Take off the rose-tinted glasses. He was woeful, from the lack of courage going into 50-50s, incessant loss of possession and lack of ability in front of goal point-blank. He kept giving the ball back to the other team, he did not move, he did not press. Zombie.
No rose-tinted glasses. Agree on lack of courage and movement, the latter of which I already acknowledged in my initial post.
Disagree with the rest. Firstly, you’ve mentioned his lack of ability in front of goal. Well, his shot inside the area in the first half was his best chance to score, and there was nothing much wrong with its power or placement. It was simply a very good save from a keeper that went on to have a blinder.
Then there was the header, which was clearly a fine effort and not one you’d realistically expect a striker to score from.
Finally, there was an attempt at goal near the end of the match that he opened up for himself through a lovely first touch to even get into a position where scoring was a possibility. There was no hesitation or anything wrong with his strike, the WBA defender simply made an excellent last ditch block.
As for ball retention, if you rewatch the match you’ll see he was easily our best attacker at holding up the ball and advancing with it in tight spaces. Passing was hit and miss, but saying that he constantly gave the ball back to the opposition is hyperbole.
For what it’s worth, I think Martial has had an awful start to the season, and his frequent reluctance to make even the most basic runs you’d expect from a CF continues to infuriate.
But there was clearly a lot more good in his performance than what he’s shown so far this season (which, admittedly, isn’t a very high bar). I’d put money on him scoring in his next start.
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That seemed to be changing last season but this season, he just stands flatfooted when the midfielders are looking for runs and has looked rather leggy and lethargic even when he does have the ball. Just doesn't seem as hungry as he did since Jan really.
