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2016-17 Performances


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Wade3

Correctly predicted France to win World Cup 2018
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People are EXTREMELY annoying. And this just goes to show how many people are just used to watching football on their sofa and actually never been in any competitive sport as professional or something(well to be fair it applies to the majority on these boards and it's not like it's a bad thing).

The guy is still regaining fitness and it comes with time and more game. Mourinho has made a point to keep mentioning this about all his late arrival in the squad. They AREN'T as fit as they should because they've joined not too long ago. The hysteria from some people is RIDICULOUSLY annoying.
To be honest his confidence is probably a bit shot, it subconsciously happens to you when you were on a team and hardly featured. Along with his fitness, that'll return with more game time as well though. Everything looks and seems easy when things are going well, but after his Euros, it's not unusual to be thrown off your rhythm a bit.
 

Footyislife

But actually, it's not.
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He's had barely a week of proper training with new teammates and tactics. We were still playing slow football so he had very few one on ones with the FB. The two times he did, he made dangerous moves. Give him time to get into top gear, and set up the team to take advantage of his abilities rather than have Rooney lose the ball every time.
 

tob

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I'm quite concerned about how he feels about playing on the wing.
He has mentioned that he sees himself as a striker, and that is in fact the position we signed him for.

Maybe he thinks that he should be playing up front? That last season wing-position was just a momentarily thing, and that he would be back as a striker this season?

Perhaps he feels a little let down by the fact that he sees himself as a striker, was signed as a striker, but now finds himself playing on the left wing? He got his "striker-number" taken away, and was handed a "wingers-number". Maybe he's concerned that his future at United isn't in line with what he had/has in his mind?

That's a lot of "if", "maybe" and "perhaps", but I'm concerned that he's concerned. If that makes sense.

And just for clarification - This is not me trying to figure out why he's not performing at the level we are used to. That, I believe, is just a question about match-fitness and the fact that he hasn't had much of a pre-season.
 

liamp

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There are many times Martial is in a great position and our players simply lack the vision to find him.
Agreed.

His performance today had a lot to do with how little of the ball he saw. He looked as dangerous as ever the few times he was able to isolate his marker.
 

JackXX

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Could be wrong but think he looks tired. He's had a busy time in the last 12 months. Hopefully he will find his rhythm again soon.
 

nemanja15

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He started brightly but tired; barely noticed him in the second half. After that run at Simpson and shot into the side netting early on, I thought he may explode into life but it never happened. We need to feed him more and let him run at players, it's when he's at his best.
 

Litch

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I noticed through Euro's, it was always him and Pogba warming up and generally talking together. I recon couldn't be a better time for him to arrive for Martial.....
 

as-95

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As the poster above states, Pogba will give Martial a morale boost as well as other French speaking players like Bailly.

Pogba is only slightly older than Martial, but Martial will aspire to reach similar heights as Pogba already is. Pogba was in the Fifpro WXI last season so is arguably already one of the best in his position and it will be good for Martial to have someone of that mentality by his side .

Also, has everyone forgotten how burnt out Martial was looking at the end of last season? It will be good for him to continue to slowly recuperate before going into next season. He will be back to his brilliant best when match fit.
 

OohAahMartial

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He is pretty much as you would expect after only a week's training and a long season and summer. Will be a month before he's firing on all cylinders again.
 

ManRant

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
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Maybe, seems like those who participate in the EURO are not up to speed yet.
 

11101

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He started brightly but tired; barely noticed him in the second half. After that run at Simpson and shot into the side netting early on, I thought he may explode into life but it never happened. We need to feed him more and let him run at players, it's when he's at his best.
Half the problem was Leicester were sitting on the edge of their box every time we had the ball. Martial just had no space to run against Simpson...every time he did he skinned him.

He just looked a bit tired/unfit to me.
 

Smoking_Owl

Account closed by request: 23/11/17
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Again, pretty poor yesterday.

Hopefully this is just a lack of fitness/match sharpness/min slump but I'm worried that it isn't as it is a continuation of his level for France in the Euros (when he played).

Well off the pace. Rashford should start ahead of him against Bournemouth in all honesty.
 

DeOddi

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Disappointing performance. His game was way too one-dimensional. All he does is receive the ball at the byline and run at the defender or to pass it back again. Would love to see him add a bit more to his game and maybe roam around more like Lingard does to make our attack a bit more unpredictable. Some runs into the box and just general movement would help a lot.

But it´s still early and it will probably take some time for Mourinho to get some habits of the players from the Van Gaal reign out of them.
 

Giant Midget

Aka - rooney_10119
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His off-the-ball movement is really poor. He really should be owning that inside left channel, getting on to through balls and finishing with his right foot a la Henry, but it seems like he just waits by the byline to recieve the ball before attempting a dribble.

He has the potential to be one of the most dynamic forwards in the world - he won't achieve that or his goal scoring potential if he doesn't work on this. Hopefully this is something Jose is working on.
 

RedCurry

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If he does have a bit of a slump, it's perfectly natural given his age. Good thing is that with Rashford, Lingard, Miki and Mata we'll have enough quality cover for wide positions.
 

Nickosaur

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I'm quite concerned about how he feels about playing on the wing.
He has mentioned that he sees himself as a striker, and that is in fact the position we signed him for.

Maybe he thinks that he should be playing up front? That last season wing-position was just a momentarily thing, and that he would be back as a striker this season?

Perhaps he feels a little let down by the fact that he sees himself as a striker, was signed as a striker, but now finds himself playing on the left wing? He got his "striker-number" taken away, and was handed a "wingers-number". Maybe he's concerned that his future at United isn't in line with what he had/has in his mind?

That's a lot of "if", "maybe" and "perhaps", but I'm concerned that he's concerned. If that makes sense.

And just for clarification - This is not me trying to figure out why he's not performing at the level we are used to. That, I believe, is just a question about match-fitness and the fact that he hasn't had much of a pre-season.
He played on the left for Monaco in the CL and other occasions.
 

sportsczy

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He didn't play on the left at Monaco. He was the second striker or CF in a 442, which is what Ranieri and Jardim both played. It was a two striker system. Falcao was the CF, then Berbatov and then Martial. His best position BY FAR (and I watched him a ton since I live near Monaco and I go to several games a season) was CF.

What did he lack? Experience. He didn't get enough time to hone his skills at the highest level.

When LVG made him a winger, I was stunned frankly... thankfully it went well enough.
 

Kevin

Nostrodamus of football
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He didn't play on the left at Monaco. He was the second striker or CF in a 442, which is what Ranieri and Jardim both played. It was a two striker system. Falcao was the CF, then Berbatov and then Martial. His best position BY FAR (and I watched him a ton since I live near Monaco and I go to several games a season) was CF.

What did he lack? Experience. He didn't get enough time to hone his skills at the highest level.

When LVG made him a winger, I was stunned frankly... thankfully it went well enough.
So the experts and french posters were lying about him playing on the left for Monaco it seems... Just to fuel their own arguments how he is no stranger for the winger position so the 'dimwits' on here who are not french or expert (fake) monaco watchers would shut up about him playing a forward.
 
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sportsczy

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As the second striker, like Cassano for example, you move left or right or play right behind the primary striker. You're looking to create space and plays for the primary scorer and also score when you get a chance. The difference in a 442 is that Martial didn't have to track back and wasn't anywhere as wide. You had Ferreira Carrasco (the Atleti and Belgium NT player) who was the left wing player with first James then Dirar/Ocampos/Bernardo Silva on the right. They helped the fullbacks, and created the width, not Martial. It wasn't only Martial either... you had Riviere and Valere Germain that also played the second striker. Martial wasn't even a regular at Monaco. The summer Man Utd bought him was the first season he was going to be the uncontested CF.
 
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Witchking

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With Zlatan, Pogba and others coming in, then the hype and excellent talent rashford being talked about, things look to be quiet at Martial's end. I hope he has a great season, he held United's season together last season. I shudder to think what would have happened if we did not have him.

I hope he gets his chances and does not become a fringe player to satisfy other egos in the team.
 

Perrick Dubois

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So the experts and french posters were lying about him playing on the left for Monaco it seems... Just to fuel their own arguments how he is no stranger for the winger position so the 'dimwits' on here who are not french or expert (fake) monaco watchers would shut up about him playing a forward.
He played a few times on the flanks, depending on how the team set up. They mainly played 4-3-1-2 with Hamez in the hole and Toulalan holding. If Martial were to play up front with another striker there would be a lot of times that his job was to spread play by drifting to the flanks and linking up. This was the same in the 4-2-2-2 (like a 4-4-2 but the attacking players would spread or the strikers would spread).

He isn't a stranger to playing on the flanks and we saw that last season. You wouldn't say he is a winger but he is a wide forward and probably the most synergy in his game comes from the wide areas and driving at goal.
 

sportsczy

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difference was that his starting spots weren't the sidelines or the centerline. It was edge of the box left and right and from 35 meters in vertically. So he was always within a shout of the striking zones at Monaco. It's wasn't as drastic as going from CF to a pure winger when he moved to Man Utd... but it was still pretty drastic, especially defensively.

The big thing was the Ferreira Carrasco was the attacking player on the left. So Martial played mostly in support of the CF on the right. What would happen is that James (or Bernardo Silva) would invariably cut in and Martial would push wider to create proper spacing. But "wider" meant the edge of the box, not the sideline.

You see how Griezmann and Valere Germain play the second striker role? That's how Martial was used when he played UNTIL the season he was transferred. With Falcao and Berbatov gone, he was playing central striker in preseason and the CL prelim games before coming to Man Utd.
 

SwansonsTache

incontinent sexual deviant & German sausage lover
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You just know that the tabloids are sharpening their dull pencils preparing to slate Martial this season and label him as a one season wonder.

I have no proof of this, but I've decided to become provoced in advance. Most of them that labeled him to expensive etc. and ended up with eggs on their face will want their revenge.
 

RedPnutz

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Quality doesn't disappear overnight.

He's had a long year, personal problems and lack of preparation.

Few perform at 100% all the time, especially at that age.

Patience is needed. Don't need to throw out the old toys just because we have new ones.
 

sportsczy

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I think it's going to be hard for him... i don't see Martial lasting in this type of setup. It's not playing to his strengths. Being the second striker to Ibra is a black hole too. Gameiro and Cavani both looked like pub players when playing with Ibra.

Ibra doesn't look at his strike partner as a teammate... but as competition. He ruins them.
 

SwansonsTache

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I think it's going to be hard for him... i don't see Martial lasting in this type of setup. It's not playing to his strengths. Being the second striker to Ibra is a black hole too. Gameiro and Cavani both looked like pub players when playing with Ibra.

Ibra doesn't look at his strike partner as a teammate... but as competition. He ruins them.
You are just waxing lyrical over the possibillity of Martial failing for us this season and asking for a transfer, aren't you?
 

DWelbz19

Correctly predicted Portugal to win Euro 2016
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I think it's going to be hard for him... i don't see Martial lasting in this type of setup. It's not playing to his strengths. Being the second striker to Ibra is a black hole too. Gameiro and Cavani both looked like pub players when playing with Ibra.

Ibra doesn't look at his strike partner as a teammate... but as competition. He ruins them.
Calm down.
 

JackRed

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I think it's going to be hard for him... i don't see Martial lasting in this type of setup. It's not playing to his strengths. Being the second striker to Ibra is a black hole too. Gameiro and Cavani both looked like pub players when playing with Ibra.

Ibra doesn't look at his strike partner as a teammate... but as competition. He ruins them.
Contrary to everything Ibra has said in his interviews and contrary to what Ibra does. Completely ridiculous post. Expect plenty of assists and goals from both this season.
 

Adisa

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I think it's going to be hard for him... i don't see Martial lasting in this type of setup. It's not playing to his strengths. Being the second striker to Ibra is a black hole too. Gameiro and Cavani both looked like pub players when playing with Ibra.

Ibra doesn't look at his strike partner as a teammate... but as competition. He ruins them.
This is bullshite.
 

bosnian_red

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Yeah he'll be fine. 1 average performance in a pre season game an suddenly he'll flop this season :lol: He's an incredibly talented player who is a tank physically and has a perfect spot out on the left with a style more suited to him now as well. He'll be class again this season.
 

Sigma

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I think it's going to be hard for him... i don't see Martial lasting in this type of setup. It's not playing to his strengths. Being the second striker to Ibra is a black hole too. Gameiro and Cavani both looked like pub players when playing with Ibra.

Ibra doesn't look at his strike partner as a teammate... but as competition. He ruins them.
Really?
 

Kevin

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More excited about seeing him play than Pogba and co. Reminds me of when C Ronaldo was just written off when the new golden boy Rewnaayyy xame in the next season. New toy and all.

Feck them new signings, Martial is still the one I feel will be potentially the best of them all.
 
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