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Anthony Martial France flag

2020-21 Performances

View full 2020-21 profile

5.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
36
Goals
7
Assists
5
Yellow cards
1
Red cards
1
Status
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Im his biggest critic here but I dont think he played a bad game however the strikers main job is to score. He didnt and theres nothing more to say.
He isnt good enough for us, he never was, Mourinho was spot on so nothing new here.
We are delaying the inevitable. We either get rid of him and get a proper player at that position or we continue to be this level of just being okay. Sometimes making CL, sometimes not. Cuz having players like Martial that are just okay being in charge of the most important thing, scoring goals, we will always be just okay.

Manchester United isnt his level. Its either a mid table PL team like Brighton or a team like Lyon perhaps, something like that.
 
I only watched the highlights but you have to put away that first chance. You simply have to. He has absolutely no confidence and as much as I've admired his technical ability in the past he should be dropped till he sorts his mind out.
 
Pablo76 said:
Awful attitude, awful body language, awful performances all too often. Ok he plays well sometimes, so did Charlie Adam.

The day he leaves, which is hopefully soon, is the day we can start playing and relying upon a more potent and consistent front 3.

Continental Danny Welbeck and nothing more.
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One of the greatest managers of all time understood Martial’s problems and his true level and indirectly said almost the same words three years back, but at that time we were better judges of players than him.
 
tenpoless said:
Not a player you want the be at the end of chances in games that matter. Which is weird because he's supposed to be our goalscoring machine.
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I think you meant clinical machine.

This season is really odd. Martial is usually clinical... but could it be the reason why Mou dropped him is because he noticed quickly Martial's drop of performances? Other than favorable player choices of course. Mou dropped him as soon as he's not in clinical mood form and played him when he is in - could be why his clinical stats is that high. The explanation during LVG is.. LVG coached him well how to move and attack on the pitch?

The difference this time is there's no escape and there're no excuses, because Ole is playing him all the time whenever he's fit and available. If you think about it, even last season, Martial underwent a period of no goals and poor finishing, but we brush this off because Lingard and Pereira are shit and doesn't offer enough services. Bruno came to offers a lot to his plate along with Ighalo a threat to his Cf position, both lead to Martial's performances becoming better and better, spiked up after the break.
 
bosnian_red said:
Classic knee jerk now. He's been shit to start the season. He was excellent last season. He's been a brilliant finisher for 4 years, but the last few months can't score to save his life. It's a bad run. Calm the feck down people. He'll get out of it and get back in good form. Saying you want him gone is hilarious as it is idiotic, he's a very good player who while he might not be an automatic pick as our striker, can certainly be part of the group of main 4 to rotate for the front 3. Rashford, Martial, Greenwood, Cavani, and then post Cavani possibly Haaland if we're lucky. He's capable of being brilliant, but right now is probably going through the worst period in his career.
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I was a big fan. But I'm one of those who wants to move on from him now. But it's not just the finishing. As you said this might just be him off form. But don't you think he lacks the strikers instinct and movement in the box? He will never score enough cuz I feel like he is not hungry enough for goals and doesn't make enough runs in the box.
 
He has had an awful start to the season, this was his best game. The little spin and shoot which led to Rashford's goal was the first sign of that trademark move all season, and he had a beautiful long pass for Bruno and a nice through ball for Cavani. Awful finishing. Hard to look at that and see the same player who got 20 goals last season with ridiculously clinical shooting.
 
His finishing has been in this dire state since the tail end of last season. And, it is getting worse by the day, his confidence in front of the goal is at rock bottom and as a result has affected his general play. Ole needs to drop him for a few games, let Rashford and Mason flank Cavani.
 
He's always been mentally weak, but I always hope he'll come good and he had great last season, unfortunately he's not been able to build upon it.

I think now the best thing for Ole would be to rotate Rashford and Martial on the left like Mourinho used to that one autumn when they both were scoring for him. They're both out of form, Anthony's hitting rock bottom and while Marcus appears a bit lazy and selfish at the moment, he still pops out with a goal or an assist here and there.

Generally last season's MMM form would elevate us to the top this year, and Ole has to figure out how to bring them back to their best again else he's finished.
 
Always been a fan of Tony and backed him to become our long-term first choice striker, but it's probably the right time to admit he's simply not going to make it at the highest level. Supreme talent, however he doesn't seem to have the determination and offensive IQ to make the last step into world class category. Disappointing lack of devopment since he's arrived from Monaco.

We should propose Martial <--> CR7 swap in January, maybe throw in some cash on top to make the deal happen. Cristiano would not only lead the line for a season and half, but also serve as model citizen mentor to Mason - who is clearly the most talented teenage striker in the world and we absolutely can't risk failure in his development, as is the case with Martial, and with Rashford (to lesser degree). In 2022, Mason wil take over as our undisputed #9 for many years to come!
 
I'm not even sure how people can even say he is usually clinical. He's into his sixth season and he averages 10 league goals per season.

It's even worse for France - 1 goal in 25 matches. He's got talent of course he does but it's not as our No. 9. when there are plenty of actual strikers hitting 17+ goals a season.
 
Devil may care said:
His all round play was ok but he's gotta take at least one of those chances, the first one in particular.
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Agreed on both accounts.

His all-round play has been improving lately. In his last three games he had a fairly good 20 minutes against West Brom, a decent 45 minutes against Basaksehir, and now he was decent for about 60 minutes or so today. So he's definitely playing better than he was at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately that hasn't translated to his finishing where he is still struggling massively.
 
Munkehboi said:
I'm not even sure how people can even say he is usually clinical. He's into his sixth season and he averages 10 league goals per season.

It's even worse for France - 1 goal in 25 matches. He's got talent of course he does but it's not as our No. 9. when there are plenty of actual strikers hitting 17+ goals a season.
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He's played left wing for most of that and under a manager who constantly dropped him even when he was playing better than everyone else. The only full season that he actually played as a striker he scored 17 in the league and 23 overall.

Martial's normal fault as a striker is poor movement in the box so he doesn't get enough easy chances. There's normally no issue with him finishing the chances he does get (indeed he's normally one of the more clinical strikers around), he just doesn't get enough of them. It's really only been this season where his normal good finishing is letting him down time after time.
 
I feel like there is a frontier between the good players and the world class ones, which is the motor. The players who combine skill but are able to always run intensely (you can measure with a GPS how hard he is stepping on the floor actually) and with high motor are the truly world class ones. I think Mourinho saw that Martial was on the other side of the frontier.
 
In my opinion, Martial hasn't suddenly become a poor player overnight. He's still one of the more talented players in our squad and gives us a different dimension in our attack.

It's unfortunate that his finishing seems to have regressed from last season when he finished as our top scorer, and I think his lack of goals this season is playing on his mind. The Martial of last season would have scored that sitter last night in his sleep... the misses will no doubt mar what was otherwise a decent all round performance - the long through pass to Bruno which merited a shot on goal at least, the shot he created out of nothing which led to Rashford's equalizer are notable highlights. I still think there's a player in Martial, and the fanbase getting toxic and blasting Martial at every move is not going to help him. Just check out the matchday thread or the Man Utd facebook page to see how many so-called fans take every opportunity to criticize Martial. He wasn't lazy yet people keep pushing this narrative even when he was tracking back to help out Telles all night
 
He is in s**t form... again.
I am putting him in the same bucket as Pogba. Zero expectations.
If he does well, it is some kind of a bonus.
 
You just can’t build a title winning team relying on such an inconsistent player. The guy has been here 5 years. Ok, he had a decent season last year (not as great as some make out though) but where the heck is his head now?

Another problem is we don’t have many options so we have to keep playing him. I’ve never really been a huge fan of AM simply because I’ve never seen any evidence he can, or will, take that next step up and match desire and consistency to his undoubted skill.

I think our whole front line is now our biggest issue, not just RW. Cavani aside, I don’t think any of them are good enough for where we want to be.
 
Volumiza said:
You just can’t build a title winning team relying on such an inconsistent player. The guy has been here 5 years. Ok, he had a decent season last year (not as great as some make out though) but where the heck is his head now?

Another problem is we don’t have many options so we have to keep playing him. I’ve never really been a huge fan of AM simply because I’ve never seen any evidence he can, or will, take that next step up and match desire and consistency to his undoubted skill.

I think our whole front line is now our biggest issue, not just RW. Cavani aside, I don’t think any of them are good enough for where we want to be.
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Rashford????????????
 
RkkMan said:
Rashford????????????
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What about him? He’s our best attacker but he can’t play and cover for 6 positions can he? Our attacking line currently is really poor.

Cavani has added some real quality, Rashford isn’t on top form and then what? Greenwood isn’t there yet either.
 
Too hot and cold for me, he didn’t even make an attempt to track back for the first goal.

I know it’s not a given but you have to take those chances and it feels like more often than not he fails to.
 
I just find it infuriating with the inconsistency and lack of end product of Martial and the same can be said of Rashford; They both have the physical attributes to be very good players at the top level but I think there is not much between the ears when it comes to pitch awareness and the timing of a pass.
 
SATA said:
Baffles me that he has a fanclub named after him here. Not sure what has he even done to deserve it
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Scoring on his debut vs Liverpool always helps. Had he not done that I doubt he'd have quite the fan club he does.

When you analyse his goal stats over 5 and bit seasons he's not been anything special. Another big criticism I have of him is his record in big games. It's Rashford who comes up with goals for us in big PL games and CL games far more than he does.
 
Not a natural finisher, never has been. Has his moments but cannot be relied upon.
 
Very obviously a talented football player but he simply is not consistent enough to be a top player. He misses way too many chances to be a striker and he doesn't offer enough in other areas to be a wide player.

As usual on here he has his fan club that were trying to tell me he played well in the first half yesterday though because he nearly set up a goal. As though a moment of good play = good performance. He was a train wreck in the first 15min in particular.
 
He's a good player and has bags of talent but for whatever reason he'll never reach the heights he can. Too inconsistent, especially in front of goal. He makes good runs and his general play is good but if you're a striker you got to be more clinical than he is. He scores nice goals from the left with his side foot but should add more to his finishing.

Saying all that some of the criticism here has been way over the top, talks about loaning or selling him. Its a bit bonkers. Nevertheless we cant rely on him to lead the line unfortunately.
 
I think Mourinho will ultimately be proven right about Martial (and Pogba). He's just not good enough to start for a team that wants to win things or aims to be in the latter stages of the Champions League.
 
SATA said:
Baffles me that he has a fanclub named after him here. Not sure what has he even done to deserve it
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That magic word - potential.

Problem is, he's average right now and I don't think he's ever looked close to fulfilling his potential. The fact we persevere with him, Pogba, and others who shouldn't be at the club, and players like Grealish, Haaland, and Sancho could be available is shambolic.
 
Bondi77 said:
I just find it infuriating with the inconsistency and lack of end product of Martial and the same can be said of Rashford; They both have the physical attributes to be very good players at the top level but I think there is not much between the ears when it comes to pitch awareness and the timing of a pass.
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Rashford at least continues to provide contributions. Some fans and pundits were getting proper slagged off last season for saying United needed to replace Martial with a top quality goal scoring centre forward, such as Kane. They have been almost completely vindicated now.
 
I’ve said it before and been shot down but I’m sure we pay Martial world class wages. Talk of selling him isn’t premature purely because he needs to go before it’s renewal time. Important development years were wasted between 2016-2018 playing in defensive systems on the LW or siting on the bench.
 
Players can have bad spell, can be out of form. The Covid is not an excuse as all the players are playing without a proper pre season, didn't get a rest etc.

What annoys me most is his attitude on the pitch. The guy is at the club for 5 years or more and just can't be aggressive enough in his game.

Man, just look at Rashford. He's playing out of position and with a shoulder injury, but he always tries to pass, to cross, to run in behind.

Martial is only playing with the ball, never gave the ball to Telles. His shot on Rashford goal was poor, you think a striker like Kane or Lewandowski would have curve it better, but his missing in front of the goal is unforgivable.

I have never been a fan of him, because he's not a winger and not a striker. He could only thrive in a 4-4-2 with a striker next to him, but he's not special enough to change the team for him.

I really hope that we'll go for Sancho, or the boy Diallo becomes a star, so that we can bench Martial, where he's the best.

I am fed up of him. And everything is down to Ole for having played him when we knew that he is out of form
 
Even in poor form, that was a glorious chance that anyone should be scoring it. He bottled it. Not just for the team but himself since he needed the goal to fix the poor form. And you can’t get any better chance than just a tap in goal chance. It’s not like you can make excuse for shit delivery, ball didn’t bounce, it was rolling smoothly on the ground.
 
I hope Martial start scoring goals so we can sell him for 40-50 million. Martial isn't what we need, he sulk when he doesn't get the ball, he doesn't press like some other strikers, lastly he is not clinical. In games, strikers sometimes only get 1-2 chances to score and those chances needs to be put away. Martial needs 4-5 chances to put away 1. Game against PSG, 2 golden opportunities and he missed. We need a striker who can score goals like Ronaldo, Cole, Ruud, Shearer and many others. Martial is not the one, Jose knew it. Only Ole thinks he knows better so now he have to rely on a 33 years old Cavani week in week out hopefully we can compete. Do we have any under 20 goal scoring machine? Can we call him up to the XI?
 
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