[Abraxas]

It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation because the midfield does not help, that is true. The passing can be slow, passes are underhit or overhit, Fred's bobble along the floor etc. Not many except Bruno will see let alone execute a difficult through ball.

All of that will make a striker less inclined to make those speculative runs because most of the time it is totally fruitless. Unfortunately for Martial you have to do it, you have to give those around you space to move into, you have to occupy defenders, sometimes you have to get into a position to hold up the ball, sometimes you have to run the channels, you have to want to win the ball in the box when it comes in. That's all part and parcel of being a lone striker, you have to be tireless, not everything has a direct effect, but if you have the awareness to do these things at the right moments it lifts a team and presents more opportunities for everybody around that focal point.

It is not enough to say that because Martial didn't get the ball to feet then the performance was explainable. Nor is it reasonable to expect magical eye of the needle passes to create chance after chance if you're not earning those opportunities. The midfield needs to improve and that's a topic in itself but it does not mean Martial can perform like this and expect to stay in the role. It has been this way all season.

 

[Morpheus 7]

The team were awful today, Martial was pathetic as usual. Jogging around on the wing, the season he's having is unreal. I think a loan and sell him would be best, we'll get little for him now. His positional discipline and press is not near acceptable.

 

[KennyBurner]

How many times did he even get the ball you? We were just fecking outplayed in the middle

no point speaking sense. Many have already made up their mind.

 

[Waynne]

Martial had very little to work with and it doesn't help that he's in such bad form either.
That said, we need to start building this team from back to front. In the summer focus on getting really good defensive minded players in the CB and DM roles.
Championship winning teams are built on good defenses and currently we don't possess such a unit.

 

[kouroux]

Look at Antonio for West Ham and look at Martial. Antonio didn't even start as a striker in his career but he's understood how he can be valuable for his team by making all kinds of runs.

 

[mav_9me]

Look at Antonio for West Ham and look at Martial. Antonio didn't even start as a striker in his career but he's understood how he can be valuable for his team by making all kinds of runs.

That's an excellent comparison. Antonio has 20% less talent. But works way way harder. He would be scoring 20 goals for us.

 

[BeforeKeanetherewasRobson]

That's an excellent comparison. Antonio has 20% less talent. But works way way harder. He would be scoring 20 goals for us.

Made similar point in post match thread between Martial and Iheanacho.

Martial has plenty of talent but today's respective performances are embarrassing (if you're Martial). If he'd run, pulled defenders around, dropped... just basically put the effort in, he could not score and it'd still be something/he'd still contribute or at least tried to.

 

[lex talionis]

The team were awful today, Martial was pathetic as usual. Jogging around on the wing, the season he's having is unreal. I think a loan and sell him would be best, we'll get little for him now. His positional discipline and press is not near acceptable.

Hard to argue with this. It's laughable to read some of the excuses here for Anthony, month after month.

 

[spiriticon]

At this point I finally regret that we couldn't do more for Lukaku. Why always Lukaku? I didn't get it then but now I do.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Tough game for him in front of that midfield...but its at the point now with him where I just don't expect anything from him at all... Which is kind of sad when you know what he might actually be capable off.

 

[MadDogg]

250k a week. A complete liability. I'm done with seeing him in the shirt.

Granted, Ole's obsession means we'll keep seeing him.

It's not an obsession. Most of the season we really haven't had any alternatives. Cavani either wasn't matchfit or injured, Greenwood was playing just as bad (if not worse), Pogba was injured so wasn't an option, and our squad attackers were poor when they got opportunities. When Cavani finally got going we started alternating Martial and Greenwood, and Martial ended up being dropped from the strongest team. He only started something like 4 out of 10 matches and they were the cup or easier matches. Then our attacking players started getting injured again.

Once Cavani is ready to start games again I expect Martial will end up dropped to the bench again. Especially as Rashford should hopefully be back.

 

[tentan]

Seriously sell him. He's awful.

 

[He'sRaldo]

All our strikers have abysmal ratios this season. Martial in particular has been unacceptable.

We will no doubt bin him off and get another striker, but it will be more of the same until we sort out the actual problem, which I'm sure most people realize at this point.

 

[hungrywing]

Look at Antonio for West Ham and look at Martial. Antonio didn't even start as a striker in his career but he's understood how he can be valuable for his team by making all kinds of runs.

That's an excellent comparison. Antonio has 20% less talent. But works way way harder. He would be scoring 20 goals for us.

I skimmed through two of our games from 2008. Rooney Tevez and Park (Ronaldo seemed to tend to wait for a pass to feet) plus whoever was in an advanced position making run after run, often even when they weren't going to be found and just to open up space.

Also if the ball ever went out wide, there were about forty red shirts making runs into the six-yard box and at near/far post and a midfielder blazing towards any gaping holes that were opened up. It's almost like they were told what to do and if they didn't do it even once they would find themselves playing goalkeeper for a team in Iceland.

 

[tjb]

All our strikers have abysmal ratios this season. Martial in particular has been unacceptable.

We will no doubt bin him off and get another striker, but it will be more of the same until we sort out the actual problem, which I'm sure most people realize at this point.

Fred, Mctominay and Matic.
Same issue defensively...defensive midfielders that can't hold or attack.

 

[mav_9me]

I skimmed through two of our games from 2008. Rooney Tevez and Park (Ronaldo seemed to tend to wait for a pass to feet) plus whoever was in an advanced position making run after run, often even when they weren't going to be found and just to open up space.

Also if the ball ever went out wide, there were about forty red shirts making runs into the six-yard box and at near/far post and a midfielder blazing towards any gaping holes that were opened up. It's almost like they were told what to do and if they didn't do it even once they would find themselves playing goalkeeper for a team in Iceland.

This is one of the biggest places you see Martial failing even the basics. How often does he make any runs?

Just for comparison, see what Greenwood has been doing as a striker. We can all agree we have been pretty poor last few games too. Greenwood hasn't been setting the place on fire but see how much more involved he is.

I can't imagine SAF playing him even a minute.

 

[CG1010]

This is one of the biggest places you see Martial failing even the basics. How often does he make any runs?

Just for comparison, see what Greenwood has been doing as a striker. We can all agree we have been pretty poor last few games too. Greenwood hasn't been setting the place on fire but see how much more involved he is.

I can't imagine SAF playing him even a minute.

Off topic but Greenwood has actually been improving every game in that department. He has been learning from Cavani's movements and I see him attempting similar movement in the box. Its actually great to see.

 

[hungrywing]

This is one of the biggest places you see Martial failing even the basics. How often does he make any runs?

Just for comparison, see what Greenwood has been doing as a striker. We can all agree we have been pretty poor last few games too. Greenwood hasn't been setting the place on fire but see how much more involved he is.

I can't imagine SAF playing him even a minute.

Yep. At least not without an ultimatum.

Although under SAF he'd be paid around 80-90k/week, he'd have been more properly developed, and we'd have a better midfield and forward line. Aunts and uncles and all that.

 

[TrustInOle]

He just isn't a number 9. Should be competing with Rashford for the Lw spot if we had better options. Surely a striker has to be our priority this summer.

 

[E-mal]

I have been a huge fan and defender but I have come to the realisation that we need better than him to make a step up as a team.
Perhaps under a different manager we might find some consistency out of him but generally speaking, he is not good enough for what we want.

 

[kouroux]

I skimmed through two of our games from 2008. Rooney Tevez and Park (Ronaldo seemed to tend to wait for a pass to feet) plus whoever was in an advanced position making run after run, often even when they weren't going to be found and just to open up space.

Also if the ball ever went out wide, there were about forty red shirts making runs into the six-yard box and at near/far post and a midfielder blazing towards any gaping holes that were opened up. It's almost like they were told what to do and if they didn't do it even once they would find themselves playing goalkeeper for a team in Iceland.

I love Martial and I've defended him so many times on the caf but nowadays the way he "plays" is just a disgrace to me. Minimum effort basically. He would be scoring more goals if he tried to make some runs when AWB or Shaw/Telles are in good spaces and about to put a cross in.

 

[Bobcat]

Would be better for everyone if we part ways. If we are lucky, some muppets will give us 20 million for him.

Hes at 8 goals 7 assists in 2422 minutes across all comps. A goal contribution every 166 minutes. Thats abysmal and made even worse by the fact his workrate is rock bottom as well.

 

[NinjaZombie]

He's just a lazy bastard who barely makes any kind of runs. Our midfielders create next to nothing for him but he's still gotta make those runs.

I don't think he's quite there mentally. He's the most "post Invincibles Arsenal" Manchester United player I've ever seen.

 

[hungrywing]

I love Martial and I've defended him so many times on the caf but nowadays the way he "plays" is just a disgrace to me. Minimum effort basically. He would be scoring more goals if he tried to make some runs when AWB or Shaw/Telles are in good spaces and about to put a cross in.

I kind of don't blame him. He's been given too much money and to a certain extent is the victim of undercoaching both himself and the squad in general.

I think he could have been a pretty good wide forward under someone like SAF.

 

[vanderpants]

I find it funny how people still make excuses up and try to defend martial, If this season wont change your mind nothing will, no wonder Jose wanted him out of the door when he was here

 

[Renegade]

This guy earns roughly the same amount as Kane and people still want to make excuses for him?

 

[kouroux]

I kind of don't blame him. He's been given too much money and to a certain extent is the victim of undercoaching both himself and the squad in general.

I think he could have been a pretty good wide forward under someone like SAF.

He's not and hasn't been a proper natural 9

 

[hungrywing]

He's not and hasn't been a proper natural 9

Yeah. Feels like he's been 'forced' into that, as well. Or overindulged, if you will. Despite that being what he appears to have wanted.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Historically, when we need a goal, we've been able to look to our main striker and think "he'll sort this out"

When we need a goal now, Martial will hide. He hates the pressure and can't handle it. His mentality is atrocious.

Serious question... When did he last score a goal when we needed one.. so either when we were behind in a match or level?

 

[drdoityourself]

I have always liked him. Now he is not the same player anymore. His movement has never been the best but it's with the ball where he's become worse to watch. When he picks up the ball he's just looking for a free kick or a penalty, it doesn't look like he has any conviction he can make the difference anymore. It's similar to the last few years of Lingard, where his runs were just little spurts where he tried to get a touch from the defender so he could get a free kick and the ball will become someone elses responsibility.

It's more or less a confidence issue, but when other aspects of his game like movement and desire are very questionable it's difficult to see how he can be relied upon.

 

[Cassidy]

We should cash in, he may flourish elsewhere, but he has had enough chances to make the 9 spot his own and hes failed

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

He's had one of the worst seasons a Manchester United attacker has ever had. Forget about the lack of goals. His effort is borderline criminal out there.

He has been horrific. If some club is stupid enough to give us good money for him, I'd sell and sell immediately.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

There're only 3 months remaining this season and he has only scored 7 goals total including only 4 in the league.

I mean even if we ignore his performance, this is an embarrassing output from a United striker, and he played regularly as a striker for most of the season.

I swear even Lukaku wasn't even that bad when he was having a terrible season before leaving.

I think Lukaku was awful in 2018-2019. His misses early on vs Spurs and Brighton were shameful.

However, Martial has been far worse than him. Says it really. He's had an embarrassing season.

 

[Offside]

Shambolic season. Has to be gone in the Summer. He won’t though.

 

[acnumber9]

This guy earns roughly the same amount as Kane and people still want to make excuses for him?

Don’t forget the thread we had this summer with people saying he was better than Kane. So it’s understandable he’d be paid at least as much.

 

[spiriticon]

I just don't know why he's magnetically attracted to the left hand side of the pitch. How many goals is he expecting to score from the left touchline with the ball at his feet?

Use your common sense, Tony.

 

[ForeverRed1]

Sell him and put the money towards upgrading. We need a out and out number 9.

 

[Rocknrolla69er]

Shearers half time analysis of his lack of movement was damning, absolutely sulking at Cavanis signing.

One of the weeds in the garden that needs removing as soon as possible.

When Andre Silvas available for £26m , then there's your bottom line you d take for Martial and re invest in Silva Asap. In fact I'd be sorting the deal out now.

 

[dirkey]

Everyone was bad yesterday. Martial was same as he's been all season, lazy, diving, terrible movement.

Really getting tired of seeing him every week.

 

[Abhinav]

He has no excuses left, the buck stops at him. We need players who are willing to make a difference and not sulk / disappear when things are going bad. The minimum he should be is making runs, moving defenders around but he is happy to be standing still always on his heels. Midfield may be an issue but sometimes you need players to move and open up spaces for the passes to also open up. If Amad was not willing to run in behind against Milan then Bruno would never have been able to play him in. If Martial started making more runs maybe his team mates would start looking out for him more.