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2017-18 Performances


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6.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
45
Goals
11
Assists
11
Yellow cards
1
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Ineffective until his goal and that seemed to fire him up for the rest of the game.

If I’m being picky then I do think he can be a touch predictable when cutting in and he needs to go at players with pace. He often takes too long with the ball at his feet and gets crowded out.

Having a very good season though.
 
@GifLord any chance of the Martial outpacing Yedlin gif? Supposed to be near the start of the 2nd half.
Not sure if it’s the same moment but the bit where he chased him back and tackled him was end of the first half. Either way they’re both bloody quick.
 
Ineffective until his goal and that seemed to fire him up for the rest of the game.

If I’m being picky then I do think he can be a touch predictable when cutting in and he needs to go at players with pace. He often takes too long with the ball at his feet and gets crowded out.

Having a very good season though.
I personally disagree. He goes outside onto his left just as often as he cuts inside.
 
Nice game for him. Looked really happy with his reception when going off. Looked like he was happy for Zlatan then too (body language expert alert).
 
Played very well IMO. You can hear people at the ground get noisy and excited as soon as he gets the ball, doesnt happen for any other attacker. The only reason he looks a bit predictable is because our passing isn't quick or dynamic enough and the other players doesn't seem to make much space for him to exploit. I know we shouldnt compare ourselves to City but look at them every match they walk the ball into the net at least once, Sane or Sterling get such good passes that they get to go 1 vs 1 often.
 
I don't get your point. I think Mourinho has been correct to not play Rashford on the right.



Sorry, I was just having this discussion in this thread prior to the game. I'll leave it. I got a lot of stick for my opinions already.

My thinking is that your argument has changed, and the real sentiment of it is not thinking Martial should be in the side. After any Rashford goal, or poor Martial display, you would simply state ‘Rashford is simply better, JM isn’t stupid etc’, and that Martial only contributes during ‘a certain context’ of the game. When the discussion to play both was brought up, the response was ‘balance’, now Rashford didn’t perform well for all of 20 mins on the right, you then asked ‘you can see why JM doesn’t play him there’, implying your point all along was that he can’t play there or something.
 
Can we please not go into the Rashford and Martial comparison after this game at least? I've been very guilty of that myself but that's because I genuinely have a belief they both should be starting to begin with. I'm glad Mourinho started both today, and they both contributed a lot to this nice win. Maybe the fact that Zlatan is now available gives Mourinho a bit more freedom in his mind to start them both. Most importantly, Mikhi did not start or play and his terrible form has finally gotten him dropped, it should have been done a while ago already. What I hope for now is that Mourinho doesn't feel it's such a risk to start them both and they can build more chemistry with this front three. I don't want that to get derailed if next game is not as good, this is the formula the team needs to stick with and hopefully that's what is going to happen. They are both too young and talented to be taking playing time away from one another.
 
My thinking is that your argument has changed, and the real sentiment of it is not thinking Martial should be in the side. After any Rashford goal, or poor Martial display, you would simply state ‘Rashford is simply better, JM isn’t stupid etc’, and that Martial only contributes during ‘a certain context’ of the game. When the discussion to play both was brought up, the response was ‘balance’, now Rashford didn’t perform well for all of 20 mins on the right, you then asked ‘you can see why JM doesn’t play him there’, implying your point all along was that he can’t play there or something.

No, my opinions haven't changed. I think Rashford is better for the LW position and I dont think he is a good fit for the RW position. I have however, toned my opinion on Martial down. It was coming across as a bit aggressive to some posters and I was getting into a lot of drawn out debates. I have always said Martial is talented, but had drawbacks in his game which made Rashford the better fit on the left.

I hope that clears things up.
 
No, my opinions haven't changed. I think Rashford is better for the LW position and I dont think he is a good fit for the RW position. I have however, toned my opinion on Martial down. It was coming across as a bit aggressive to some posters and I was getting into a lot of drawn out debates. I have always said Martial is talented, but had drawbacks in his game which made Rashford the better fit on the left.

I hope that clears things up.

Okay, I disagree with the opinion but that certainly clears it up. Thanks.
 
Anyone seen the video he put up of Lukaku,Lingard and Pogba singing the Tony Martial song?
Looked for it.. Couldn't find it. Can you link it?

If it was on Instagram, I thought I saw it and then I couldn't find it on his Instagram posts.

Edit :As soon I posted it, saw it on his Instagram. I'm not that familiar with Instagram, can only see the video when I click on his profile picture. How come it's not in his posts?
 
Looked for it.. Couldn't find it. Can you link it?

If it was on Instagram, I thought I saw it and then I couldn't find it on his Instagram posts.

Edit :As soon I posted it, saw it on his Instagram. I'm not that familiar with Instagram, can only see the video when I click on his profile picture. How come it's not in his posts?
It's on his "instagram story". When someone uploads something onto their story it can only be seen for 24 hours. Works like snapchat stories if you're familiar with that.
 
Can maybe understand about the dribbling. When he did get in that sort of position they did a good job of getting 2 across to him and having a 3rd to sweep up when he shifted it, but there was still some decent dribbles.

What I likes about it was just how he was linking play and putting threatening balls and moves together, he changed his standard way of playing.

That's what people don't get yet, if he doesn't have giffable dribbles in a match then they say he has been ineffective and in the same breath criticise him for not being varied and being too one dimensional/predictable

His link up play has come up leaps and bounds this season and is just as effective as his dribbles so I certainly enjoyed his performance yesterday even if he didn't skin anyone. Just shows he has alot more to his game

A classic example I can give is hazard against us a few weeks back where he didn't dribble anyone but linked up play so well no united player could touch him and was their best player just for that. Now martial didn't play as good as that but he did good enough so he really can turn into our own hazard
 
Along with de Gea and Pogba he's our best talent. Hopefully, with Zlatan back, he gets a run of games alongside Rashford and Lukaku now.
 
Yesterday was just what he needed in terms of completely winning over Mourinho. Tracked back, won tackles, scored such an important goal with a cracking winners header despite his game being a little off until that point.
 
I was looking at Rashford's stats this season and last season so decided to look at Martial too:

This year: 9 starts 8 substitute appearances 7 goals 6 assists.

Last year: 28 starts 14 substitute appearances 8 goals 8 assists.



If you combine him and Rashord, the change from last season to this season looks like this:

Last year (combined): 58 starts, 37 substitute appearances; 19 goals 15 assists.

This year (combined): 21 starts 15 substitute appearances; 14 goals and 12 assists.


Barely a third of our way through the season and they've almost matched last year's output already. Which honestly says as much about last year as it does this year! :lol:
 
Looked for it.. Couldn't find it. Can you link it?

If it was on Instagram, I thought I saw it and then I couldn't find it on his Instagram posts.

Edit :As soon I posted it, saw it on his Instagram. I'm not that familiar with Instagram, can only see the video when I click on his profile picture. How come it's not in his posts?
Yeah it’s Instagrams version of snapchat. They call it an instastory. It’ll vanish in 24hrs of it being put up.
 
That's what people don't get yet, if he doesn't have giffable dribbles in a match then they say he has been ineffective and in the same breath criticise him for not being varied and being too one dimensional/predictable

His link up play has come up leaps and bounds this season and is just as effective as his dribbles so I certainly enjoyed his performance yesterday even if he didn't skin anyone. Just shows he has alot more to his game

A classic example I can give is hazard against us a few weeks back where he didn't dribble anyone but linked up play so well no united player could touch him and was their best player just for that. Now martial didn't play as good as that but he did good enough so he really can turn into our own hazard
Yeah very true. His link up play and his ability to spot a pass have actually always been good but like you said if he isn’t putting in flashy dribbles it’s not noticed as much.

Another thing he never really gets credit for is his tracking back, he’s always been good at it, last year he had Walker in his pocket, the boy is the real deal, if he spots danger he’ll go back with it.

Personally I thought it was a great performance and hopefully we see more of it. Wasn’t mad at that 442 but guess that was just Jose matching them up.
 
Could he mirror his game to Hazard you guys reckon? The biggest difference is their playmaking skills and using of their body.

I've actually noticed the similarities in their play and pointed out some of it here

A classic example I can give is hazard against us a few weeks back where he didn't dribble anyone but linked up play so well no united player could touch him and was their best player just for that. Now martial didn't play as good as that but he did good enough so he really can turn into our own hazard

What do you mean by their biggest difference being play making skills and use of their body?
 
Yeah very true. His link up play and his ability to spot a pass have actually always been good but like you said if he isn’t putting in flashy dribbles it’s not noticed as much.

Another thing he never really gets credit for is his tracking back, he’s always been good at it, last year he had Walker in his pocket, the boy is the real deal, if he spots danger he’ll go back with it.

Personally I thought it was a great performance and hopefully we see more of it. Wasn’t mad at that 442 but guess that was just Jose matching them up.

All true, hope he keeps up this level of performance almost every match so he can be truly indispensable to Jose
 
Not surprised, his work rate has been very good this season. I still don’t understand why we don’t manage to constantly attack via him and constantly put pressure on the other team trying to defend
 
For me, this has been my favourite season of watching him since he's been here. What I like about him is whilst I know about his qualities, it's the things I never thought he would do that's impressed me. He's clearly wanting to improve in even the aspects of the game that contributes to being a better footballer but equally a better team player. That aside, love the headed goal as it was again something that I didn't expect in....
 
Barely a third of our way through the season and they've almost matched last year's output already. Which honestly says as much about last year as it does this year! :lol:
If you do it in terms of minutes (stats according to Transfermarkt):

Last season:
Martial: 8 goals, 8 assists in 2517 minutes
Rashford: 11 goals, 6 assists in 3068 minutes


Total: 19 goals and 14 assists in 5585 minutes

This season:
Martial: 7 goals, 6 assists in 781 minutes
Rashford: 7 goals, 7 assists in 1089 minutes


Total: 14 goals, 13 assists in 1870 minutes

Incredible really :lol:
 
Could it be possible to play Martial as the AM with Rashford on the left and Pereira on the right after Zlatan leaves?
 
Hazard can keep the ball anywhere on the pitch as he had incredible balance and knows how to shield him. That makes him so dangerous.
Yep. Always dribbles with his head up too. Conversely, Martial is ice cool in front of goal. I think at his best he can develop into a sort of halfway house between a Hazard/Ribery player and a wide goalscoring forward.
 
There were times where it felt like he was tracking back for Ashley a bit too much but I think Ashley has been the best LB partner he’s had so far, there were signs of it from his debut after “that goal” but we never persisted.
 
There were times where it felt like he was tracking back for Ashley a bit too much but I think Ashley has been the best LB partner he’s had so far, there were signs of it from his debut after “that goal” but we never persisted.
He's a player who will always look loads better when he has a genuine wide threat making runs from behind him. It just makes the defenders hesitant and once you do that vs Martial you're dead. Him with peak Evra overlapping would have been incredible.
 
People can now see why Mourinho didn't want to play Rashford on the right?
No.

Rashford wasn't great but he was much better than Mkhitarian has been of late. Martial got a goal and he got an assist. Point is to play both given they're better than the other alternatives. I wouldn't mind either playing centrally either.

What 'balance' did we lack today?
 
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No.

Rashford wasn't great but he was much better than Mkhitarian has been of late. Martial got a goal and he got an assist. Point is to play both given they're better than the other alternatives. I wouldn't mind either playing centrally either.

What 'balance' did we lack today?

Mata is better on the right. People have been wanting Rashford on the right. We looked better in th second half when Mourinho changed it. Mata offers a better balance on that side. Rashford is not a better alternative to Mata on the right.
 
Mata is better on the right. People have been wanting Rashford on the right. We looked better in th second half when Mourinho changed it. Mata offers a better balance on that side. Rashford is not a better alternative to Mata on the right.

1. Correlation =/= causation.
2. He asked what balance. Elaborate please.
3. Our front 3 should be fluid. The point is that Martial and Rashford should both play.
 
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