Not for me at all. Saha is quite handful at holding up play. Better linking up play too. Better finishing in different situation. Better movement off ball... Martial's potential is higher but different type of player
10
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 46
- Goals
- 28
- Assists
- 9
- Yellow cards
- 8
- Status
He doesn't have to be identical, he only needs to be bring enough to the table to be a good centre-forward. Martial has that. And his link up play is fine. His passing is better than Zlatan's and his pace/dribbling will make it harder for defenders to get touch-tight the way they're doing with our CF at the moment.
Brilliant player doing very well as far as I'm concerned.
That's just not true. Everyone had the same argument about Rooney a month ago but now apparently its been zlatan we are based around to our detriment. That's not how the team is set up, he is obviously a focal point being a striker but the tactics from there aren't dictated by him. Martial and mkhi play pretty much free, Pogba doesn't seem under any instruction going forward although he does defensively with being a centre mid he needs to. Our tactics are there to get the best out of everyone and the team, not Zlatan.
No pace? Martial, Mikhi, Rashford and Lingard, is that enough pace? Pace has nothing to do with our problems.
That's true but at the same time a bit misleading. He's the sole striker for a team that's created almost as any chances as anybody else. Surely being joint fourth with Sunderlands striker and Chelsea's winger is the least we should expect?
One ahead of Crystal Palace's striker, closer to Leroy Fer(6)and Charlie Austin(6) than he is to Costa.
I'm not particularly criticising his goal scoring but it's a bit dodgy to use his position in the scorers chart as a defence.
He could do both? That would be good, to be fair his performance today shouldn't be under the micro scope when tactical errors and a joke of a footballer cost us 3 points.
Pogba's performance was diabolical today as well which definitely won't of helped zlatan
Strongly disagree. Zlatan's role is currently very limited. Being utilized fully, Zlatan passing game is way way better than anything I see from Martial. Zlatan's not simple your target man, he helps building up attack, too.
Martial pace and dribbling is more efficient coming from wide areas or from deep. He often disappears with team sitting deep.
I rate Saha's hold up play and aerial ability over even Zlatan. Martial at this time is clearly behind in these areas.
This.
When he had loads of chances, posters moaned, ignoring the positive that he got in position for those chances and the goalies had 'worldies'.
When he has one chance (which Martial, Rooney, Lingard, Rashford would never have scored), it's still not good enough?
before the goal he was absolutely terrible, got better afterwards. I think he should do better than that even though he's quite effective lately
You could argue Mourinho misuses him in some way with the amount of hoofing we do to him.
We treat him like a Fellaini at times.
Although, he's been getting some of these lately, when he didn't in the beginning.
We treat him like a Fellaini at times.
Although, he's been getting some of these lately, when he didn't in the beginning.
I am not sure what I expected from him, but so far he has been slower than I expected and not as clinical a finisher as I thought. Maybe it is his form, maybe it is his age or maybe I just expected too much.
I'd argue that we don't have the same quality of supporting cast that he used to enjoy at PSG. The movement off the ball of our attacking players behind him bar Mata has been sub par.
Maybe..but even when he has gotten chances he has been surpisingly bad at taking them. I expected him to be much more clinical. Plus his passing has been shocking at times.
Also French league being dogsh** compared to EPL isn't helping either.
I thought he had a pretty poor game yesterday, some of his decisions, when to lay the ball off etc, were not good.
I agree. Rashford should come on for him imo
His most important job is to score goals, and he did that yesterday, so no complaints about his contribution yesterday from me.
What on earth is going on with his free kicks though? He's probably had close to 10 attempts already, and they've been among the worst free kicks I've ever seen. Do we actively practice being shit at free kicks?
What on earth is going on with his free kicks though? He's probably had close to 10 attempts already, and they've been among the worst free kicks I've ever seen. Do we actively practice being shit at free kicks?
Needs to quit dropping deep.
He's contributing a lot more than RVN who was a lot more limited with his all round play. Zlatan was left so isolated in the 2nd half, it didn't matter who played up front if their left like that.
I had very few complaints about his second half yesterday. Minus the goal, his first half display was horrid.
But of all the problems in the team, Zlatan is the best one to have because he's very very good. He'll carve a defence open, he'll score a goal, he'll bring others into play, he'll hold it up there. His mobility was never is strong point and even worse at the age of 35, but he's doing a decent job in the circumstances.
He's so isolated at times because we still don't know how to set up the 5 behind him.
But of all the problems in the team, Zlatan is the best one to have because he's very very good. He'll carve a defence open, he'll score a goal, he'll bring others into play, he'll hold it up there. His mobility was never is strong point and even worse at the age of 35, but he's doing a decent job in the circumstances.
He's so isolated at times because we still don't know how to set up the 5 behind him.
That's who he is as a player and one of the strengths he provides to the team.
The issue is when he drops deep, and no one takes his place or makes runs in the open channels(something Martial has to improve on).
If we are protecting a lead like yesterday then yeah we should take him off and bring on Rashford or push Martial up front to give us some speed up top on the counter.
That's how he's played all his life Dwazza. What we need is players like Mkhi, Mata, Martial, Rooney to run into the spaces he creates.
Exactly and attack wide from counters no need for his hold up game in those moments.
I agree. Mourinho has to stop playing him for 90 min in every game.
Yes.Glad we agree on something, you and i
I understand you thought I was bias towards Zlatan because I'm Swedish but honestly, I always try to look at this topic objectively. And I do aknowledge all the negatives about him. We would be higher up the table if he scored some of those sitters.Yes.
All good mate, all good. When he's playing good i praise him and acknowledge it but when he's poor i also don't hold back.
But that'd mean more of Fellaini due to losing Zlatan's height.
Where does this logic that we must have one of Fellaini or Zlatan on the pitch at all times come from?
Sure it's handy to have another 6'5'' guy on the pitch for defending set pieces no doubt. But you shouldn't be selecting your team around it, Everton on sunday was a great example of a game where we needed more pace to counter once Everton got on top and we were dropping deeper and deeper.
It's the centre backs job to deal with high balls/crosses/corners etc. We were very successful for years without having a Fellaini type on the bench to bring on to defend leads.
He's good when dropping deep, he can create chances, space and when on song his overall play is quite good. It's rather that other players should use that space
The manager obviously @stevoc
No doubt due to him watching games like West Ham away last season and not trusting the team.
You mean when we had defenders like Rio, Vidic, Stam, Bruce, Pallister?
The manager obviously @stevoc
Well it's silly which is the point, by that logic if Ibrahimovic is injured or suspended we then have to play Fellaini simply for height. Regardless of how well the other midfielders are playing, Fellaini's not even great in the air.
The West Ham game was down to Van Gaal playing a 5'10'' midfielder at centre back against one of the tallest teams in the league instead of a proper defender, not the lack of Fellaini.
You also don't need to have world class defenders like Rio or Vidic to defend a set piece. Heading the ball is one of the fundamental skills a centre back must possess, Smalling, Bailly, Jones and Rojo are all good to decent at it. And any combination of those players should be good enough to defend high balls without disturbing the rest of the team by trying to shoehorn someone like Fellaini in. If they aren't capable of that then we replace them with defenders who can.
In all fairness in that West Ham game Herrera, Blind and Valencia gave away some really idiotic free kicks from which we conceded.
Whilst I agree 100%, obviously both LVG & Mourinho don't, which is the problem.
Zlatan coming off for Rashford would simply lead to Mourinho being even more cautious and playing Fellaini, and that was my entire point. With that in mind, I'd prefer Zlatan to be left on.
I've just noticed, our striker who has 12 goals in 18 starts since joining the club has an average rating of just 5.9... ha ha only on the caf
only on the cafI've just noticed, our striker who has 12 goals in 18 starts since joining the club has an average rating of just 5.9... ha ha
Must be due to them other 10-15 goals he failed to score from them sitters he had.
Agreed @Fracture90, he should be on 22-27 goals already. Shite, get rid.
Fwiw, that 5.9 is just 0.1 higher than Rashford
0.3 higher than Lingard, 0.4 higher than Fellaini. Oh, and 0.2 LOWER than Blind.As I say, only the caf could rate a bloke with 12 goals in 18 starts get rated like that, as if Zlatan has been just 0.1 better than Rashford who's been shocking this season.
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