Seriously? I'm lost for words.
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Higauin, Di Maria and Ozil were all sold approaching their prime by Real Madrid (26, 26, 25), with Ozil being the best no.10 in the world bar Messi when he was sold. Higauin and Di Maria would walk into most teams when they were playing under Mourinho. I have no idea what 'sold for a shiny new toy' is supposed to suggest. It's probably just a way to deflect from your baseless argument.Pogba-sold for a world record fee.
Higuain-Past his best
Bonucci-Past his best
Gotze-Injured and never fulfilled potential
Vidal-Past his best
Costa-Clashed with the manager
Alonso-Past his best
Ozil-Sold for a shiny new toy
Di Maria-Sold for a shiny new toy
Ronaldo-Past his best
Neymar-Yeah Barca really wanted him sold.
None of them are remotely similar to the case of a club losing a talented youngster much less "ridiculous list of players".
Costa never fell out with the manager (I wouldn't be surprised if you foaming at the mouth to defend Martial led you to not realize this is Douglas Costa, not Diego Costa). He left for playing time.
Bonucci was so past his best that Juventus bought him back and sold a very promising centre back in Caldara to get him from AC Milan.
You completely ignored Coman, and I don't need to point out the obvious reason why.
If that list isn't ridiculous, then Martial is a bang average player (hint he's not, and that list is filled with world class players when they were sold). Every single player on that list was better than Martial is now except Gotze (who was a massive talent when he was switching clubs).
Always excuses with martial fan boys.
It’s got to the point where I’d rather have Memphis on the wing.
It’s got to the point where I’d rather have Memphis on the wing.
I'm going to give Martial some benefit of the doubt at present.
Yes,Martial's workrate off the ball ,offensively and defensively, could be alot better but it is blatantly obvious he's bereft of confidence latterly.
The fact Jose threw Martial on when the game could've easily gone Watford's way does indicate,for me atleast,that the manager still believes in him to make a impact.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Martial start against Young Boys on Tuesday.
Yes,Martial's workrate off the ball ,offensively and defensively, could be alot better but it is blatantly obvious he's bereft of confidence latterly.
The fact Jose threw Martial on when the game could've easily gone Watford's way does indicate,for me atleast,that the manager still believes in him to make a impact.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Martial start against Young Boys on Tuesday.
Unpopular opinion here. I rewatched his performance, and I think he showed real maturity in possession, and chose when to attack pretty well. I think Mourinho will be pleased with him, and I actually think he held his defensive position well to keep the shape. What he still lacks is a little bit of confidence in the final third, but that's nothing a goal won't solve.
You didn’t see him run into defenders and lose the ball? You didn’t see him fail to track back leaving Matic having to sprint half the pitch and get his second yellow card?
Martial is NOT a team player.
I seen Alexis do fcuk all for another week with more minutes and full fitness under his belt.
The problem is Sanchez did the same, they both did some good things too.I think Martial was ok for someone who hasn't had a lot of minutes this season.
Sanchez is constantly working - which is what players with strong mentalities do when they are out of form or can't buy a goal. When you've only been on the pitch for a few minutes, and must have far more in the tank than most of the players on the pitch to not bust a gut to chase back is pretty unforgivable.
"Constantly working" Sanchez doesn't even bother to track back to help his fullback quite a bit. I don't want to make it a Sanchez vs Martial thing.
However the excuses being made for Sanchez sound like the ones made for Rooney in his decline, well he works hard. Yes but he is also the reason a lot of our attacks are breaking down.
Hm, well that's your view. Another view would be that our left-backs seem to be getting a lot of joy going forward this season - largely because of the shift that Sanchez puts in in front of them.
I highlighted the 'working hard' bit - firstly cos you were critical of Lukaku for not working hard enough, and yet here you are giving Martial a free pass for it. But more importantly cos I think most people would forgive Martial for being a bit rusty - what is not forgivable is his attitude and application, and it's been like that for fecking months now.
If you are done foaming at the mouth, maybe you can reread your post where higuain is listed under Juventus not Madrid.
Ozil was sold for james and di Maria for bale.
Douglas Costa clashed with ancelotti that's why he was sold, if you are done foaming at the mouth you can rrad my next post where I mention this.
Can include coman in there too, another example of a young talent solf who could add value to the club.
Us fans really love working hard don’t we. Might just be a culture thing. I couldn’t give too hoots about someone running round like a headless chicken. Yes I loved watching Carlos Tevez, but It wasn’t because he ran round like a bull, that only looked good when he was playing crap.
Somebody should post the video here where he don't care at all to close down a Watford player in the last minutes. I was screaming to the TV when that happended .
This was his chance to lay down a marker and maybe get some games whilst Rashford is banned. He's done nothing to justify another game.
I'm a fan but he needs to buck his ideas up, and fast. Otherwise he'll be shipped out. I wouldn't be against the idea of loaning him out in January either.
I'm a fan but he needs to buck his ideas up, and fast. Otherwise he'll be shipped out. I wouldn't be against the idea of loaning him out in January either.
mate, it's a bare minimum - particularly when you're protecting a lead in the last few mins of a hard-fought league match. It's not about running around like a headless chicken, it's about applying pressure when it's needed and working for the team. Just out of interest, which City or Liverpool players get a free pass in terms of working hard - in your opinion?
City and Liverpool players don’t spend games protecting leads. Once again we did nothing for 30 minutes having had a good first half. He came into a team that was expecting to soak up pressure now if his role was to keep it tight like you would expect from Scott McTommiay then fair enough. Yes effort is the bare minimum but at the end of the day I don’t see why we are criticising him for 20mins worth of a football game that we won. It’s silly. He wasn’t about to come on dribble past 5 players and put it top bin, we wasn’t playing for anybody to do that.
Looks very unlikely he will sign a new contract unless Mou is gone. If Mou stays, then Martial is gone it seems.
Exactly. I think its Leicester at Christmas when we last went ahead and didn't win, even though we actually pushed forward for goals before they equalised.
I constantly see us being criticised on here for how we protect leads while the reality is we are amongst the best in Europe at doing so.
City and Liverpool players all work hard throughout the 90 mins. Not sure whether you watched the game yesterday but we certainly weren't only looking to protect our lead up until the last few mins. If we'd made the most of our counter attacks we would have been 3 or 4 goals up. Martial wasn't brought on to shore up the defence, he was brought on for his pace on the counter attack - but that doesn't mean that he's immune from tracking back. He's basically put Matic in a position where he had little choice but to make the foul and take the yellow (and red) card.
I understand but let’s be honest he’s finished here under Jose. Just don’t play him, don’t put him on the bench don’t put him on. Jose doesn’t need him or like him. So What’s the point.
We don’t play the football for attacking players to offer anything more than hard ‘defensive’ work. That’s the difference between us and the other two.
Jose would like him if he put the effort in.
As soon as Shaw pulled his finger out it was all praise and game time, as it should be.
I don't think any manager would bother playing someone who won't commit and is in his final year.
What role do you want him to play? He's going to lose the ball sometimes, Sanchez and Lingard did often enough, as does Rashford any time he plays. He didn't get Matic sent off, and anyone claiming otherwise has an agenda. Forwards can't be held responsible for everything that happens after they lose the ball. I've often been frustrated with Martial since around February... I just don't think he's done enough to warrant being a regular starter, and I think his agent needs to shut up... but rewatching it, what I saw when he came on, was someone playing for the team whilst being short on confidence. When watching it live I found my emotions clouding my view, and I wasn't happy... but in the cold light, he did most things right. A few poor decisions don't mean that he isn't a team player.
I don't think anyone is claiming that he 'got Matic sent off' but he was jogging back. Someone with his pace and (you would imagine) energy levels after only being on the pitch for 15 mins) could have applied pressure to Hughes that might have meant that Matic wasn't left with no choice but to make the foul. he wasn't exactly busting a gut was he? Why not?
Didn't say it was a good decision, but to say he's not a team player on this basis is to single him out somewhat. I'm not sure Matic was left with no option to make the foul, I'm not sure he had to risk a red card... and I'm not even certain that he intentionally fouled Hughes. Yet there seems to be plenty of people sure of Martial's motivations for every move he makes... and none of them paint him in a very favorable light.
Wasn't long ago that there was barely a positive word said about Shaw on this forum.
Should Matic have just let him run past then? He had to step across him, which was always going to risk a yellow card. Sadly this type of incident is nothing new with Martial - he's looked disinterested for months. Do you disagree?
Working hard is a bare minimum. We used to see Scholes, Keano, Beckham, and Giggs working hard, and they were world class players. Then you see Martial, a nobody 20's y.o. player just couldn't be arsed on the field when he's still fresh with 20 minutes to go. feck him.
Work hard? I just seen them play football tbh. Good football at that. It’s wasnt about how much they tracked back. Except for Messi and Ozil I dnt notice anyone watching players run past them. Missing chances not taking on his man. That’s what we should be judging our attacking players on. Most of us wanted to say Lukaku had a good season last year because he worked hard. Who cares.. do your attacking job well.
Well Young was right there, so although I don't think Matic should just let the man run, he should be careful not to put himself at risk. I'm not blaming Matic, I think it was a soft second yellow.
I don't think Martial has looked disinterested, and I don't think Mourinho includes disinterested players on his bench. If you don't want to be bothered with him anymore that's fine, it still doesn't mean that he needs to be bashed for his contribution yesterday, and have his character questioned.
At this stage I'm just amazed that people don't think his character worthy of questioning!
Previous managers have done it too, so there's something of a pattern building.
Your problem is you're mistaking hard work for tracking back only.
He's static and shite in the final third too. Barely moves or makes runs on the offensive side. He wonders around till he gets the ball, tries a dribble and loses it.
No one would give a feck about his defensive contributions if he's doing immense work and running in the front third.
He doesn't.
I mean martial didn't even do that.
He could have done his attacking job but instead opted to jog when we needed runners with space left behind by watford.
Oh no, please go on and question his character on that basis. You're perfectly entitled to do it... but be amazed, because I think he wants to turn things around, but can't seem to manage it right now. I hope he comes good again, and frankly don't understand why fans can't just enjoy a good away win over an in-form team.
Dude, this is a thread specifically for discussing Martial. I do agree in general about positivity though - if you look you'll see I'm all over plenty of other threads enjoying yesterday's win.
One question though - given that you're not happy about me questioning his character based on everything that I've seen of him in his time at the club, plus what previous managers have said - on what basis are you basing your feeling that 'he wants to turn things around but can't seem to manage it right now'?
At his 20 minutes on the field at Watford. He didn’t do much even wasted a good opportunity to make it 3. But it’s no reason for this backlash he is getting. It’s an absolute joke and is disgusting from fans who jump on agendas. I say agenda because right now we can overlook Sanchez being crap with worse stats than Martial @el3mel and I find it odd how the majority fall for it. By November it will be Rashford who will be getting this backlash. It’s mild at the minute but it will get worse by the end of the season.
What agenda ? Sanchez is already getting slaughtered in his thread. Should we only talk about Martial when he plays well but ignores him when he play poor to avoid being labelled agenda driven ? Almost every player in the squad gets slaughtered quite often in his thread but only one gains a long list of excuses every time he gets the same treatment.
If he has put more effort and decided to just run and do his job as a pro, I don't think anyone would have talked poorly about him.
It literally does not matter if he plays bad or not, it is never his fault.
I'm not unhappy that you're questioning his character, it doesn't make me unhappy. I don't agree with your assessment, because I've also watched all the games and read plenty of press, and I interpret the situation differently. That's all.
Who’s had a go at Sanchez lol? Where is the Alexis thread? He’s been here for over 6 months and to be quite honest he’s been crap. We signed arguably the best attacker in the prem however not a word is said about it. Has he scored this season, he’s suppose to be out Eden Hazard. Laughable but yet we want to discuss a 20minute Martial performance like that’s our main issue. He’s not even our second choice attacker.