That Burnley game was 2 months ago. So you're saying he's had 2 poor performances in 2 months? Seems about right for any player.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 48
- Goals
- 23
- Assists
- 8
- Yellow cards
- 1
- Status
Yet reading some posts you'd think he doesn't go 2 games without throwing in a stinker. Also doesn't help that the media are also still perpetrating this nonsensical narrative that Martial doesn't try enough "He's an enigma" etc despite him consistently delivering in most big games for us this season.
I don't think this poster even realises that the Burnley match was so long ago. By his reckoning he's had 2 bad games in 11 or 1 bad game in 10. Not sure how that could be viewed as inconsistent.
I don't think it's even necessary to look at all his stats this year. One only has to look at our four games vs City so far this season.
Wow. More please. We want to see more "fighting" performances 
how a red devil plays. Credits, good influences by Bruno I'm sure.
how a red devil plays. Credits, good influences by Bruno I'm sure.Exactly. 2 bad or subpar games in 11 and he's called inconsistent while Sterling who hasn't turned up in the whole of 2020 so far is called this talented consistent top performer by the very same poster. It's amazing how far this "Grass is always greener" mentality some people on the Caf have adopted.
I'm actually glad posters are even listing names because now I know for certain that they don't watch games and are just going by names or just regurgitating what they've heard somewhere else.
Where did i say that other players dont have poor games? And if you compare Martials numbers from previous seasons, with Kane/Aguero etc, Martial does not look very good in comparison. Players having poor periods makes sense (like Sterling in 2020), thats normal. What is not normal is going from awesome to horrible from one game to the next. Fair enough, Burnley was a while ago, but i seem to recall he was pretty damn good when we won 4-0 vs Norwich, only to look like a complete shadow of himself vs Burnely 11 days later.
A more recent example: Great vs Watford 23.2, shite vs Everton 01.03 and then great vs City 08.03., that makes no sense.
And no, its not some "agenda" against Martial. I dont like or dislike him any more than Rashford for example and for example him and Pogba get slated on here just as much as Martial after a poor performance.
I know it's exceptionally lazy to compare him to Henry but think about Henry's playing style.
He wasn't a typical number 9, he usually floated out to the left flank and was generally all over the front. Granted that was partly because he was that good but Martial doesn't have to be a typical number 9 to play as the main striker for us.
If Rashford comes back from his injury and he continues to build on how he's played this season and we boost the right flank by having someone like Sancho then we definitely don't need Martial to be a fox in the box type. His hold up play, intelligence and close control are all improving or already excellent and if he's got players around him that he trusts then he always plays better. Clearly he's got a good relationship with Rashford because we saw how good they were before the injury and he's already striking up a good one with Bruno. I think he'll go from strength to strength if we keep building the team as we are doing.
It'd be lovely if he worked on getting into the box more often when we need him to and Ole has intimated as much that he sees that as an issue so hopefully that means we're working on it. Against City he was there in the box quite a bit I thought too, just needs to work on his movement once in there to trick defenders and we'll be golden with Sancho providing assists.
He wasn't a typical number 9, he usually floated out to the left flank and was generally all over the front. Granted that was partly because he was that good but Martial doesn't have to be a typical number 9 to play as the main striker for us.
If Rashford comes back from his injury and he continues to build on how he's played this season and we boost the right flank by having someone like Sancho then we definitely don't need Martial to be a fox in the box type. His hold up play, intelligence and close control are all improving or already excellent and if he's got players around him that he trusts then he always plays better. Clearly he's got a good relationship with Rashford because we saw how good they were before the injury and he's already striking up a good one with Bruno. I think he'll go from strength to strength if we keep building the team as we are doing.
It'd be lovely if he worked on getting into the box more often when we need him to and Ole has intimated as much that he sees that as an issue so hopefully that means we're working on it. Against City he was there in the box quite a bit I thought too, just needs to work on his movement once in there to trick defenders and we'll be golden with Sancho providing assists.
So it's okay to have a poor stretch like the whole of 2020 for Sterling because "it can be excused" but it's unacceptable to have 2 bad games in something like 10-11 games.
Also the likes of Kane, Aguero also have pretty bad games after turning in some brilliant ones just a game before, case in point Aguero last game where he was sub par.
Inconsistency is having 5-6 bad games in 10-11, not 2 bad games in 10.
Also just to make sure you don't come back with your argument about excusing bad patch of form(whole of 2020 for Sterling), before that he was already inconsistent throughout this season till December and turned it up a notch at the turn of the year.
What’s really funny is the brazen attempt to use matchday posts as an indication of something trueThat place is a cesspool of raw unfiltered emotion and hyperbole.
Yeah it is. During matchday topic and in the player performance right after a game some reactions are pretty over the top.
Martial is one of the biggest targets on this forum. It is crazy when you read some of the reactions. The moment he does something wrong ''he is not a proper number 9'' is one of the most common reactions. The moment he does something right (which he does a lot) nothing is said but it is almost like those people who critisize him think that a 'proper number 9' doesnt make any mistakes or does everything a number 9 has to do perfectly all the time. Obviously all players make mistakes but when Martial does something wrong they can just validate their opinion and basically say ''told you so.. not a number 9 i was right all along''. That he has been scoring some ''proper poacher goals'' this season doesnt seem to matter at all to them
Martial just doesnt fit into the description of a lot of (older?) people their idea of a number 9 or even a Manchester United player. Nani kind of had the same problem. Only absolute worldclass players are allowed to be flair players for some people here. Ronaldo and Cantona are worshipped but all other players have to be hard working, fighting for the shirt, busting a gut, earning the badge and basically just run a lot while smiling and looking happy because they are Manchester United players.
I think that's actually pretty normal tbh.
It depends on a huge variety of factors as to how someone performs in a game. Fitness, confidence, motivation, position etc personally but then how the team is performing, how the team is made up formation and personnel wise, how the opposition are playing, whether they've had a plan for you personally and all the things related to the opposition and then add in the weather, the pitch, the time in between games, etc. and players being great one game then terrible the next then back to great again is absolutely normal. At least to me it is.
Athletes, not just footballers going through rough patches are pretty normal. what is not normal is going back and forth between 3/10 and 9/10 performances almost from week to week. And i am not saying he has more poor games than others, just that the pattern of them makes little sense.
For example when Zlatan arrived and took his no 9 shirt he was understandably upset and delivered some sub par performances. A year ago(or was it two years ago?) he went through some personal stuff and again it was understandable that we saw a dip in performances. That makes sense
No one delivers top performances every single game, but with Martial its imo much more noticeable than many others. That lob vs Watford and the volley vs City was pure world class, imo stuff that very few others in the league are capable off. Then vs Everton he was a complete non entity.
Just to be clear, overall this season hes been very good, and over the course of a season he probably has as many poor games as most other strikers, but my point is this
1. Him going from great too poor almost from game to game is strange. Why?
2. The difference between his top level and bottom level is imo much larger than what is normal.
Some posters are fixed in their ways. Martial has been one of our most consistent players this season other than a short drop in form in January. He's been carrying our attack for a large part of this season and for what ever reason some people in this thread are relentlessly trying to sell this narrative that he's useless even going as far as contradicting themselves and outright, we'll call it "misremembering" of events.
Martial over the last couple of days has been accused of being too selfish, people also refuse to compare him to Firmino because he is only concerned with scoring. This is the exact opposite of the criticism he was receiving not even a week ago.
In my view we have a striker who has all the physical tools and sensational technical ability who is having a great season and is on the cusp of becoming a world class striker. Maybe I'm wrong but with the improvements I've seen this season, I think there is enough evidence to support it.
Big fan of Tony. Big goals in big games. I think alot of the criticism he gets Is OTT. No player has played consistently well since Fergie retired. Though it looks like we're starting to get there...
I really hopes he smashes the 20 goal barrier this season and kicks on again next. His understanding with Bruno is v promising. And while I'm thinking about it... De bruyne was missing at the weekend, but so was pogba and rashford. We've got a platform to kick on now, and I very much hope a talent like Tony continues to be a part of it.
The bolded part is what show you how dumb and ignorant some people on these boards are, same goes with any United legends in the media blabbering about selling Martial.
At 24 now he's about to start entering his prime. We've nurtured him, had faith in hi(at least since Ole's tenure), put him as our main man this season and from that he's gotten to mature into that position throughout his first consistent season.
He's clearly on the up and on the cusp of exploding, putting his all game together. Now imagine letting him go now and see him play somewhere else after he's put his game together and explode while we're the ones who nurtured him. Imagine sitting down, contemplating the possibility of one of your most talented player just about to hit prime go do that elsewhere after we've put all the effort these years to nurture him.
Some people on these boards are unfortunately that dumb. This season he's already putting almost 2 in 3 goals/assists numbers and is just getting the hang of mastering his prefer position and on the cusp of hitting his prime. Imagine letting that go. Some people on the Caf are that ridiculous
Boggles the mind really.The bolded part is what show you how dumb and ignorant some people on these boards are, same goes with any United legends in the media blabbering about selling Martial.
At 24 now he's about to start entering his prime. We've nurtured him, had faith in hi(at least since Ole's tenure), put him as our main man this season and from that he's gotten to mature into that position throughout his first consistent season.
He's clearly on the up and on the cusp of exploding, putting his all game together. Now imagine letting him go now and see him play somewhere else after he's put his game together and explode while we're the ones who nurtured him. Imagine sitting down, contemplating the possibility of one of your most talented player just about to hit prime go do that elsewhere after we've put all the effort these years to nurture him.
Some people on these boards are unfortunately that dumb. This season he's already putting almost 2 in 3 goals/assists numbers and is just getting the hang of mastering his prefer position and on the cusp of hitting his prime. Imagine letting that go. Some people on the Caf are that ridiculous
What these people are suffering from is the lazy pundit syndrome.
I could be wrong on this but feels like many posters from the older generation don't particularly rate Martial. Its the same case with Shaw vs Williams too. Its just bizarre.
Shaw and Martial are clearly two of our biggest talents in the club and on the verge of being world class.
Shaw and Martial are clearly two of our biggest talents in the club and on the verge of being world class.
I really like Martial but we should slow down with the world class talk for both of them. Shaw has had what, barely 2 months of good form?
Martial, in my opinion has shown this season - remember still at a tender age that he is more than capable of adding value to our team than Lukaku or any pretenders that we might think of. He scores goals only kids or indeed other pros even dream about. I think we have to take a back step and realise that he hasn’t had much practise as an out and out striker - yet he produces goals out of the tightest situations and when least expected. Our future is a possession game and he fits and with the right service will not let us down. Before, we didn’t know who fitted where but now who can tell me Rashford on the left, martial in cf and either James or Jadon on the right wouldn’t work. With the cantona esque Fernandes through the middle with that special connection and a Grealish to come in in any position, how can anyone say we can’t compete among the best? Let Pogba go if he wants...
Everything about this goal was so well executed
Really was genius set play design along with a genius ball and finish. No surprise it came from our 2 most technically skilled players right now
Really was genius set play design along with a genius ball and finish. No surprise it came from our 2 most technically skilled players right now
Sensational set piece, bet all 3 practised this before hand but to pull it off in game, amazing.
I like how he pretends to look disinterested while throwing some glances at Bruno and Fred to check for their signals. You can tell there are 2 signals, the first from Bruno when he scratches his head, then the second one which was the trigger to run from Fred with his fake hand raising.
Some pundits have claimed that this was decided instinctively but I just don't see how it could be. It was simply too well timed. Aguero was told to mark Martial but he still got away because his instant burst was planned.
Yeah it was obviously planned. What gave it away was the glances Martial kept making at Bruno and Fred despite him seemingly looking disinterested. Not to mention Bruno scratching his nose/face and Fred raising his arm were obvious signals.
Nobody is saying he is currently world class. If they both turn in performances like these till the end of the season, would you count them as close to world class?
Let's see at the end of the season. Martial has been my favourite player at the club to watch since he joined but I'd be cautious about using such terms. If Martial has a brilliant run till the end of the season he'd be closer to the level we know he can get to. But for me top class/world class is someone who has a phenomenal season or multiple seasons at a very very high level. Martial has been held back due to his age , average management and a team that doesn't create. Hopefully he now kicks on. He's been very good this season and I think in general he doesnt get the appreciation the deserves.
Shaw has been brilliant of late. But it's been, what, a couple of months. So he's nowhere near being on the verge of world /top class. His level his great right now.
He's getting there in my eyes. Ever since he burst on the scene under LVG, he's been a star to me. I definitely agree the 'world class' description is reserved for players who show that level consistently over multiple seasons. But right now, Martial compares to the other great forwards around Europe stats wise, and his quality on/off the ball is crystal clear to see with the eyes. He can do anything with the ball that they can, whilst being of the right age to improve much further with experience.
There's not many players i would entertain swapping him for at all, and we would struggle to find a 24 year old as good as he is on the market right now. If players like Grealish are valued at £70m+, how much would Martial cost to buy right now?
He's now got a manager who believes in him again, and he's showing just how good he is. He's being managed superbly under Ole, long may it continue.
Last edited:
Yeah, Shaw is turning in world class performances but is still a while off being an actual world class player. Martial is very close I think.
If he misses this week against LASK i'm okay with it. Just hope he plays vs Spurs. If we win there this weekend then I think we'll finish no lower than 5th assuming COVID 19 doesn't terminate the season entirely.
If he hadn't had missed those 2 or so months due to injury, and had played more with Rashford, Pogba and Bruno this season, I reckon he'd be close to 30 goals by now.
Efficiency rating..you'd think these players are light bulbs or cars the way these computer geeks analyse them. Everything wrong with modern sport.
I'm not sure about that. We've been beating bigger teams like Spurs then dropping the points against teams that sit back and we can't break them down. Although I'd be more confident against those types of teams now and I suppose Spurs will park the bus too.
Not much point in playing him against LASK if his legs are banged up. Ighalo has been excellent anyway.
We're living in the age of analytics and advanced metrics in the sports world around the globe mate, might as well get used to it instead of yelling at the clouds because it's not going anywhere
Professional clubs use them internally all the time too when it comes to decision and strategy making
- Status