Has Martial done enough to be backed as our long-term #9?

cyril C said:
Agree. Unless we lose him for free, Martial will still return some value, although might be at a loss. Let's say we only get 20m for him, he still earns us 20+ goals a season for a few seasons, not a total loss. Sanchez was.
Click to expand...

Opportunity cost though. Although hard to quantify.

20 goals a season is ok if you look at it from vs. Nothing perspective. But if we dont have martial and have cavani instead? We never known what where we could have headed. We could finished 2nd or win an fa cup and go futher from there.

That comes at a heavy prices.

Moyes didnt cause us monetary loss from his signing but his 10 months tenure does a very detrimental long term effect
 
ghaliboy said:
I'm more sympathetic to him in that he kind-of got dicked around with the Cavani signing. I'm not going to cry with him about it because at his age and where his career is at and his (lets be honest, absolutely fecking ridiculous) wage, but I think it is a genuine aspect of why he hasn't had a good season. Football moves at breakneck speed today and there should be no time to cry about it if you want to play for a club like United.
Click to expand...

"Dicked around?" There's no way a club like Man Utd can afford to risk going into a season with only 2 players who can play strikers, one of whom is actually a starter on the left side of midfield.

If he's gonna sulk and drop his levels everytime players who play his position are brought in, then he's not going to be a good fit at the club.

Look at how Shaw responded to competition. That's the kind of reaction we should be getting.
 
Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell said:
Hoddle also said disabled people did something wrong in a previous life.

Andy Cole is the 3rd all time league scorer with 187 goals, not a single penalty either. What ever you think of Cole it's ridiculous to compare Martial to him in any sense. We'd walk this league with Andy Cole up front.
Click to expand...
That was my point bro, I was living in the NEast when we signed him. His transfer caused absolute pandemonium in Geordie land. Great striker if AM had his finishing you’re right we’d be right bang n there.
I was merely pointing out hoddle the donkey should have said it about AM not coley. Love Andy Cole sorry if the impression was I didn’t.
 
Fitchett said:
50 million down the drain. Martial for me is a typical Arsenal standard player. Plenty of talent, but absolutely no fight in him. The type who Wenger would have signed and Fergie steered well clear of.
Click to expand...
Not sure it's £50m. Was reading that there were three conditions, goals, international caps and ballon dor, by June 2019 or something. Think we only paid out on goals clause. Still a lot of money though.
 
I'd like to see him play up top with Cavani at times. We saw away to Everton in the cup where he created the goal for Cavani they are capable of playing together.

I think the rest of the season will be very important for Martial, he's on thin ice at present.
 
NinjaZombie said:
"Dicked around?" There's no way a club like Man Utd can afford to risk going into a season with only 2 players who can play strikers, one of whom is actually a starter on the left side of midfield.

If he's gonna sulk and drop his levels everytime players who play his position are brought in, then he's not going to be a good fit at the club.

Look at how Shaw responded to competition. That's the kind of reaction we should be getting.
Click to expand...
As I reinforced, I agree with that sentiment completely. But if you look at it from his angle he did get disked around. The club could have brought in another player at around his level or slightly below. Not an esteemed veteran. I'm only playing devils advocate and trying to present a counter argument to the situation. I completely believe that a United striker should do exactly what you've described and play up to the level not down.
 
ghaliboy said:
As I reinforced, I agree with that sentiment completely. But if you look at it from his angle he did get disked around. The club could have brought in another player at around his level or slightly below. Not an esteemed veteran. I'm only playing devils advocate and trying to present a counter argument to the situation. I completely believe that a United striker should do exactly what you've described and play up to the level not down.
Click to expand...

But bringing in a veteran is the perfect thing to do for him. Someone he can learn from, someone who won't be relied on to play all our games. Also means in a couple of years time, that veteran would've retired and whoever one of the younger strikers would actually be able to step up and be relied on.
 
Handré1990 said:
Starting to look pretty accurate actually, but I hope it’s not the case. Don’t know about the fifty million down the drains though, he’s given me a lot of great moments in our shirt. It just doesn’t work for him anymore, or he doesn’t work anymore, whatever.
Click to expand...

ThreeCorners said:
Not sure it's £50m. Was reading that there were three conditions, goals, international caps and ballon dor, by June 2019 or something. Think we only paid
Click to expand...
Yes, I was sarcastically repeating the Martial chant at Old Trafford. We've obviously had service out of him, that £50m sum included add ons which he won't achieve and we should recoup some transfer fee, when we sell him, unless we allow him to run down his contract and leave on a free.
 
I really do not know what ogs sees in martial?

He is one of the most irritating players utd have had for some time

He is a waste of a team player and ole needs to cut his losses and get rid asap
 
Doesn’t move. Gets the ball with his back to goal on the half way line the majority of his touches. Therefore I do not know what he brings to the team as a CF on current form. Sad state of affairs for someone so talented!
 
thesheriffjw said:
I really do not know what ogs sees in martial?

He is one of the most irritating players utd have had for some time

He is a waste of a team player and ole needs to cut his losses and get rid asap
Click to expand...
Dude, it was a meaningless match. Perfect time to play Martial is in these games now.
 
He’s done well tonight, made sure he didn’t injure himself by exerting himself.

Tony knows how to manage his body
LAZY FECKIN CNUT!!
 
thesheriffjw said:
I really do not know what ogs sees in martial?

He is one of the most irritating players utd have had for some time

He is a waste of a team player and ole needs to cut his losses and get rid asap
Click to expand...
He has ability we seen it at various times, to be a utd player he has to be more consistent, irritating is a good word, I definitely think he's not good enough to be our number 9, but he'll go somewhere and produce same, and when he does he will say why didn't we keep him, he needs to go and free up keeping cavani and buying another striker
 
galwayfa said:
He has ability we seen it at various times, to be a utd player he has to be more consistent, irritating is a good word, I definitely think he's not good enough to be our number 9, but he'll go somewhere and produce same, and when he does he will say why didn't we keep him, he needs to go and free up keeping cavani and buying another striker
Click to expand...

He has been consistent this season though. Consistently shit.
 
Numerous times James cut in expecting Martial to move into space,like a proper forward would, yet he was stood there like a statue.
It got pretty funny in the end.
 
This entire game has been some singular, gruelling exercise in our season long experiment in attempting to play Martial back into some semblance of first team form, and a connection with these players... there was literally no point in brining on Rashford, unless it was to force some muscle memory connection between them - and it has failed yet again..

I feel tangibly older for having watched it.
 
Poor. I dunno how he can go from having his best ever season at the club and look like he may cement himself as our no. 9 for years to come to looking absolutely terrible and play his worst football since joining the club. Mind boggling. :wenger:
 
Slows things down. Just poor mentality outshadowing decent skills he still possess, hopefully.
 
He's performing absolutely dreadfully. Close to zero out of ten rate
 
Bet he's that kind of kid when young other kids stole toys and he didn't mind, didn't even care, didn't notice. What a nothing player. His movement is like Berba's without poaching skills and overal ability. Need a striker seriously. Let Amad, Greenwood, Pelistri fight that right hand side and buy Haaland.
 
His heart is not in it. It's a write-off season for him and he's not even trying at this point.

Weak mentality, wasting so much talent.
 
How many goals are we expecting him to finish the season on by the way ?

Currently 4 in the league and 7 total in 32 fecking games.

I'll bet on 8 in the league and 15 total by the end of the season.
 
el3mel said:
How many goals are we expecting him to finish the season on by the way ?
Click to expand...
I have no expectations from him. One bad game vs Spurs at the beginning of the season and he still can't rebuild himself from that.

I just stopped waiting on some of our players to remind themselves for what club they're playing. Pathetic attitude still flooding the club, even after getting rid of Lukaku and Sanchez.
 
NinjaZombie said:
But bringing in a veteran is the perfect thing to do for him. Someone he can learn from, someone who won't be relied on to play all our games. Also means in a couple of years time, that veteran would've retired and whoever one of the younger strikers would actually be able to step up and be relied on.
Click to expand...
In theory, but is there any evidence to suggest that? Considering what has happened? But again, I agree with you.
 
el3mel said:
How many goals are we expecting him to finish the season on by the way ?

Currently 4 in the league and 7 total in 32 fecking games.

I'll bet on 8 in the league and 15 total by the end of the season.
Click to expand...

So double his tally with a third of the season left. It's a chore having to watch him.
 
Stats since 2015/2016
Giroud : 49 PL goals
Martial : 55 PL goals

They both have 4 PL goals this season. Also, Giroud from 2012/13 to 2016/17 consistently scored 10+ PL goals. He banged in more goals than Martial in his first 5 seasons, the younger version of Giroud.

One is supposed to be the at the end of his PL career, living off as a meme legend of the past. While the other is supposed to be at the top of his playing career. It's not looking great is it? I mean you would not rate Giroud as an exceptionally talented would you..? Martial on the other hand looked like he had all the talents. It's a shame how this all plays out. We cannot rely on Martial as a long term goal scorer, not our main goal scorer at least.

Unless if we're only aiming to only be a Top 2-4 team. It might suffice.
 
Last edited:
I wouldnt mind if he put in some effort and just wasnt getting goals, if he made decent runs or got himself into decent goal scoring positions and it just wasn't happening for him or just not going in. But he really is just a shadow of a player, He needs to go.
 
FrankDrebin said:
Numerous times James cut in expecting Martial to move into space,like a proper forward would, yet he was stood there like a statue.
It got pretty funny in the end.
Click to expand...
Yeah he tends to do that because he is more confident shooting from just inside the box that fighting for a cross. His default reaction is to stay back for a pull back. I find that extremely frustrating. He is just playing for himself and not the team.
 
It’s not hard to imagine Martial scoring one more goal this season, maybe two. Three, well, that’s a bridge too far.
 
Van Piorsing said:
I have no expectations from him. One bad game vs Spurs at the beginning of the season and he still can't rebuild himself from that.

I just stopped waiting on some of our players to remind themselves for what club they're playing. Pathetic attitude still flooding the club, even after getting rid of Lukaku and Sanchez.
Click to expand...
Stark contrast to the great sides Sir Alex built. Those teams were composed of players with mental strength and you had them all over the pitch, not just one or two key positions.
 
Going through the league, the only teams I believe have worse starting strikers than Martial are Wolves (only due to Jimenez injury), Crystal Palace, Burnley, Newcastle, Fulham, West Brom, and Sheffield. I think you need to get all the way to 12th in the table before he improves a team. Yes, I'd rather have Antonio, Watkins, and Bamford. I feel like any of them would give it all to play as United's number 9 whereas all ours does is sulk when it gets tough.
 
Martial needs to learn from someone like RVP on how to do forward runs. Problem is RVP left before Martial came so Martial could not have learnt from him.

Then other players he looked to at that time: Rooney, Zlatan, Lukaku, Alexis all had different styles of play from him so it's quite hard to learn about forward runs from them.
 
I like Martial and think he is a good footballer. However, the output over the years has been very inconsistent.

Also I am not 100% convinced that Greenwood is that good on the wing, I see his future as number 9 so we should probably start to play him there more often.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.