashford (raw penetration/channel running), Miki (central penetration/variation of play), Lingard (off the ball sprints/stretching of play and even Mata (timing of runs) offer something different and if harsh 'better'.
Again I've said I don't have stats because I don't think they exist and I'm not really bothered to find numbers on something everyone can see.
Look, Martial is legitimately our most talented player with huge potential and I wish to see him further forward instead of the wing. Whilst he's doing a 'job' on the wing, we can forgive inconsistent performances (especially with the lack of game time) but he shouldn't be given a pass on constructive criticism. We just hope for better/more varied movement on and off the ball.
If you still don't buy that then well we'll have to agree to disagree or why don't you make a poll and have a fun statistical (and entirely subjective) way to see what do the majority of posters here think because I assure you, my view is neither controversial or unpopular.
back.
