Saha vs Martial

RedDevilCanuck

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Two talented, injured plagued players whose careers fizzled due to their bodies breaking.

Who had more talent? Who had the better career? Who would have gone further if they stayed healthy?

If people forget, Saha didn't look out of place next to Rooney and Ronaldo. In fact, at the time he was more consistent and he could do pretty much everything as a forward with ridiculous athleticism to boot.
 
Is this a genuine question?

Martial was very good for a teenage player, but Saha wins every category.
 
Martial FC will never die.

Absolute waste of space that guy.

Saha all the way.
 
Ridiculous comparison. Saha all the way. Could do everything Martial does and more. Explosive, dynamic, touch, better finisher. Only thing that curtailed Saha is injury, not a lack of determination.
 
Saha was talented but Martial was literally the best young player in the world and won that golden boy award. In his first season for Manchester United people on this forum were calling him our Messi because of his dribble skills. The red mist that some people seem to get when Martial is mentioned makes them forgot how good and talented Martial actually was at a certain period during his Manchester United career.

Martial had more talent. Saha actually managed to play some football in his mid twenties though. Martial was broken after the 19/20 season.
 
Though his finishing was erratic, I would go with Saha all day long.
 
Martial was better, although not by much. equally unavailable, but in the end simply a better goalscorer which I rate the most when it comes to forwards.

Saha was the part of our last true great side and will always get votes because of those memories, but he would become a popular target in current team, just like some others.
 
Martial was signed in the hope he might become something. Louis Saha was signed to improve the league champions. This isnt a contest.
 
Saha. He’d be a £100m footballer right now.

Martial could have been better and clearly had oodles of natural talent, but he had a wisp of a career. Saha benched Ruud, deservedly.
 
My kneejerk reaction was to say obviously Saha but, tbf to Martial, he did actually score goals at a better rate for us than Saha did. And his career-best season of 17 non-penalty league goals was better than anything Saha managed for any of his PL clubs.
 
sullydnl said:
My kneejerk reaction was to say obviously Saha but, tbf to Martial, he did actually score goals at a better rate for us than Saha did. And his career-best season of 17 non-penalty league goals was better than anything Saha managed for any of his PL clubs.
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Saha: A goal every 175 minutes, G/A every 127 minutes

Martial: A goal every 219 minutes, G/A every 144 minutes
 
sullydnl said:
My kneejerk reaction was to say obviously Saha but, tbf to Martial, he did actually score goals at a better rate for us than Saha did. And his career-best season of 17 non-penalty league goals was better than anything Saha managed for any of his PL clubs.
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most of those who will say "not even close" or something similar don't even remember watching Saha. they simply associate regularly injured Martial with our recent shitty years and that's it.

funnily enough, it's Saha himself who said Martial was as good as Henry at same age after his first season here.
 
Saha…
Finally I have a pick for the ‚players you forgot existed‘ thread.
 
Martial had more technical ability.

Saha the clear winner in all other categories and the final analysis.
 
Martial was a better player than Saha. Better dribbler, better finisher, better passer.

Both had a great first touch, Saha was slightly stronger and faster but only marginally.

Those saying "Saha clearly" are being clouded either by nostalgia or a dislike for Martial.
 
Read Saha as Salah at first and dismissed as some sort of parody thread. Answer still remains 'not martial'.
 
It’s hard to compare players in different eras, how would Saha have performed had he played for us for the last 8 years instead of under Ferguson? He might have struggled imo.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Martial was a better player than Saha. Better dribbler, better finisher, better passer.

Both had a great first touch, Saha was slightly stronger and faster but only marginally.

Those saying "Saha clearly" are being clouded either by nostalgia or a dislike for Martial.
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He wasn't though. He was maybe easier on the eyes when on song but Saha was better in the air, quicker, stronger and just as good a passer. His finishing certainly wasn't way off Martial either, if at all.
 
Saha benefits from the fact that he joined at United at the start of a successful period. If his years at United had been when Martial played then his spells of injuries and patchy form would have been just as frustrating
 
So many clueless people dismissing Martial as some championship level player, just because his career never came close to the heights it could've, but the natural ability was undeniably there. Like you have to be godawful at spotting talent if you think it wasn't.

And he still has 90 G/A in 209 PL games when he never played in a title contender team, just a top 4 contender side.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Those saying "Saha clearly" are being clouded either by nostalgia or a dislike for Martial.
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and would be the first ones to suggest replacement striker after he (Saha) miss the first three months of the season yet again. neither of them failed because they weren't good enough. they simply couldn't stay fit.
 
Pickle85 said:
He wasn't though. He was maybe easier on the eyes when on song but Saha was better in the air, quicker, stronger and just as good a passer. His finishing certainly wasn't way off Martial either, if at all.
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Neither were outstanding in the air so it's an irrelevance. Both were okay at winning knock ons, Martial probably scored more headers.

Slightly quicker and stronger, not as good at passing, not as good at finishing, not as good at dribbling.

Either way I don't think preferring Saha is an absurd opinion, I loved Saha when fit. What is absurd is saying "not even close" like we have seen here.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Martial was a better player than Saha. Better dribbler, better finisher, better passer.

Both had a great first touch, Saha was slightly stronger and faster but only marginally.

Those saying "Saha clearly" are being clouded either by nostalgia or a dislike for Martial.
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Both were very good players IMO, and I don't want to choose between them, but nevertheless, there's such an unfair bias towards the players of the past among most football fans, and then add to that that a lot of people cannot contextualize the environments and systems players played in when comparing them, and it leads to some weird opinions. Martial was one of the best teenage talents of the 2010s. If injuries never hindered him, and he went to a stable club with a better environment, he could've been one of the best and most exciting players in the league for a decade straight. The perception of him would be totally different.
 
Rojofiam said:
Both were very good players IMO, and I don't want to choose between them, but nevertheless, there's such an unfair bias towards the players of the past among most football fans, and then add to that that a lot of people cannot contextualize the environments and systems players played in when comparing them, and it leads to some weird opinions. Martial was one of the best teenage talents of the 2010s.
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Oh yeah I definitely don't want to downplay Saha. I thought he was brilliant at times.

If I remember correctly he was actually the most highly rated in his year at the Clairefontaine academy, a class that included Henry and Trezeguet.
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Neither were outstanding in the air so it's an irrelevance. Both were okay at winning knock ons, Martial probably scored more headers.

Slightly quicker and stronger, not as good at passing, not as good at finishing, not as good at dribbling.

Either way I don't think preferring Saha is an absurd opinion, I loved Saha when fit. What is absurd is saying "not even close" like we have seen here
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Martial missed more big chances across fewer PL games than Saha, and Saha scored more headers...
 
Pickle85 said:
Martial missed more big chances across fewer PL games than Saha, and Saha scored more headers...
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Anyone who watched both regularly and can't tell that Martial was a better finisher I can't really help.

Do those "big chances" stats even go back to 2004? I'd question how reliable they are but feel free to provide.
 
I feel like Martial was more productive for United than Saha
 
Bole Top said:
most of those who will say "not even close" or something similar don't even remember watching Saha. they simply associate regularly injured Martial with our recent shitty years and that's it.

funnily enough, it's Saha himself who said Martial was as good as Henry at same age after his first season here.
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Henry only really became the player he was in his 20s though
 
OverratedOpinion said:
Oh yeah I definitely don't want to downplay Saha. I thought he was brilliant at times.

If I remember correctly he was actually the most highly rated in his year at the Clairefontaine academy, a class that included Henry and Trezeguet.
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There are so many vastly talented players that don't go on to fulfill their potential. It's sad. We've had a good number of them post-SAF too. Jones, Januzaj, Greenwood and Martial come to mind. As it stands, Rashford and Shaw too. We have been probably the worst top club in terms of nurturing talent at first team level in the last decade.
 
Rojofiam said:
So many clueless people dismissing Martial as some championship level player, just because his career never came close to the heights it could've, but the natural ability was undeniably there. Like you have to be godawful at spotting talent if you think it wasn't.

And he still has 90 G/A in 209 PL games when he never played in a title contender team, just a top 4 contender side.
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You don’t have to be so abrasive to make your points. Please cut that out. You’re also setting a tone by calling people clueless before opining.

In regard to the question, Saha is more complete, more eclectic and isn’t as easy to nullify if his primary route to scoring is unavailable. Martial was a real gem in his first season, but his off the ball movement was poor and it barely improved as his dribbling skills declined due to injury. By contrast Saha was exceptional as an off-the-ball runner and he aided teammates with said movement even if he himself didn’t get on the score sheet.

You mention Martial in relation to “only” playing in top 4 contender sides, seemingly forgetting Saha’s performance level at Fulham is what earned him the move here.
 
I'd say it's closer than a lot of people are making out, and Martial's best season (19/20) was arguably better than Saha's best season.

The thing that swings it Saha's way though is that his average season was quite a bit better than Martial's. Martial had a couple of truly awful seasons, and a few more that he was very up-and-down.

OverratedOpinion said:
Neither were outstanding in the air so it's an irrelevance. Both were okay at winning knock ons, Martial probably scored more headers.
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Unless I'm misremembering, Saha was actually very good in the air. It's arguably the aspect that has the biggest difference between them.
 
The White Pele said:
Saha benefits from the fact that he joined at United at the start of a successful period. If his years at United had been when Martial played then his spells of injuries and patchy form would have been just as frustrating
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This. Good post. They had similar levels of ability with Martial shading it but Saha was more of a fighter. He'd be slaughtered these days the same way as Martial was. Look as Rasmus being called shite even though he puts his body on the line all the time. You can't please these muppets unless its Messi or Ronaldo and even then they would probably find something to get upset about. If a good player is injury prone that's probably the end of it for them in the PL.
 
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