[Ashley R1+O]

I think what is more worrying than his performance is that people don't think that this type of performance is what we've as the norm seen over the last two years. People are acting like this is not the guy who signed a 200K+ a week deal. His work rate, anticipation and general movement off the ball is wretched and has been since he came here. I genuinely have no idea how anybody could speculate where any kind of growth for Martial is going to come from. This is the player we just paid, he's done. Finished, he got the contract of an accomplished and distinguished senior player who is playing a prominent role and he doesn't need to do anything else but ride it out.

What a completely bizarre situation, especially for a club like United who's foundation is built on the complete opposite.

 

[Sterling Archer]

Sloppy. Slow. Not sharp. Basically terrible.

It's a sharp contrast to say, Felipe Anderson, who does half the footwork but gets past his man twice as often with a simple feignt and the puts the ball jnto the box again and again.

Martial just needs to focus on the simple things.

 

[Sayros]

I think what is more worrying than his performance is that people don't think that this type of performance is what we've as the norm seen over the last two years. People are acting like this is not the guy who signed a 200K+ a week deal. His work rate, anticipation and general movement off the ball is wretched and has been since he came here. I genuinely have no idea how anybody could speculate where any kind of growth for Martial is going to come from. This is the player we just paid, he's done. Finished, he got the contract of an accomplished and distinguished senior player who is playing a prominent role and he doesn't need to do anything else but ride it out.

What a completely bizarre situation, especially for a club like United who's foundation is built on the complete opposite.

Your post is more bizarre, I'd say. Not only because he's proven many times that he belongs, but mainly because you're saying a 23 years old is done as a professional footballer. Get a grip, confidence is the issue, not his actual ability. This team as a whole is terrible IMO, and Martial is far from the main issue to do with it. With that being said, it's simply mental that he's given such a contract, and even more mental when you hear of the rumors about Rashford's coming up. Sanchez has totally screwed up the wage structure at this club.

 

[Harry190]

Will cut him some slack today because he was playing alongside Rojo who was pretty much useless on the left. His passing is as shocking as Rashford's heading though.

 

[Silas]

Severe lack of intensity in the way he plays at times. Looks dangerous when he's taking on defenders at real pace, but that's a rarity these days. His passing being shite today didn't help matters either. Not sure if it's a fitness or mentality thing, but I hope Ole can do something about it in one way or another. Still not worried about him coming good though. Also agree with the comments about playing him centrally.

 

[Adnan]

He's not a touch line hugging winger and should be played centrally. He didn't have a good game at all and Ole should rethink how he should use him.

Personally I'd like to see him play centrally behind Lukaku in games we're expected to win. Rashford on the left and Chong on the right, with Pogba and Fred/McTominay playing deeper.

 

[criticalanalysis]

He's not a touch line hugging winger and should be played centrally.

Exactly. His dribbling style and technique is all about small bursts of acceleration and close ball control, which is perfect for playing centrally in tight positions.

However, it's exactly why he's doing so dogsh|te on the wing. He doesn't have the style or intelligence at the moment to adapt his game. He just needs to control the ball, lull the defender in, open his body, push the ball and run. Right now he has the ball so close to his feet, it's almost stuck underneath. Of course he can't generate any space or create good angles to push defenders back or get good leverage on a cross or pass.

Let the boy play in the middle. His hold up play, short passing, touch, turn and eye for goal is just generally all round better than Rashford or Lukaku for the style we want to play now.

It's infuriating seeing Lingard/Mata just occupy the most important space in the middle only for them to lose it, pass it out and hope for a cross or do nothing with it.

 

[Adnan]

Exactly. His dribbling style and technique is all about small bursts of acceleration and close ball control, which is perfect for playing centrally in tight positions.

However, it's exactly why he's doing so dogsh|te on the wing. He doesn't have the style or intelligence at the moment to adapt his game. He just needs to control the ball, lull the defender in, open his body, push the ball and run. Right now he has the ball so close to his feet, it's almost stuck underneath. Of course he can't generate any space or create good angles to push defenders back or get good leverage on a cross or pass.

Let the boy play in the middle. His hold up play, short passing, touch, turn and eye for goal is just generally all round better than Rashford or Lukaku for the style we want to play now.

It's infuriating seeing Lingard/Mata just occupy the most important space in the middle only for them to lose it, pass it out and hope for a cross or do nothing with it.

Couldn't agree more..

Hopefully he's given a chance through the middle, because he does have ability in abundance. I remember the Henry and Luiz Ronaldo comparisons from fans when he first arrived. I'm hoping Ole plays him through the middle behind Lukaku with Rashford and Chong on the flanks.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

Your post is more bizarre, I'd say. Not only because he's proven many times that he belongs, but mainly because you're saying a 23 years old is done as a professional footballer. Get a grip, confidence is the issue, not his actual ability. This team as a whole is terrible IMO, and Martial is far from the main issue to do with it. With that being said, it's simply mental that he's given such a contract, and even more mental when you hear of the rumors about Rashford's coming up. Sanchez has totally screwed up the wage structure at this club.

Calm down. You've just seen the word "finished" and decided to lose your rag and lash out on his behalf thinking I've said his career is over. The framework in which he now fits into the squad is no longer a young growing talent still finding his feet. It is that of somebody who is paid highly and needs to be producing the goods for huge chunks of the season as a mainstay. The transitional leeway you get as a young player to mature is done, gone, finished. The framework isn't going to push him on to be somebody better, to improve anymore. The improvement needs to be introspective and I haven't seen a single factor so far in his United career that shows he has the ability to look inside himself and make himself better.

It is not his fault that the club is rewarding image and potential rather than what they have done. That is on Woodward, but it plays an even more uphill tune to the next four years of Martial's career.

I want to see him turn it around but as I said I haven't seen a single thing so far that makes me think that someone who is now being paid well beyond his match day ability has the mentality to look to professionalism to turn it around. It will take something else, I have no idea what that will be.

Let the boy play in the middle.

It will just be "Omg he's getting no space in there, he can't turn he can't make anything happen, get him back out on the wing in open space where he can thrive!" he's not had very many good games up front for us, certainly not enough to be made to play up front without concern.

 

[Raees]

The guy is just coming back from niggling injuries and had his first 90 minutes in a while, people need to calm down. He contributed to both goals. Also he showed his mentality and toughness during our worst period with Jose, so all those questioning that side of his game are being disingenous. He's the last player we have to worry about.

He had a bad game, clearly not properly match fit. Should still be starting against Barca.

Agreed - should still be starting against Barca, as even out of form, he's holding the ball up better than Lukaku and Rashford.

No getting away from the fact he was poor today and I have never seen his passing be this awful.

He's only managed to complete 2 games since December and he did get injured v PSG - so there is inevitably going to be some ring rust there.. we need to stick with him going into the end of the season, unless you're throwing Greenwood in... he's the only one who in form actually can carry the ball without running into players.

 

[el3mel]

It's not really an excuse, as a professional athlete you're in charge of your mental game as well as your physical shape. In the past, it has been somewhat of a warranted excuse as he was given a very short leash by Mourinho and when he was finally given a chance, both this season and last, he played well and statistically was very impactful with his time on the field. This time, it's not quite as valid because Ole has given him plenty of chances and he is simply not taking them.

Isn't that basically my point?

 

[Sayros]

Calm down. You've just seen the word "finished" and decided to lose your rag and lash out on his behalf thinking I've said his career is over. The framework in which he now fits into the squad is no longer a young growing talent still finding his feet. It is that of somebody who is paid highly and needs to be producing the goods for huge chunks of the season as a mainstay. The transitional leeway you get as a young player to mature is done, gone, finished. The framework isn't going to push him on to be somebody better, to improve anymore. The improvement needs to be introspective and I haven't seen a single factor so far in his United career that shows he has the ability to look inside himself and make himself better.

But that's not what you said in the post I quoted. Talk about moving the goalpost. Read back the post I've quoted of yours and tell me how anyone could interpret it the way you just tried to afterwards. I can only go by what you give me, my man.

Isn't that basically my point?

We got started on this with your point about him being a winger and my reply that he's never been a winger. If you're asking me do we agree there's no excuse for his performance, I'd say we're both in agreement.

 

[The Nani]

Couldn't agree more..

Hopefully he's given a chance through the middle, because he does have ability in abundance. I remember the Henry and Luiz Ronaldo comparisons from fans when he first arrived. I'm hoping Ole plays him through the middle behind Lukaku with Rashford and Chong on the flanks.

I'm beginning to think it's never gonna happen. He is a defender's worst nightmare with the ball at his feet in the center of the pitch. Same as Hazard. No stopping him one on one. I wonder if his performances have dropped off a cliff because he's totally bemused at his wide role. But then he just signed a new contract recently didn't he.

 

[Adnan]

I'm beginning to think it's never gonna happen. He is a defender's worst nightmare with the ball at his feet in the center of the pitch. Same as Hazard. No stopping him one on one. I wonder if his performances have dropped off a cliff because he's totally bemused at his wide role. But then he just signed a new contract recently didn't he.

He's not a winger and never has been. He still should've done better in the game mind. He came through the youth ranks and was coached as a forward at Lyon before his impressive form alerted Monaco.

Playing him centrally would enable us to become more threatening IMO. It would enable us to become more threatening and also become more fluid as a attacking unit. The 4-2-3-1 would have to be considered again and I think that's the best formation currently to get the best out of our players.

 

[OohAahMartial]

Hate to say it, but right now Depay is the better player.

And I don't think Martial will suddenly improve by playing as a #9, think he would be even worse there tbh.

He is no longer a kid and has been here for several years, but seems to be regressing rather than developing. Just doesn't seem to have the mentality to make the step up. He could be upgraded without difficulty. Always has seemed that his off-field affairs have been distracting him.

 

[InfiniteBoredom]

He's not a winger and never has been. He still should've done better in the game mind. He came through the youth ranks and was coached as a forward at Lyon before his impressive form alerted Monaco.

Playing him centrally would enable us to become more threatening IMO. It would enable us to become more threatening and also become more fluid as a attacking unit. The 4-2-3-1 would have to be considered again and I think that's the best formation currently to get the best out of our players.

A 4-1-2-1-2 with Martial in the hole and Rashford/Lukaku playing slightly wide.

Problem is our fullbacks still sucks donkey’s cock when it comes to attacking, so in essence our strikers will turn into glorified wingers.

 

[The Nani]

He's not a winger and never has been. He still should've done better in the game mind. He came through the youth ranks and was coached as a forward at Lyon before his impressive form alerted Monaco.

Playing him centrally would enable us to become more threatening IMO. It would enable us to become more threatening and also become more fluid as a attacking unit. The 4-2-3-1 would have to be considered again and I think that's the best formation currently to get the best out of our players.

Agree. Although I’d rather see us play the diamond 442 with Martial as the left forward and Lukaku/Rashford in the right CF role.

The sad truth of the matter is the closest thing to a winger in our squad is Dalot.

Just scrap the 433 and play a diamond or 352.

 

[Adnan]

A 4-1-2-1-2 with Martial in the hole and Rashford/Lukaku playing slightly wide.

Problem is our fullbacks still sucks donkey’s cock when it comes to attacking, so in essence our strikers will turn into glorified wingers.

That's the problem mate, the fullbacks..

In a 4-2-3-1 we could get Chong on the right who would be a upgrade on our current options and we wouldn't have the issue of dropping Lukaku, Rashford or Martial. Instead we'd have Chong replacing Lingard..

 

[KennyBurner]

Hate to say it, but right now Depay is the better player.

And I don't think Martial will suddenly improve by playing as a #9, think he would be even worse there tbh.

He is no longer a kid and has been here for several years, but seems to be progressing rather than developing. Just doesn't seem to have the mentality to make the step up. He could be upgraded without difficulty. Always has seemed that his off-field affairs have been distracting him.

Depay is not even fit to tie martials boots. Dont let emotion cloud your judgement. Depay is average and can only cut it in a league with little to no aggression. Martial was terrible today but its okay we won. Lets give him a little more time.

 

[el3mel]

We got started on this with your point about him being a winger and my reply that he's never been a winger. If you're asking me do we agree there's no excuse for his performance, I'd say we're both in agreement.

He's left forward. If by" winger" you mean hugging the line continuously then you are right, and he's not that.

The argument done in the previous discussion is that he should play as a striker 9 centrally, which I don't find any reason to believe he will be better there as he spent most of his career playing as a left forward and no one has ever seen him playing as a striker regularly to deduce that. There are actually more reasons why playing centrally can be worse for him thanks to his crap off ball movement and the fact he will have more defenders surrounding him rather than one or two on the flank.

 

[Bojan11]

Thought that was the worst performance I seen from him. Just walking across the pitch and no urgency. The defender did him a favour bringing him down as he was about to screw that up. Needs the hairdryer.

 

[Valencia Shin Crosses]

He's a left forward/striker. Always has been, always will be. Probably the best "tight spaces" player in the club, and along with his finishing it makes him deadly through the middle. Also allows him to play quick interchanging passes more than when he is isolated on the wing. His wing play doesn't work anymore because, as I've shouted from the rooftops for almost 2 years now, teams see him on the team sheet and immediately overload the left side of their defense. This means he has no room to operate, and has to resort to passing back to the middle or trying to force something (neither of which worked yesterday). Then, when he passes it away, people slate him for a "lack of energy" and not doing much. Go look at our player positioning yesterday, and you'll see why teams are able to overload the left. Lingard, Mata, Fred, and Pogba are basically holding hands in the middle of the pitch constantly.

Either play him more centrally or get Sancho in and watch the differences in performances. It's been our biggest weakness for 5 years now, hopefully we sort it this summer.

 

[PaulRich]

I know certain players have a 'languid' style i.e. Berbatov but Martial genuinely doesn't look arsed at all. He wont be here long if that's what he's got to offer.

 

[roonster09]

Should have let Jose sell him.

Remember the meltdowns at the Perisic trade deal. Im betting the former would actually turn up to the game.

If you want to bet blindly then you should bet on that, not when you watch them play. Perisic doesn't turn up to every game. He has probably 2-3 good games this season. Even in the games he scored, apart from that moment he is generally poor in his overall game.

 

[roonster09]

Perisic is an above average player and he has more goals/assists than Martial in the last 3 seasons. He also provides a lot more in terms of spreading the pitch, crossing and winning the ball back.

I am slowly thinking that Martial isn't even a very good player anymore. When you are getting outperformed by Perisic can you say you are a very good player?

Yeah let's ignore mins played, just stick by total stats. That should provide proper context.

There is a reason Inter fans wants him gone and regret not selling when ManUtd wanted to sign him for good money, it's that he is average and having shit season.

 

[KM]

Formation and instructions don't explain why he was consistently giving the ball away under no pressure, or standing around instead of making a run.

I like Martial, but he gets far too many excuses made for him.

When it's been three years and we're still waiting for him to make an improvement regarding the runs then serious questions should be asked about him. His short passing is also rubbish.

 

[Patrick08]

The only style of football which suits his natural game is a possession based cohesive creative approach, the way Lvg used him, his game doesn't have the attributes to play the way we have been playing after lvg and his attitude doesn't seem to reflect that he is willing to learn and adapt his game to be a better overall player as he is not willing to work hard without the ball.

He seems to me like a player who will excel in a philosophy and style of Tuchel or Pep or the way Barcelona play football even under Zidane.He has not developed as a player here since lvg was sacked as style of football is much more counter attacking and he is failing to adapt to its demands.

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Formation and instructions don't explain why he was consistently giving the ball away under no pressure, or standing around instead of making a run.

I like Martial, but he gets far too many excuses made for him.

Agreed. Part of me thinks we should sell him - if we aren’t going to play the style of play that suits him, then let him go. He’s playing in a huge position for us, and we can’t afford to keep a player there who “has huge potential” but just not playing at 100% due to style or effort.

I don’t think he’s improved at all in the last 2-3 seasons. Granted, he’s been under a manager who didn’t seem to like him (query justification) but nevertheless - I’d back Ole if he wants to cash in and then use the moolah to get a winger who’s 10 times more effective.

 

[Freak]

Pathetic performance. At least fecking make some runs off the ball.

 

[iKeano]

Has got progressive worse. Seems totally uninterested.
Sloppy and doesn't care when he is. Bags of talent, lack of ideas.
Too busy working out who he's going to sleep with next than putting in 110%

 

[Ashish Negi]

Might sound weird but his performance has dipped rapidly after his chant is not sing much by our fans now days as it is replaced by ole at the wheel.


As Mourinho said he have special relationship with fans that relationship is missing nowdays

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I think what is more worrying than his performance is that people don't think that this type of performance is what we've as the norm seen over the last two years. People are acting like this is not the guy who signed a 200K+ a week deal. His work rate, anticipation and general movement off the ball is wretched and has been since he came here. I genuinely have no idea how anybody could speculate where any kind of growth for Martial is going to come from. This is the player we just paid, he's done. Finished, he got the contract of an accomplished and distinguished senior player who is playing a prominent role and he doesn't need to do anything else but ride it out.

What a completely bizarre situation, especially for a club like United who's foundation is built on the complete opposite.

That isn't the norm. Whether one rates him as good enough or not, that is obvious to anyone with a pair of working eyes.

Only a litte while back Martial had a brilliant run where he came close to some record of goals in consecutive games.

And he's obviously not finished at 23 atlhough I agree with other more sensible posters who have said that he needs to find his form consistently by next season if wants to be a starter at a big club.

 

[JJ12]

This overhaul is going to be a 2/3 year process of getting rid of some shit. Martial will be here next season without a doubt. After that he'll be gone if he doesn't Improve.

That's how I feel about the situation.

 

[Jazz]

Ever since his injury he's not been himself. Looks devoid of confidence. Not worried about him yet, but he needs to personally push himself, that's totally on him. You can't expect the manager to constantly have to lift you up. Has to be some individual motivation there as well. Yesterday was terrible from him. Has to do better.

I still think he's better through the middle, and wish he'd be given more chances there especially when Rash has a rough patch.

 

[KM]

He's been horrible since coming back but people need to calm down with talking about selling him.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Can't understand what's happened to his dribbling. Sometimes he looks like he can tie defenders in knots othetimes he makes the simple pass back every single time.

 

[Litch]

That was as bad as any individual performances I've seen this season.

 

[Jazz]

He's been horrible since coming back but people need to calm down with talking about selling him.

This.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

He's been horrible since coming back but people need to calm down with talking about selling him.

Agreed. He was mostly good prior to the injury. Been really poor since he came back but it's been like only 3 full games and a goal /penalty involvement in that time.

 

[JPRouve]

Can't understand what's happened to his dribbling. Sometimes he looks like he can tie defenders in knots othetimes he makes the simple pass back every single time.

He has never been a great dribbler, he is stiff and can't quickly change direction. He dribbles like a striker.