Anthony Martial image 9

Anthony Martial France flag

2018-19 Performances


View full 2018-19 profile

5.5 Season Average Rating
Appearances
38
Goals
12
Assists
3
Yellow cards
2
Status
Not open for further replies.
Wasn't he talking about Rashford?

Yes. But he’s 21 with four seasons experience in the first team, which is a different kind of 21 to, say, Periera, whose lack of experience affords him more leeway, despite being 2 years older!

Again, I’m not saying Rashy needs to go Super Sayain or feck off, I’m just saying that if he’s going to push on and become a WC No9, he needs to start showing it soon. Because he’s been afforded the best conditions and opportunities any breakthrough player of his age could possibly have expected from an elite club. Way, way more in fact. So despite his age, he doesn’t get the same excuses a Rossi or even a Welbeck had. A normal player of his age usually gets excused inconsistency in a large part because he isn’t expected to have gathered a suitable amount of experience, or fully acclimatised to first team football... Rashford can’t say this. He’s been in the first team for near 4 years. He should be ready to push on.

Martial (to get back on track) has a very similar expectation too. They’re both still young, sure, but not green.
 
I hope Ole makes the tough decision of sidelining him until he recovers completely from his injury problem, until the end of the season if needs be.

I get it that we are hardly stacked at the moment, with top 4 very much on the line, but Martial is patiently not fit enough to play properly for a couple of months now, and has had niggles throughout the season before that. It'd do no one any good if the injuries becomes a recurring problem for the rest of his career because we insist on playing him through them now for expedience's sake.
 
Yes. But he’s 21 with four seasons experience in the first team, which is a different kind of 21 to, say, Periera, whose lack of experience affords him more leeway, despite being 2 years older!

Again, I’m not saying Rashy needs to go Super Sayain or feck off, I’m just saying that if he’s going to push on and become a WC No9, he needs to start showing it soon. Because he’s been afforded the best conditions and opportunities any breakthrough player of his age could possibly have expected from an elite club. Way, way more in fact. So despite his age, he doesn’t get the same excuses a Rossi or even a Welbeck had. A normal player of his age usually gets excused inconsistency in a large part because he isn’t expected to have gathered a suitable amount of experience, or fully acclimatised to first team football... Rashford can’t say this. He’s been in the first team for near 4 years. He should be ready to push on.

Martial (to get back on track) has a very similar expectation too. They’re both still young, sure, but not green.

Rashford has been in the first team for 3 years, not 4( he made his debut in feb 2016 I think). And also, he has not always played in his favoured position during the mou years.The one time he played as a striker consistently in the second half of 2017, he carried us through the quarters and semi's in the europa league. The issue here is that neither Alexis nor Lukaku are doing the business, which puts even more spotlight on Martial and Marcus. Also, our midfield creates way less chances for a supposedly top team. No creativity apart from Pogba. Whereas City create like 20 odd chances every game, which affords their forwards more leeway if they fluff their chances. Marcus and Martial are therefore, forced to drop deep to get on the ball, since our midfield is so deep in our half that the only way out is generally a long punt upfront, or a counter started by one of shaw, pogba , martial or marcus. And since our forwards feed off on scraps, their misses become more glaring. I would take Rabiot and Tanguy gladly in the summer if we have a chance.

That said, I don't think Rashford is the No 9 we should depend on if we want to win the PL and the CL. He can be a valuable bench option though.
 
Rashford has been in the first team for 3 years, not 4( he made his debut in feb 2016 I think). And also, he has not always played in his favoured position during the mou years.The one time he played as a striker consistently in the second half of 2017, he carried us through the quarters and semi's in the europa league. The issue here is that neither Alexis nor Lukaku are doing the business, which puts even more spotlight on Martial and Marcus. Also, our midfield creates way less chances for a supposedly top team. No creativity apart from Pogba. Whereas City create like 20 odd chances every game, which affords their forwards more leeway if they fluff their chances. Marcus and Martial are therefore, forced to drop deep to get on the ball, since our midfield is so deep in our half that the only way out is generally a long punt upfront, or a counter started by one of shaw, pogba , martial or marcus. And since our forwards feed off on scraps, their misses become more glaring. I would take Rabiot and Tanguy gladly in the summer if we have a chance.

That said, I don't think Rashford is the No 9 we should depend on if we want to win the PL and the CL. He can be a valuable bench option though.

I agree with all of that. Absolutely. I’m not trying to shade Marcus & Martial per say, I’m just pointing out that, given their relative status in the side as quasi-established mainstays, we should be expecting a sizeably step up in consistency now, if we’re going to rely on them as the basis of our attack for years to come...

And if that doesn’t happen soon (in say, the next 2 seasons) we’re going to have to consider other options.

I don’t think that’s asking too much of them. It’s just being realistic.
 
I find it encouraging for Tony to score a scrappy goal right in front of the keeper. He needs to add more of those, which Ole has mentioned before in constructive criticism of Martial.

Yeah, and it was a brilliant finish in the end, because so many players would feck it up. His processing speed for solving those kind of situations is just so high, in many ways it's almost like he's secretly a robot.

He had another great one against Sunderland once. Sadly the angle and video quality makes it look too simple, but the difficulty level and quick problem solving skills required to pull off a chip with your wrong foot in a situation like that is extremely high.

 
Last edited:
His off the ball movement (or lack of) really annoys me. He won't hit the heights that he could until he improves that part of his game. Makes it easy on defenders.

Thought he played a few tidy passes in to Shaw, couple of nice runs and a good finish today .To say he was poor is off the mark.
 
Chap is coming back from an injury which it seems he still hasn’t shaken and people are making idiotic opinions without considering the context. I’m not sure what people expect, he’s one of our most talented players and when played under Mourinho or Ole consistently has delivered important goals
 
He's a good player, very calm in front of goal generally and his instinctive finishes are very very good. I really like him as a player, he does frustrate me though as too often, he doesn't get into goal scoring positions and doesn't make enough runs behind. If he can add that I feel he can become a quality player.

Think he might do very well as a 9 if he can add those runs seems to link up very well with players generally.

Doesn't help him or rashford though that we create so few opportunities, other top teams create so many more chances for their forward players. The lack of these created chances mean that the focus is on rashford and martial specifically to finish the few they get or create something magical every game
 
Thought he was good in the first half yesterday and looked like scoring. His movement is getting much better, making longer runs into space.
 
I find it encouraging for Tony to score a scrappy goal right in front of the keeper. He needs to add more of those, which Ole has mentioned before in constructive criticism of Martial.
I like that goal as well, showed fight, determination and his usual quick reaction. All things considered I though he had a good game, all the hysteria about him having a bad game are bizarre. He was a threat whenever he had the ball, granted it wasnt a lot but that was a midfield issue. He made runs during the game too. The first goal for example, the space for Shaw's through ball doesnt open up if Martial doesnt make a run outside that kept the attention of the full back and one other player IIRC.
 
Another thing I liked was the number of times he was in the box yesterday. Didn't come short that much.
 
You see the passes he was making at the start of the game? I can't wait to see those as a deep lying false nine who gets the ball to feet & aims to play balls directly to the wider strikers or takes the defence on himself.

He is a bit too easy to read at LW because his options are usually there for all to see in advance.
His link up play is very underrated and he can hold off a man and spin. I don't see what we could lose by playing Rashford LW/LF and Martial central. Rash is already inclined to running the channels and playing off the shoulder when central so not much will change in his game. Infact his running in behind could be put to better use from the side. Martial is more refined in his touch and superior finisher in the box whilst also capable of carrying it from deep with the pitch infront. Until we get a RW I'd be very interested to see what could happen.
 
We have scored three more goals than Spurs have this season, despite our catastrophic start, and we finished above them last season (and still might this!)

You’re talking as if Kane is playing in some inherently superior cosmic goal scoring powerhouse, based on virtually nothing. Not to mention that when both have played in the same England set up, Kane has managed 22 goals in 37 to Rashfords 6 in 31.

There’s no shame in conceding that Kane is better. He’s older for one, and hasn’t been shifted about positionally as much. But he’s notably a level above Rash at present, and began to show it at this age. And when he did, he did it without the benefit of 4 whole seasons as a first teamer behind him!

I’m not saying Rashford needs to prove himself the second coming of Dennis Law by the end of May, or else. But he also can’t spend another season, let alone two, at the same level he is now, and still expect to be given the same “Yung & Lernin” leeway he currently enjoys.

I want him to be our No10. He’s one of us. But in order to earn that, he needs that big jump to prolific. A jump every truly great striker makes. This isn’t remotely controversial.

This.

Also, I see the biggest difference between the likes of Martial, Rashford and Kane is one of temperament. Martial doesn't always look 100% committed while Rashford in some ways is 'too' committed.

With Kane everything he does is geared around efficiency and being clinical and effective. Rashford particularly (sorry know this is martial thread) needs to learn from this and concentrate on being efficient and effective, and less in letting the Ronaldo comparisons go to his head. If he doesn't (and martial doesn't) they are not going to make it here long term. Much as i would like both of them to, no axe to grind here.
 
Last edited:
I also would like to see Martial play centrally. At first I was content with him on the wing but that was also because I thought Ole would have him much closer to goal despite starting as LF but that hasn't been the case and he's been player as a winger who mostly hugs the touchline.

Out of all our attacking players Martial is the most dangerous closer to goal and inside the box because of his better touch, technical abilities and finishing(I'm not including Mata in this given he's doesn't get played much and lack pace and strength).

Lukaku and Rashford have been given fair crack at playing centrally but I'd also like Martial to be played more centrally. Not as a targetman(Lukaku during Mourinho time) or a hassler like Rashford does for Ole but more like a half 9 who drop deeper and get involved in play. Let Rashford do most of the running in behind coming from the side while Martial play the striker with the ball. All in all Martial needs to get on the ball closer to goal more often than he does. I believe a shift in position is necessary for him.

Playing far away from goal with his abilities is a complete waste. His finishing is being wasted by asking him to provide width for us. Get him to play more centrally.
 
He needs to study his movements in and around the box. We could create lot more chances if he just have the vision to attack the space. Lots and lots of times I have seen luke shaw on the ball in high areas and he just stands there high and wide while there is ample space to get in behind full backs or go behind and between full backs and cb's. His positioning is something one would take in a possession based creative team and not a quick counter attacking team. Ole has to work on his movements a lot to make it tick just like he is working on Rashford individually.
 
Martial has been here for close to 4 years now. I honestly think he has not improved at all since he joined us. His first season was his best for us and since then he has been inconsistent throughout. Do you guys agree? And if so why do you think he has not improved?
 
Martial has been here for close to 4 years now. I honestly think he has not improved at all since he joined us. His first season was his best for us and since then he has been inconsistent throughout. Do you guys agree? And if so why do you think he has not improved?

Under a manager like Mourinho, no one improved, but yeah he could improve a lot more if he just showed some intelligence and focussed his energies in studying and improving movements.
 
He doesnt even come close ability wise to Sterling, Sane, Mane, Hazard and Salah does he?

I mean, he plays on the left with Pogba and Shaw, which should get the best out of him.

People wants a new RW, but I think we need an upgrade on LW as well. Badly
 
Martial has been here for close to 4 years now. I honestly think he has not improved at all since he joined us. His first season was his best for us and since then he has been inconsistent throughout. Do you guys agree? And if so why do you think he has not improved?

He's impressed whenever given a string of games to work himself into form. That unfortunately never came under Mourinho and even when his opportunity came, he was sitting in the left back's lap man marking the opposing fullback to do anything of worth in the attack.
 
He doesnt even come close ability wise to Sterling, Sane, Mane, Hazard and Salah does he?

I mean, he plays on the left with Pogba and Shaw, which should get the best out of him.

People wants a new RW, but I think we need an upgrade on LW as well. Badly
WUM or dumb?
 
Same old Martial thread debate. Have a look through.

Anthony Martial is a good player, with a lot of potential. But no more than that. Will produce few flashy moments every few games... but you can't look at this guy with any confidence to suggest that he is improving his game. In my opinion, his game has got worst since his first season. His movement is dreadful, dreadful. he cannot cross. He doesn't score many goals. He doesn't inspire the team.

Someone on here compared him to Son, Hazard, Mane, Sane and said he isn't anywhere near as influential, or as consistent as those guys. He isn't, and why some on here seem to find that so difficult to admit, even after him being at United for some time now, just baffles me. He has limitations to his game that he needs to address, because he will not inspire us to anything on his current form. When is he going to get hold of a few games and lead for us? When? Against Fulham away????

Lot's of potential, but let's stop finding excuses for him. He needs to improve, or we look elsewhere, because you cannot tell me that is the standard that Man Utd now expect from their forwards.

Top forwards win matches, regularly, and fire their team to compete in top competitions. Does Martial look like such a player?
 
WUM or dumb?

LW isn't a priority atm but his point isn't particularly wrong. All those he's mentioned have shown a lot, lot more then Martial has over the last few years. On a pure technical point I think he's a tier below those.
 
He doesnt even come close ability wise to Sterling, Sane, Mane, Hazard and Salah does he?

I mean, he plays on the left with Pogba and Shaw, which should get the best out of him.

People wants a new RW, but I think we need an upgrade on LW as well. Badly
If RW is upgraded this summer it will be LW the next. You’re right.
 
LW isn't a priority atm but his point isn't particularly wrong. All those he's mentioned have shown a lot, lot more then Martial has over the last few years. On a pure technical point I think he's a tier below those.
I guess that's where we'll have to disagree. I think Martial is as good technically as all of those players mentioned, and actually technically stronger than a couple. I feel his limitations come through a lack of coherency in our system, which is improving under Ole, but isn't quite there yet.

Just as an example, 4-5 months ago, we had people (mainly morons) spouting tosh about Pogba being comparable to Toreirra and fecking Henderson. This was not because Pogba was a bad player, or was limited technically, it was simply because the system was not getting the best from him. I feel that next season, we'll see a different Martial because we'll be seeing a different Man Utd.
 
Same old Martial thread debate. Have a look through.

Anthony Martial is a good player, with a lot of potential. But no more than that. Will produce few flashy moments every few games... but you can't look at this guy with any confidence to suggest that he is improving his game. In my opinion, his game has got worst since his first season. His movement is dreadful, dreadful. he cannot cross. He doesn't score many goals. He doesn't inspire the team.

Someone on here compared him to Son, Hazard, Mane, Sane and said he isn't anywhere near as influential, or as consistent as those guys. He isn't, and why some on here seem to find that so difficult to admit, even after him being at United for some time now, just baffles me. He has limitations to his game that he needs to address, because he will not inspire us to anything on his current form. When is he going to get hold of a few games and lead for us? When? Against Fulham away????

Lot's of potential, but let's stop finding excuses for him. He needs to improve, or we look elsewhere, because you cannot tell me that is the standard that Man Utd now expect from their forwards.

Top forwards win matches, regularly, and fire their team to compete in top competitions. Does Martial look like such a player?

This would be a good post if he hadn't already done it this very season where he and Pogba saved Mourinho's job for a month straight until he finally got the sack. Didn't he score in 4-5 straight games, including two against Chelsea? I find it amusing whenever I hear of the Man Utd standard when the team as a whole is pretty bang average and performs like it. This isn't SAF's United, and Martial is far from being the reason. He's one of the few I would keep on this team if I wanted to get back anywhere close to a winning era.
 
He's impressed whenever given a string of games to work himself into form. That unfortunately never came under Mourinho and even when his opportunity came, he was sitting in the left back's lap man marking the opposing fullback to do anything of worth in the attack.

Probably had his best United form under Jose in his first season. Lad fought like heck to nail down a starting berth ahead of Rashford. Then injuries and other interruptions caused him to fall back again.
He has it in him to work harder but for whatever reasons it doesn’t always happen. Currently carrying a niggle which would obviously affect his game.
 
Probably had his best United form under Jose in his first season. Lad fought like heck to nail down a starting berth ahead of Rashford. Then injuries and other interruptions caused him to fall back again.
He has it in him to work harder but for whatever reasons it doesn’t always happen. Currently carrying a niggle which would obviously affect his game.

I think that was the second season under Jose. If I remember right, Martial had his worst season the first year Mourinho was in charge, which was when his scandal broke out and he fell out of the starting XI after his solid first season at the club.
 
He has all the ability in the world except the mental aspect. Doesn’t understand off the ball movement. Always used to cut in and coach s have been working with him on going outside which he has improved a lot on. Problem now is he always goes outside never cuts back in. Always comes short for the pass to feet.
 
Utter rubbish. Both him & Rashford struggle because there is absolutely no one who is creating chances for them. Instead they aim to make chances for themselves by taking on the defence by dribbling at them.

The only clear cut chance we got today was from Shaw providing a pass that none of our midfielders did the whole game.

Aguero is a better player than our strikers but no way would he score the same amount if goals because no one would create chances for him like silva, sterling, De bryune, sane & mahrez does for him.

This. Context matters. Our midfield was play was simply a disaster.
 
This. Context matters. Our midfield was play was simply a disaster.

Its not just that other game - it always is.

It isnt just our midfield either, our fullbacks have been rubbish for years now except shaw who has only started to provide some attacking support further forward.

Apart from player tiredness from Ole's initial counter pressing start - the thing I believe that has got us in the back foot recently is the fact that ever since the first PSG game - teams know that our midfield can be easily countered to provide minimal oppurtunity to our attackers. The PSG game we won again was mostly the work of our attackers by ourselves again.

Ole doesnt have much choice until the window to improve this - he doesnt exactly have games to try out new players with ease either. He is talking about Garner, Gomes and hopefully we can see a bit of Fred soon too. All are better creative players than what we have right at this moment.
 
I guess that's where we'll have to disagree. I think Martial is as good technically as all of those players mentioned, and actually technically stronger than a couple. I feel his limitations come through a lack of coherency in our system, which is improving under Ole, but isn't quite there yet.

Just as an example, 4-5 months ago, we had people (mainly morons) spouting tosh about Pogba being comparable to Toreirra and fecking Henderson. This was not because Pogba was a bad player, or was limited technically, it was simply because the system was not getting the best from him. I feel that next season, we'll see a different Martial because we'll be seeing a different Man Utd.
We don't have and likely will not have a system next season either.....
 
This would be a good post if he hadn't already done it this very season where he and Pogba saved Mourinho's job for a month straight until he finally got the sack. Didn't he score in 4-5 straight games, including two against Chelsea? I find it amusing whenever I hear of the Man Utd standard when the team as a whole is pretty bang average and performs like it. This isn't SAF's United, and Martial is far from being the reason. He's one of the few I would keep on this team if I wanted to get back anywhere close to a winning era.
This. That guy chats a lot on nonsense regarding martial- I wouldn't waste my time reply to him.
We just had 4 players reaching 10+ goals which happened like 6/7 times for any team in the PL era . One of which was 2012/13 the last time we won the league. Whether people likes it or not we're not the United that was challenging for the PL yet and squad has clear holes in 3/4 vital positions yet some will have you believe the likes of Martial and Rashford is holding us back. What a nonsense. Btw no-one ever said their perfect.
 
Last edited:
I think it will change game by game but the most important I would imagine is freedom. I don't think he has a fixed philosophy
So far, you're definitely right. I can't imagine he doesn't have a system in mind, at least for the smaller teams, for next season.
 
Under a manager like Mourinho, no one improved, but yeah he could improve a lot more if he just showed some intelligence and focussed his energies in studying and improving movements.

He just need to watch CRonaldo's movement in the box. Best in the business.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.