Barring spells of bad form his hold up play has always been good. Just needs to maintain the intensity we've seen since preseason. His natural ability is through the roof.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 29
- Goals
- 9
- Assists
- 3
- Yellow cards
- 0
- Status
Yes he has always been a link up player, the more of the ball he has the better he'll be.
Did anyone notice the part where he signaled the ball boy to take it slow and waste time 
Top class stuff!
Top class stuff!
He also encouraged the crowd. I remember a goal he created for Lingard, when he held the ball in the box, and turned it around for Lingard to run on and score.
The football world is filled with Rashford like pace merchants who can be decent.
But flair players with pace, finishing ability can grow into world beaters. That's what we have in Martial.
As ETH said for the whole team it's about attitude. Martial has the talent, he just needs to focus & apply it consistently (aka not get hurt).
Maybe he's playing well because of the world cup, and might go back to not bothered after?
27 soon and coming into his prime. It’ll be so good if he trusts the manager to develop and manage his football. Looked so involved with the team and the fans yesterday which i seldom saw in the last few years. Some of his dribbling to get out of tight spots was very good
Every season he's been the starter, he's performed well. He just has a problem of downing tools when he has competition.
Good thing ETH is here because this club seriously needs to modernize. Even our understanding of the position is dinosaur. A central forward flanked by 2 wide forwards needs to have capable hold up and link up. Shocker.
Even if Martial doesn't play, we should find someone else that can do this. The hold up that created Rashford's goal is the same type of situation Ronaldo bungled against Brentford for their first goal. Going forward I'm not even going to bother arguing anyone who still thinks Ronaldo does any of that better. He rarely even interchanges positions like Rashford and Sancho did on the first goal. Higher chance they run into each other.
Even if Martial doesn't play, we should find someone else that can do this. The hold up that created Rashford's goal is the same type of situation Ronaldo bungled against Brentford for their first goal. Going forward I'm not even going to bother arguing anyone who still thinks Ronaldo does any of that better. He rarely even interchanges positions like Rashford and Sancho did on the first goal. Higher chance they run into each other.
The question for me is can he stay fit? History tells us no, but I would love to believe ETH and his new staff are working on that
Forget all those Instagram celebrities
Tony is the real influencer.
From the bootom of my heart I would like to thank Mr Monchi for deciding against signing Martial for Sevilla because that saves us millions for a striker as good as him.
Absolutely my favourite United player since he came 7 years ago. He is a cytoplasm holding our offensive play more then anyone else. I know that his head was not always here and that injuries were not helping and also our team form and previous managers were not always on his side which resulted in him being not intrested, but let's be honest when his head is clear ( and I do not mean out of hair :P) and he is 100% fit, he is one of the most talented players we had over the years and what is more important he make everyone around him much better player and makes things happen.
We often say that some player had poor game but at least he put the ball in the back of the net because this is their main job, well Martial is that kind of striker that can be MOTM without having a goal and an assist, so when he hits top form and add those to his game like he was doing recenty there are not many players (if any) I would rather have to lead the line. So I really hope that he stays injury free and gets back to his best because his best is at the level of sending Monaco some fecking check.
Tony is the real influencer.
From the bootom of my heart I would like to thank Mr Monchi for deciding against signing Martial for Sevilla because that saves us millions for a striker as good as him.
Absolutely my favourite United player since he came 7 years ago. He is a cytoplasm holding our offensive play more then anyone else. I know that his head was not always here and that injuries were not helping and also our team form and previous managers were not always on his side which resulted in him being not intrested, but let's be honest when his head is clear ( and I do not mean out of hair :P) and he is 100% fit, he is one of the most talented players we had over the years and what is more important he make everyone around him much better player and makes things happen.
We often say that some player had poor game but at least he put the ball in the back of the net because this is their main job, well Martial is that kind of striker that can be MOTM without having a goal and an assist, so when he hits top form and add those to his game like he was doing recenty there are not many players (if any) I would rather have to lead the line. So I really hope that he stays injury free and gets back to his best because his best is at the level of sending Monaco some fecking check.
I have no idea how the rest of his season will pan out but those 45mins were outstanding
Were they though? I mean yea compared to the usual dross he is delivering it was good, but imo that was about it. I'm not buying this rebirth just yet.
A quality no.9 performance against top oppo
Totally agree mate, ive been a huge fan of Martial since i saw him live from the South Stand in his debut and saw him scoring that worldie against Liverpool
I have to admit when he went to Sevilla i had given up on him since he wanted out of the club. So yes thanks Monchi and Sevilla you fecked up royally and it is our gain thank feck!
His close control is so sliky its ridiculous!
He only played for 45 minutes, but he was our best forward. His hold up play, dribbling, and passing were excellent. Destroyed VVD a couple times as well.
The bit at 35 seconds was so good. We hadn’t held the ball for a good 2-3 minutes and he managed to take a bit of a hoof, completely control it, and start a counter.
Was absolutely fantastic. Just 45 minutes but that's as good as we've seen from him in years.
Though he's also made Van Dijk his bitch multiple times in the past anyway
Yes, it was outstanding. World class players couldn't get anywhere near him.
They were, he lacked scoring from that good movement where Allison reacted very fast. Magnificent 2nd half
For the last 15 mins of the first half we were struggling to hold the ball and get out of our half but once Martial came on from the start of the second, we were always a threat going forward.
Seems to have continued from his pre season form. We really need him to stay fit and perform to this level if we need to do well this season.
Seems to have continued from his pre season form. We really need him to stay fit and perform to this level if we need to do well this season.
You tend to forget how good his hold up play is. Good cameo from him. We know he has the talent, it's just consistency from him. If he keeps that form up we'd be more than happy
If Ronaldo was on the pitch for the first goal the move would of broken down with someone aiming a ball roughly in the direction of Ronaldo long before we worked it to sancho on the penalty spot.
He was phenomenal
He can get us some penalties too.
He’s always had the potential to have it all. I’d love it if he was to stay fit and confident and become a real asset. I’ll believe it when I see it, but I really do wanna see it.
Think the front line of rashford, martial and sancho is good but if we get Antony then he might replace martial as he’s always injured… But im unsure if a front 3 like that is good enough against lower teams. We need a natural goalscorer and target man against the lower teams. Against the top teams we’d get away with the same front 3 as last night because they have pace and will press… city/liverpool aren’t use to teams pressing them and attacking them with pace.
If he's fit he starts as there is no other forward on the team that can hold it up like he does (Antony or no Antony) and generally he makes everyone around him better, now if they start repaying the favours like Rashford should have and given him the pass after running past those three players, it would have been an easy goal for Martial and maybe we would have been comfortably 3-0 up instead of having to sweat it out at 2-1
Agreed… big if though staying fit. His hold up play is insane.
00:40 is everything we complain with Ronaldo. At an unlikely angle, just needs to hold the ball up, in a second or two he'll have two arriving options he could thread the needle to for an assist, he has the pass in his locker. Nah, let me kill the attack blasting from an already unlikely angle into row Z. This is all he does yet we have to hear how he's the only one who cares. This kind of egocentric football drives me crazy. I hope he never starts even when Martial inevitably gets injured.
This competition malarky comes out every other page. Its been disproven so many times but yet here we are.
Can you link me to where it’s been disproved? His worst seasons have come after the acquisitions of Zlatan, Ronaldo and Cavani.
Alright, alright I hate being the Debby downer, so yes he was great. Let's just hope he remembers how to do it next Saturday as well.
That’s the question but the talent is there. Him staying fit is what we need now.
That's a much fairer comment, I hope he can maintain this level as well.
Wonder if ETH will manage his playing time due to his injury record or just throw him back into it?
Zlatan season he was competing with Rashford on the left & won on merit despite Mourinho not fancying him.
Cavani was bought as a back up option - 33yo on a free, hardly competition. Same idea as Ighalo.
I really do too
So far, in brief examples from pre-season and 45 minutes on the pitch against Liverpool, United have played better with Martial at CF, than they have for the 140 minutes or so with Ronaldo at CF.
- Status