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2017-18 Performances

View full 2017-18 profile

6.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
45
Goals
11
Assists
11
Yellow cards
1
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pocco said:
Why would two managers drop Martial? There's no conspiracy, there has to be a reason. Either he's not as good as we think, the managers just dislike him for some reason or both coaches want to see something in particular from him (which we don't know about) before they'll trust him.

And I'm not inventing theories. What I'm saying is a common occurrence in football, particularly with talented youngsters. Sometimes they need reigning in.
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You just called a poster daft because he accurately summarised a manager's response in a press conference.

Then you create straw man arguments about conspiracies. People are allowed disagree with a mangers decision without being dismissed as a conspiracy theorist. Perhaps you need reigning in yourself.
 
pocco said:
Why would two managers drop Martial? There's no conspiracy, there has to be a reason. Either he's not as good as we think, the managers just dislike him for some reason or both coaches want to see something in particular from him (which we don't know about) before they'll trust him.

And I'm not inventing theories. What I'm saying is a common occurrence in football, particularly with talented youngsters. Sometimes they need reigning in.
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It is strange that Deschamps says he is probably more effective starting a game than coming on as a sub (I guess that has been his experience in the French team) but what we have seen this season so far is him being very effective when coming on as a sub. There is also the fact that in both sides he currently has big opposition (Rashford here and a long list of french attackers).
 
pocco said:
Do you not realise how daft you sound? You've been banging on about Mourinho having some vendetta against him and now Deschamps? Haven't you thought "hang on a minute, perhaps there is a reason why 2 managers aren't playing him"?

I rate Martial as much as anyone but sometimes, as outsiders, you have to read between the lines and accept there may be reasons for these things that we are not privy to. Martials body language at times last session worried me as a fan of his and it's therefore not beyond the realms of possibility for me that he may have/had an attitude problem, or at least lost focus on some way.

There's no other reason for 2 managers to handle one of their best young players this way.
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He didn't look quite right last season but both Mourinho and Smalling has been praising him for his work this year.
 
Never before have i seen so much moaning that one of our players isn't included in a national squad :lol:

Suits us fine to keep him fresh and avoid international injury
 
Smores said:
Never before have i seen so much moaning that one of our players isn't included in a national squad :lol:

Suits us fine to keep him fresh and avoid international injury
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Serial Martial overraters can't handle that others might not think the same.
yeah I know he's been good lately before anyone starts
 
Smores said:
Never before have i seen so much moaning that one of our players isn't included in a national squad :lol:

Suits us fine to keep him fresh and avoid international injury
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You have to look at it from the player's point of view. Being an international is a big deal and add pedigree to a player.

Most players want to represent their country on the world stage. For someone like Martial who's lost his place in the NT due to his poor last season, being recalled after his recent from would further boost his confidence which is a good thing for us.
 
He certainly has his sources. Was the first to say Pogba could be out for ages. Turns out, he's right. Also said there were fears Mendy had done his ACL... was right too.Let's hope he's right again.
 
Santoryo said:
You have to look at it from the player's point of view. Being an international is a big deal and add pedigree to a player.

Most players want to represent their country on the world stage. For someone like Martial who's lost his place in the NT due to his poor last season, being recalled after his recent from would further boost his confidence which is a good thing for us.
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Who says he's not confident? He doesn't look like he's lacking in confidence to me.

One could quite easily argue it'll keep him focused on improving to win his place in the future.
 
pascell said:
If something isn't broke, why fix it? We're doing fine as things stand in rotating Martial and Rashford, it helps keep them fresh which will benefit us at the back end of the season also. Matas stats will start reflecting his performances soon enough, it's only around the corner imo.
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True enough, I guess. But if you don't keep pushing for improvement in the PL you tend to go off the boil sooner or later. Let's not forget we've yet to come up against a really good opponent. It would be very harsh (and inaccurate) to describe Mata as a passenger, but in a game against City or Chelsea there's surely an argument to get as much goal and assist threat onto the pitch as possible.
 
InfiniteBoredom said:
I think a few things needed to be said to prevent the same tired old tripes being spouted in this thread:

'Martial FC' have it in against Rashford

No, there are some who rates Rashford, some don't. But besides a very few, anyone would be glad if Rashford makes it to be a top class player. The kid is homegrown, has fantastic attitude and already contributed a fair share to the club since his senior debut. No one hates him or wants him to fail.

'Martial FC' value his development above the welfare of the club

This is a figment of the detractors' imagination. People want Martial in the team because they believe his inclusion will be for the good of the club. They believe that for both the short and long term having and developing an attacker of his potential and calibre will help Utd win things. And some, I'm on of them, believe that if he's not getting a fair shake here then it'd be justified for him to go elsewhere should he believes that's the way to realise his potential, like Pogba did, and that'd be a huge shame for us.

By all means, keep discussing the pros and cons of his game, what he brings to the team, but these baseless and scurrilous accusations do not help the conversation, and only bring about animosity and cheap point scoring.
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This is a great post. I'm in the 'think they're equally amazing and that it's bloody cruel that we're having to choose between them' camp. I tend to rate all our players highly and don't like comparing them because it's counterproductive, drives opinion to extremes (he's shit or he's the best thing since sliced Messi), and doesn't have that much to do with the way football really works most of the time. So i'm neutral with regard to the Rashford/Martial debate. But all of these things are definitely happening on the caf at the moment and it's a waste of time.

Worth noting that there are also similar sorts of unhelpful comments on the Rashford side of things: 'Rashford fans are blinded by the fact that he's home-grown' and 'Rashford fans have it in for Martial.' Equally pointless.
 
His dribbling style is, and I hate to say it, very reminiscent of Messi when he was at his best as a dribbler. (For me, to be clear, that was around 2009-2011, when he wasn't quite as much about pace as when he was a youngster breaking through, but when dribbling was still the centrepiece of his game, not goals.)

Very tight control of the ball. Little bursts of acceleration used more than raw pace. Actively seeks out the tighter gaps rather than the spaces, in order to exploit the confusion between defenders sharing those gaps. Very good at riding the little touches defenders manage to get on the ball - his best dribbles rarely completely elude opposition feet, but those feet never manage to make enough meaningful contact with the ball to actually disrupt the dribble. Which has always been true of Messi too.

Of course, the thing Messi does/did is to simultaneously remain so aware of the pitch around him that at any point in the dribble he could slip off a little reverse pass, through ball or chip. Which was what turned him from figuratively unstoppable into literally unstoppable. Martial might get better at that, or he might not - Messi is godlike, after all. Either way, it doesn't really matter - I'm not really making a point here, just rambling.
 
Great that he's fit for tomorrow if true. Even better he's not going on international duty. Would like for him to be selected for WC of course but he can skip this international week as far as I'm concerned.
 
I agree with those that think he's less bothered about the rotation than the Caf is. At the moment, at least.
 
What did people expect? Rashford is first choice. None of you have a clue what happens in training and the actual tactics and drills that take place. Martial is talented we all know that. Mourinho doesn't dislike him or anything.
 
Can't even be bothered getting angry about it anymore.
 
haram said:
What did people expect? Rashford is first choice. None of you have a clue what happens in training and the actual tactics and drills that take place. Martial is talented we all know that. Mourinho doesn't dislike him or anything.
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Yeah but we have a clue what happens in matches and in matches Martial is better.
 
haram said:
What did people expect? Rashford is first choice. None of you have a clue what happens in training and the actual tactics and drills that take place. Martial is talented we all know that. Mourinho doesn't dislike him or anything.
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Nor do you. We all see what happens on the pitch though and Martial > Rashford over there.
 
He will get at least 10 minutes today. Calm down.
 
snk123 said:
Nor do you. We all see what happens on the pitch though and Martial > Rashford over there.
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I'm aware of that. Do you not think Mourinho does see what happens in training though? That he does know what he actually wants? You think he picks Rashford for banter? Mourinho sees what happens on the pitch as well, give it a rest.
 
I find it bizarre how some people are so far up Mourinho's arse that they rationalize and excuse absolutely everything he does.

It's almost like a cult or something. These people seem completely unable to think for themselves, and will follow their dear leader to the edge of the world.
 
Borden said:
I find it bizarre how some people are so far up Mourinho's arse that they rationalize and excuse absolutely everything he does.

It's almost like a cult or something.
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Yeah I wonder how Mourinho can justify his team selection considering we have won every game bar one. Give it a rest.
 
Borden said:
I find it bizarre how some people are so far up Mourinho's arse that they rationalize and excuse absolutely everything he does.

It's almost like a cult or something. These people seem completely unable to think for themselves, and will follow their dear leader to the edge of the world.
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And they have the gall to call out those who think Martial deserves to start.
 
haram said:
What did people expect? Rashford is first choice. None of you have a clue what happens in training and the actual tactics and drills that take place. Martial is talented we all know that. Mourinho doesn't dislike him or anything.
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You keep trotting this shit out because you like Rashford better, and then try to play it off like you just worship at Jose's alter, Martial has been much better than Rashford on the LW for the last month, it's as simple as that.
 
Borden said:
I find it bizarre how some people are so far up Mourinho's arse that they rationalize and excuse absolutely everything he does.

It's almost like a cult or something. These people seem completely unable to think for themselves, and will follow their dear leader to the edge of the world.
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Yap. And they call inhabitants of this thread the Kagawa cult reborn. These people have never take a look in the mirror.
 
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