Is Martial the best dribbler in the league?

2 man midfield said:
I never said Rashford was better? I’d have him third out of all of them, quite a way behind Greenwood and Martial.
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Based on your message, that means you believe Greenwood is our best dribbler as you didnt think Martial was our best.

I'm honestly doubting whether you understand what dribbling is....and I don't mean to be patronising. But Greenwood is absolutely not a dribbler. It's very rare you will ever see him dribble past a player in a game. Yes, he has a brilliant touch and close control.....but to regard him as our best dribbler is mind boggling.
 
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People are confusing dribbling with doing little tricks and skills. Rashford is better at that, but absolutely no way on god's green earth is he a better and more effective dribbler than Martial. It's really not even close; but to be honest, after reading half of the comments here, it's no surprise to me that clueless people think otherwise.
 
2 man midfield said:
Greenwood, from what we’ve seen so far, is more dangerous with his dribbling. He runs at people at speed, eats up space, does step overs, commits defenders and even scores goals at the end of it. His goals against Sheffield United for example.

Martial has good close control but is too slow with it. He does everything from a standing start. I’m not saying martial is a bad dribbler at all, quite the opposite. All I’m saying is I prefer to watch someone like Greenwood take someone on at speed than martial. It’s more exciting.

I never said Rashford was better? I’d have him third out of all of them, quite a way behind Greenwood and Martial.
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You seem to be getting dribbling ability and your preference mixed up. Martial is by far our best dribbler.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:






https://www.whoscored.com/
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Number's don't really mean shit.

Martial plays through the middle, as a striker, where it is infinitely harder to dribble past an opponent as it is on the wing and in the middle of the pitch. Number of dribble's and dribble success rate is always going to be lower on a striker vs. other positions. That doesn't mean he's worse; it just means his position is conducive to naturally lower statistics. Saying that, a successful take on for a striker usually results in a key attacking move - such as a goal, assist or attempt on goal. The same can't be said for wingers/midfielders.
 
He just showed the full package when it comes to dribbling, whether it was from stand still, in the middle of a run, with a first touch; he was just unstoppable. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but you lose my attention immediately when you try to argue there's anybody else on the team that's a better dribbler.
 
Leethal said:
Number's don't really mean shit.

Martial plays through the middle, as a striker, where it is infinitely harder to dribble past an opponent as it is on the wing and in the middle of the pitch. Number of dribble's and dribble success rate is always going to be lower on a striker vs. other positions. That doesn't mean he's worse; it just means his position is conducive to naturally lower statistics. Saying that, a successful take on for a striker usually results in a key attacking move - such as a goal, assist or attempt on goal. The same can't be said for wingers/midfielders.
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I was literally just providing the numbers for people to have a look at. Not sure why you've taken offence to it.
 
Raven said:
You seem to be getting dribbling ability and your preference mixed up. Martial is by far our best dribbler.
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Indeed. It's not really debateable really. Anyone with a working pair of eyes and a lack of bias knows that Martial has been our best dribbler since we signed him. Having a trick or two up your sleeve (Rashford) does not make you a better dribbler. Having the technical ability and control to manipulate the ball in tight spaces to your will, does. And Martial has always been the best we have at that.

Maybe Greenwood will develop in this regard but based on what we've seen thus far he's behind Martial (but has time to improve).
 
amolbhatia50k said:
Indeed. It's not really debateable really. Anyone with a working pair of eyes and a lack of bias knows that Martial has been our best dribbler since we signed him. Having a trick or two up your sleeve (Rashford) does not make you a better dribbler. Having the technical ability and control to manipulate the ball in tight spaces to your will, does. And Martial has always been the best we have at that.

Maybe Greenwood will develop in this regard but based on what we've seen thus far he's behind Martial (but has time to improve).
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Agreed. Upon looking at our players, most of them have great dribbling abilities, technically.

But Martial is a different case, he got the right deadly combination that makes him the best in the team. Speed, agility, technique and precision.

Rashford is explosive and skillful, Pogba is everything minus the speed, Fred is neat, Mata is neat, Matic is good, Maguire... everyone is decent in this current team.
 
Walters_19_MuFc said:
I was literally just providing the numbers for people to have a look at. Not sure why you've taken offence to it.
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I'm sorry. It wasn't directed at you. It was directed to people who use numbers to back up their arguments, when there is so many variables.
 
I guess the OP was trying to imply something different. He probably means that players who have excellent close control while running and gliding past player.
There can be lots of players who can dribble but gliding past players is just something different. Like, for example, ronaldo and messi both are excellent players but messi glides past players. So he has different aura about him (Although I am a Ronaldo fan)
To me, Martial gives me that Henry'esque feeling. Those probably who could do that better would be in that Eden Hazard mould
 
Best close-control dribbler in the league, no question. Mane isn't the same kind of dribbler, really, he's more like Rashford in that sense (or Rashford before the back injury and lockdown, anyway :nervous:). Martial dribbles like Messi or Hazard, with the ball absolutely glued to his foot.
 
Glorio said:
Or ironically, just lazy

This be fair, it's been a long time since I heard anyone refer to Martial as lazy. Definitely not since the turn of the year. Someone obviously needs to give their head a wobble
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Yeah, he's been like a man possessed recently

As for his dribbling, it's not hit and run like Traore and utilises far more skill and technique than any player in the league.

Hazard is the only other one like that I can remember recently.
 
2 man midfield said:
Greenwood, from what we’ve seen so far, is more dangerous with his dribbling. He runs at people at speed, eats up space, does step overs, commits defenders and even scores goals at the end of it. His goals against Sheffield United for example.

Martial has good close control but is too slow with it. He does everything from a standing start. I’m not saying martial is a bad dribbler at all, quite the opposite. All I’m saying is I prefer to watch someone like Greenwood take someone on at speed than martial. It’s more exciting.

I never said Rashford was better? I’d have him third out of all of them, quite a way behind Greenwood and Martial.
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Tbh, you're the only one seeing this.

What greenwood is known for is his finishing, line up 10 Man Utd fans and only one (you) would mention his dribbling ability.

Rashford has shown more dribbling ability than him and Martial knocks them both out of the park.
 
Chief123 said:
Based on your message, that means you believe Greenwood is our best dribbler as you didnt think Martial was our best.

I'm honestly doubting whether you understand what dribbling is....and I don't mean to be patronising. But Greenwood is absolutely not a dribbler. It's very rare you will ever see him dribble past a player in a game. Yes, he has a brilliant touch and close control.....but to regard him as our best dribbler is mind boggling.
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Anybody can be a dribbler? Harry Maguire dribbles with the ball sometimes, he just isn’t very good at it. I’ve never said Martial is bad at it by the way, he’s not. He’s great in fact. But the way people in here are carrying on you’d think he was Maradona.
Raven said:
You seem to be getting dribbling ability and your preference mixed up. Martial is by far our best dribbler.
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I didn’t realise it was subjective. In that case I need to know, who’s my second favourite dribbler?
yfoFC said:
Tbh, you're the only one seeing this.

What greenwood is known for is his finishing, line up 10 Man Utd fans and only one (you) would mention his dribbling ability.

Rashford has shown more dribbling ability than him and Martial knocks them both out of the park.
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I’m aware it doesn’t seem to be a popular opinion, but that’s what football is - a game of opinions. If Greenwood wasn’t a good dribbler, Ole wouldn’t trust him on the wing. Yet he’s gone out there and looked very threatening coming in off the right.

Perhaps his dribbling is overshadowed by his finishing because he just doesn’t miss, but a lot of his goals he makes for himself by carrying the ball forward. Martial doesn’t really do that, even when he played wide. I can think of a couple of instances over the last 5 years. His debut, his run against Fulham, but that’s about it. Greenwood gets on the ball and makes things happen, see his goals against Sheffield Utd. Martial has the ball glued to his foot at times, but if he doesn’t do a lot with it then what’s the point?
 
2 man midfield said:
He didn’t. He looks like a different player now.
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Martial had periods under Mourinho were he was one of our best players. Then Mourinho would invariably drop him anyway. He wasn't as consistent as he was in this and his first season, but it's hard to be consistent when you're being blatantly mismanaged because the manager doesn't like you.
 
He is the best dribbler in our team and the best close control one in the league. Nobody has the ball glued as close to his feet as Martial while running.

But best overall dribbler in the league i don't know. There are some great ones around, and he is one of them
 
Isn't Pogba our best dribbler? Martial will come a close second.
 
2 man midfield said:
Anybody can be a dribbler? Harry Maguire dribbles with the ball sometimes, he just isn’t very good at it. I’ve never said Martial is bad at it by the way, he’s not. He’s great in fact. But the way people in here are carrying on you’d think he was Maradona.
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No one said that, but he's definitely better than Greenwood and Rashford at dribbling, who are about level with each other in that regard IMO, but I expect Greenwood to surpass Marcus soon, and he can be potentially more dangerous than either of them because of that quick trigger, power, and accuracy; but he's not a better dribbler than Martial.

Perhaps his dribbling is overshadowed by his finishing because he just doesn’t miss, but a lot of his goals he makes for himself by carrying the ball forward. Martial doesn’t really do that, even when he played wide. I can think of a couple of instances over the last 5 years. His debut, his run against Fulham, but that’s about it. Greenwood gets on the ball and makes things happen, see his goals against Sheffield Utd. Martial has the ball glued to his foot at times, but if he doesn’t do a lot with it then what’s the point?
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You have a really limited memory of Martial's goals then if those are the only ones you can remember in his 5 years here.
 
Sancho is nowhere near Martial if you get rid of the English bias.
 
snk123 said:
Sancho is nowhere near Martial if you get rid of the English bias.
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I'm a big Martial fan but I completely disagree with that, Sancho is very special and his output is up there with the very best players in the world. Not to mention, Martial and Sancho would work very well together.
 
Leethal said:
I'm sorry. It wasn't directed at you. It was directed to people who use numbers to back up their arguments, when there is so many variables.
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Fair enough. I too think Martial is our best dribbler by the way. Amongst one of the best in the league, actually. When he dribbles at the speed and precision as we saw yesterday, there's not many that come close.
 
2 man midfield said:
Anybody can be a dribbler? Harry Maguire dribbles with the ball sometimes, he just isn’t very good at it. I’ve never said Martial is bad at it by the way, he’s not. He’s great in fact. But the way people in here are carrying on you’d think he was Maradona.
I didn’t realise it was subjective. In that case I need to know, who’s my second favourite dribbler?

I’m aware it doesn’t seem to be a popular opinion, but that’s what football is - a game of opinions. If Greenwood wasn’t a good dribbler, Ole wouldn’t trust him on the wing. Yet he’s gone out there and looked very threatening coming in off the right.

Perhaps his dribbling is overshadowed by his finishing because he just doesn’t miss, but a lot of his goals he makes for himself by carrying the ball forward. Martial doesn’t really do that, even when he played wide. I can think of a couple of instances over the last 5 years. His debut, his run against Fulham, but that’s about it. Greenwood gets on the ball and makes things happen, see his goals against Sheffield Utd. Martial has the ball glued to his foot at times, but if he doesn’t do a lot with it then what’s the point?
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Just saw this, you must be joking I think. Am guessing you did not watch the westham game during van gaal's last season, the Everton one in the fa cup that season,his goal for the first epl game we played when ole came in, the first game in Mourinho 2nd season when he came in as a substitute, the one against partizan in the Europa league, there are so many more am sure I can find if I look into his highlight reel. Greenwood is a great player but when it comes to dribling martial is one of the best in the game currently.
 
Becks00 said:
Just saw this, you must be joking I think. Am guessing you did not watch the westham game during van gaal's last season, the Everton one in the fa cup that season,his goal for the first epl game we played when ole came in, the first game in Mourinho 2nd season when he came in as a substitute, the one against partizan in the Europa league, there are so many more am sure I can find if I look into his highlight reel. Greenwood is a great player but when it comes to dribling martial is one of the best in the game currently.
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And you think I’m joking!
 
He did something a couple of weeks ago and can’t decide if he meant it or it was just luck. Can’t recall who it was against but it was like he knocked it past someone and went on to the ball but he didn’t touch the ball and somehow it still went past the player and he moved on to it.
 
It seems like he's disinterested but in reality the injuries might have taken thier toll. He just looks so laboured when he's running like he's towing a fecking trailer on his back.
 
Just very hard to dribble when you have no pace left - see also Sancho (although at least Martial is strong) Still one of our most technical forwards which is worrying.
 
This isn't the same guy who averaged 6 dribbles per game in his first PL season.
 
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