[Aloysius's Back 3]

Absolutely. Martial is one of the most effective players at what he does and the job of the coaching staff is to put him in the position which allows him to utilize his skillset more. Playing with a target man who can't hold the ball up and two makeshift wingers is totally pointless and especially because I don't see Martial as an explosive winger that will run up and down the touchline like douglas costa or William for example but plays more in short spells and doesn't need to be involved like you said in the whole game. There's no point comparing him with speedsters like Mane, Sane etc because they're different players totally. He can change the game in one or two moments. What LVG did with I liked because he made martial the focal point of the attack and gave him the license in the final third to affect the game either by running at his fullback to the byline and cutting back or cutting inside for the curling shot. We seen him use this shot twice in the last two weeks. These moments would happen maybe 5/6 times a game and martial would be decisive with 1 or 2. This needs to happen more with mourinho.

Whilst people mention Sterling & how he might run more - which he does; what has improved him is a manager who has adapted his tactics to get consistency out of sterling.

Surprisingly - pre Pep, sterling & consistency were things that were never in the same sentence or could hardly be seen in the future. Sterling is not the greatest dribbler with the ball at his feet so having him in a position where he stays on the ball & becomes a creator would not have improved him.

What I saw from last season was sterling allowed to play as a pure forward - normally receiving the ball at the far post after making an accelerated run on placement that defeats his marker/fullback to tap a goal in.

Nothing overly extravagant in his play but a level of clinical efficiency to his game that has been added by his manager.

 

[KennyBurner]

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-football?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

gary neville thinks martial needs to run in behind more like Sadio mane. Looking at the statistics it does show that compared to other star players in his position he runs far less. Personally when watching him there are times when i do feel that he could do more running but then again we have cowardly players who might see our forwards running and decide to pass back.

Look at rashford for example, he makes so many runs per game and is never found. I think martial in general just picks his runs better and saves energy for when its really needed instead of running around like a headless chicken.

I would like to see running stats in his first season with van gaal as opposed to mourinho to see if his lack of running is just tactical.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Genuinely impressive stats if you think he's been in and out of favour (many of those minutes coming in spurts with no consistent run of games) and that he's playing in by far the most defensive of the top teams. Surprised he's ahead of Willian and level with Mane tbh.

Hardly surprising that he is ahead of Willian. Willian is very inconsistent and only has a few decent games here and there.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Absolutely. Martial is one of the most effective players at what he does and the job of the coaching staff is to put him in the position which allows him to utilize his skillset more. Playing with a target man who can't hold the ball up and two makeshift wingers is totally pointless and especially because I don't see Martial as an explosive winger that will run up and down the touchline like douglas costa or William for example but plays more in short spells and doesn't need to be involved like you said in the whole game. There's no point comparing him with speedsters like Mane, Sane etc because they're different players totally. He can change the game in one or two moments. What LVG did with I liked because he made martial the focal point of the attack and gave him the license in the final third to affect the game either by running at his fullback to the byline and cutting back or cutting inside for the curling shot. We seen him use this shot twice in the last two weeks. These moments would happen maybe 5/6 times a game and martial would be decisive with 1 or 2. This needs to happen more with mourinho.

The problem is we won't see the best of any of our widemen under Mourinho, both Martial and Sanchez start their attacks so deep that is difficult to isolate fullbacks. Under Mourinho who ever it may be are forced to play like a regular winger, hold width, carry the ball from deep midfield, track back all the way back to our box. We all saw a world class player like Sanchez look absolutely crap in that system and Martial is flourishing despite those tactics.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

Late to the party but absolutely chuffed to bits for him, he's definitely riding a wave of confidence and it shows you what goals mean to a player. Jose is absolutely spot on above where he is saying that "shock horror a player who tries his balls off, gets rewarded and gets a big shot of confidence in which good things come back 10 fold for him and thus the team". It makes total sense to continue to work under Jose and grow his game beyond those aspects he's already comfortable with. Have never understood the wider narrative that trying to be a better all-round player learning under Jose isn't a net benefit to his game in general and won't make him a better player.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Was a good analysis but he contradicted himself a bit by saying Sterling's benefited from Pep's coaching whereas Martial's lack of runs are an individual issue.

That's a common theme with Neville at least. He'll praise Pep and Klopp's coaching and improvement of players but lay the blame at the player's door when it comes to the same (or lack thereof at United). It's only at United where the player's are seemingly all on their own.

 

[redIndianDevil]

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-football?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

gary neville thinks martial needs to run in behind more like Sadio mane. Looking at the statistics it does show that compared to other star players in his position he runs far less. Personally when watching him there are times when i do feel that he could do more running but then again we have cowardly players who might see our forwards running and decide to pass back.

Look at rashford for example, he makes so many runs per game and is never found. I think martial in general just picks his runs better and saves energy for when its really needed instead of running around like a headless chicken.

I would like to see running stats in his first season with van gaal as opposed to mourinho to see if his lack of running is just tactical.

Again Mane makes so much runs because he gets space in the opposition box because their teams win the ball back quickly by pressing high, meaning that there is a slight disarray in the opposition box, there is no much time to organise properly but for us due to our slow passing style and lack of pressing, we allow more time for our opposition to park the bus and it's difficult to make runs against a deep block defence and even more difficult to produce passes that can reach our players. This is why almost all our attack depends to our players like Martial, Shaw, Young, Rashford etc taking on 2-3 defenders instead of making runs into space and receive passes.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Late to the party but absolutely chuffed to bits for him, he's definitely riding a wave of confidence and it shows you what goals mean to a player. Jose is absolutely spot on above where he is saying that "shock horror a player who tries his balls off, gets rewarded and gets a big shot of confidence in which good things come back 10 fold for him and thus the team". It makes total sense to continue to work under Jose and grow his game beyond those aspects he's already comfortable with. Have never understood the wider narrative that trying to be a better all-round player learning under Jose isn't a net benefit to his game in general and won't make him a better player.

Another Mourinho apologist trying to do mental gymnastics to make Mourinho look good I see. Martial's game hasn't undergone a drastic change suddenly, he is playing exactly as he has been playing last year when he won those player of the month awards. Martial is not playing because of earth shattering change in his game, it's just that after a year Sanchez has looked beyond crap and if Mourinho had persisted with him a bit longer he would have been fired already.

 

[Ashley R1+O]

Another Mourinho apologist trying to do mental gymnastics to make Mourinho look good I see. Martial's game hasn't undergone a drastic change suddenly, he is playing exactly as he has been playing last year when he won those player of the month awards. Martial is not playing because of earth shattering change in his game, it's just that after a year Sanchez has looked beyond crap and if Mourinho had persisted with him a bit longer he would have been fired already.

supporting the club must be a chore for you, wonder why you'd even bother.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Watch his performance from the Everton fa cup match


Everything you are talking about he was already doing. Receiving the ball on the run, driving into the space, makin runs in behind, receiving the ball on the turn, isolating players 1 v 1.

There is no difference between his performance yesterday and his first season here.

Agree.

I mean I don't think Martial may have faced some problems with adapting to Mourinho's methods which is the case for a lot of footballers who have to tune into a new system. But I wholeheartedly disageee that we are seeing fundamental or even substantially shift in the methods applied by the player today. If anything, the change I see in Martial's game is mostly to do with the confidence that comes with the importance and relevance that he deserves to have in the team, and has not received from the current manager. Yes or course he picked up the ball and dribbled more in the past and his off the ball movement can improve. But A) have we made the use of a huge strength or his that he displayed in his first year and few footballers have? B) Are we now seeing a player transformed by Mourinho?. The answer to both questions is No for me. But it won't stop Mourinho and his supporters from beating his drum and busting Martial's to claim credit.

If anything, to me it appears as though Mourinho is holding the player back. He's a much better player today had LVG be coaching him the last two years (although it would obviously be miserable for us). I hope Mourinho ions out his deficiencies as most 22 year olds have them. But he needs to stop making the mistake of not celebrating /making the most of his strengths.

 

[deafepl]

He could be easily Ronaldo, I can remember Ronaldo play as a left winger in 4-4-2, he didn't score more 20 per season but a couple of years later, he suddenly becomes world class player and one of best player in the world. Martial obviously have talents to be world class and could produce a moment out of nothing, I hope he can become that player we all knew he would be one day.

 

[haram]

He could be easily Ronaldo, I can remember Ronaldo play as a left winger in 4-4-2, he didn't score more 20 per season but a couple of years later, he suddenly becomes world class player and one of best player in the world. Martial obviously have talents to be world class and could produce a moment out of nothing, I hope he can become that player we all knew he would be one day.

I dont think anyone can easily become Ronaldo.

 

[Raees]

supporting the club must be a chore for you, wonder why you'd even bother.

He’s right though. Jose deserves zero credit imo for Martials recent performances - he was playing as good as this if not better before he was unceremoniously dumped from the first team to fit in Alexis and then treated like shit and made to look like a bad apple. Just go through all the previous pages to see how many on here had lost their shit with Martial due to brainwashing and the ‘Martial FC’ nonsense.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

That literally has nothing to do with what we are talking about. You said martial had improved under Mourninho this actually proves there has been no improvement and that he is literally playing at the same level and doing the same things he has been doing since he got here. Actually just read that his distance per 90 minutes in his first season was at 10.1km which is much higher than it is now. So he has actually regressed in that under jose. The Everton video I showed you in his first season shows exactly what I was talking about, watch that compared to yesterday they were literally the same in terms of movement and play on the ball.

On In contrary. He highlights what have been issues in his game till lately. Vs Everton he showed glimpses of what I talked about and what Neville also.says he needs to consistently do.

 

[Fergietime@99]

I still remember Ricardo Rodriguez calling for help every time martial drove at him when we played Wolfsburg a couple of years ago. I had been wondering where did that martial go.
He seems to be back finally. Beware all the RBs in the league. He's coming to break your ankles

 

[Adisa]

Matic on Martial


"“Anthony is a great player and he needs to understand that,"“ said Matic after Sunday's match. ”"He needs more confidence. He is still young and I think if he continues to score he will get that.

"“If he reaches his top level he can be one of the best players in the league for sure."“"""
"“Sometimes I don’t think he understands how good he is. He is quick, he is good with the ball, he can run. He has everything that a Manchester United football player needs. Sometimes I don’t think he understands that."

"“If I had his ability with the ball and I was as quick as him then I wouldn’t pass to anyone and I would score every game!"

"“To be serious, he does need more confidence and this comes with results. When you don’t have results it is very difficult for players to have that high confidence."

"“If we can get results over the next few games and improve as a team he will show that he is very important for us. "

"“The manager speaks with him about it. I have told him once! But he is a great person and a great guy and I am happy for him that he is scoring. It is great. "

"“The quality is there, confidence is there now and he just needs to be more consistent. I am glad we have him in the team."

"“In football and in life you have difficult times and you have to get back on track and that is exactly what he is doing.”"

Nice comments.
The thing about Tony is that I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but he's always looking to link with his team mates before he tries to take his man on. Almost the opposite of Rashford who has tunnel vision in attacking areas. We've seen more of him taking on his marker in recent weeks. It doesn't matter how many times he's unsuccessful, just take them on.
I'd also like to see Mourinho relieve him of some defensive duties, let him stay as high up as possible.

 

[Adisa]

https://www.skysports.com/football/...-football?utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

gary neville thinks martial needs to run in behind more like Sadio mane. Looking at the statistics it does show that compared to other star players in his position he runs far less. Personally when watching him there are times when i do feel that he could do more running but then again we have cowardly players who might see our forwards running and decide to pass back.

Look at rashford for example, he makes so many runs per game and is never found. I think martial in general just picks his runs better and saves energy for when its really needed instead of running around like a headless chicken.

I would like to see running stats in his first season with van gaal as opposed to mourinho to see if his lack of running is just tactical.

Neville makes a lot of good points but I want to make some observations.
Deschamps didn't drop Martial cause he was not running. He was dropped cause he wasn't playing enough football.
Now,I think Martial doesn't make enough runs in between the full back and CB. I don't think it's because he doesn't want to. I don't think he is inherently a lazy player. I just think he hasn't figured out when to make those runs and when to hold the line. Saying that, he'll never be a Rashford or an Mbappe. He does that have their engine.

 

[mancan92]

On In contrary. He highlights what have been issues in his game till lately. Vs Everton he showed glimpses of what I talked about and what Neville also.says he needs to consistently do.

As I said you can literally pick random performances in the last 3 years and watch the Everton game you will literally see no difference in what he is doing. And as I said statistically in his first season he was actually running more. So there's actually proof that Jose has made him do less than he used to.

 

[Adisa]

I'd refrain from making any conclusive judgements, Martial has had periods of good form under Mourinho.
He successfully relegated Rashford to the bench in the first half of last season up until Sanchez signed.
I'll say this though, Mourinho is a fool if he can't see this guy is his best option on the left.

 

[JPRouve]

Neville makes a lot of good points but I want to make some observations.
Deschamps didn't drop Martial cause he was not running. He was dropped cause he wasn't playing enough football.
Now,I think Martial doesn't make enough runs in between the full back and CB. I don't think it's because he doesn't want to. I don't think he is inherently a lazy player. I just think he hasn't figured out when to make those runs and when to hold the line. Saying that, he'll never be a Rashford or an Mbappe. He does that have their engine.

And mainly because he doesn't fit the current system and also doesn't score enough for France to justify a modification of said system.

 

[flappyjay]

Late to the party but absolutely chuffed to bits for him, he's definitely riding a wave of confidence and it shows you what goals mean to a player. Jose is absolutely spot on above where he is saying that "shock horror a player who tries his balls off, gets rewarded and gets a big shot of confidence in which good things come back 10 fold for him and thus the team". It makes total sense to continue to work under Jose and grow his game beyond those aspects he's already comfortable with. Have never understood the wider narrative that trying to be a better all-round player learning under Jose isn't a net benefit to his game in general and won't make him a better player.

Anyone who has watched Tony play over the past few years will tell you what we saw on the weekend is trademark Tony Martial. The only difference is his become clinical with what his good at. That curling shot from the left. All the good things he did on the weekend is the exact same things he did under LVG. Also same as what he did when he was getting player of the month awards last year.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Neville makes a lot of good points but I want to make some observations.
Deschamps didn't drop Martial cause he was not running. He was dropped cause he wasn't playing enough football.
Now,I think Martial doesn't make enough runs in between the full back and CB. I don't think it's because he doesn't want to. I don't think he is inherently a lazy player. I just think he hasn't figured out when to make those runs and when to hold the line. Saying that, he'll never be a Rashford or an Mbappe. He does that have their engine.

yes he doesn't make many runs, it might partially be because we don't that many good incisive passers who can pick those runs and can thread in through balls, and our entire attacking strategy in the left flank seems to be to give the ball to Martial and let him take on fullbacks, if he starts to run in behind who is going to make the passes? Whenever Pogba is playing in the left flank, Martial makes runs into the box, they link up well.

 

[redIndianDevil]

Anyone who has watched Tony play over the past few years will tell you what we saw on the weekend is trademark Tony Martial. The only difference is his become clinical with what his good at. That curling shot from the left. All the good things he did on the weekend is the exact same things he did under LVG. Also same as what he did when he was getting player of the month awards last year.

Don't bother(if you do you will be called a poor supporter just like I was), it's difficult to see things when one is so deep inside Mourinho's backside.

 

[ZupZup]

yes he doesn't make many runs, it might partially be because we don't that many good incisive passers who can pick those runs and can thread in through balls, and our entire attacking strategy in the left flank seems to be to give the ball to Martial and let him take on fullbacks, if he starts to run in behind who is going to make the passes? Whenever Pogba is playing in the left flank, Martial makes runs into the box, they link up well.

I'm sorry, but this is utter rubbish... Martial should be making these sorts of runs more frequently regardless. Whilst I think he has been harshly treated by the manager and I am a big, big fan of his... you can't have watched him regularly over the past couple of years and not noticed how he doesn't make enough runs in behind. He is always looking to come shorter and get the ball to feet. It is my only frustration with him.

Also, if he wants to reach his potential, he should be making these runs regardless of whether a pass gets threaded through or not. There are a big reasons why an attacking player should be doing this. It makes them less predictable for one and keeps the defender second guessing all the time - 'is he going to suddenly spin in behind me'. Another big reason is that in making the run, the defender has to go with him which stretches their defenders and makes space for our other attackers. Any argument that him not making the runs is somehow justified because he's unlikely to receive the ball is ridiculous.

 

[redIndianDevil]

I'm sorry, but this is utter rubbish... Martial should be making these sorts of runs more frequently regardless. Whilst I think he has been harshly treated by the manager and I am a big, big fan of his... you can't have watched him regularly over the past couple of years and not noticed how he doesn't make enough runs in behind. He is always looking to come shorter and get the ball to feet. It is my only frustration with him.

Also, if he wants to reach his potential, he should be making these runs regardless of whether a pass gets threaded through or not. There are a big reasons why an attacking player should be doing this. It makes them less predictable for one and keeps the defender second guessing all the time - 'is he going to suddenly spin in behind me'. Another big reason is that in making the run, the defender has to go with him which stretches their defenders and makes space for our other attackers. Any argument that him not making the runs is somehow justified because he's unlikely to receive the ball is ridiculous.

Let me just say that I agree with you, he doesn't make enough runs, he definitely has to improve that part of the game.

But does our system support our frontline playing off the shoulders of defenders? Lukaku or the striker is expected to hold up the ball(he cannot make runs in behind), the right wing is non-existent(no one is making runs in that side), in the left flank, Martial is never placed higher up the pitch, he pretty much plays like a LM, onus in on him and POgba to carry the ball forward, my point is there are fewer and fewer opportunities in our setup for our wingers makes runs in behind, imagine if Martial makes a run and we lose possession in the left side, now Martial has change direction and track back. If we employ a pressing system and play with a high line, we can expect to see runs being made but right now our system doesn't support it that much.

I'm not excusing Martial lack of movement, he seems much more confident in gathering the ball and taking on defenders but when we change our system slightly to help our attackers more, we can expect to see much more than what we see right now.

 

[johanovic]

Was Martial not playing well before Mourinho brought in Sanchez and decided to bench Martial. Sanchez signing has turned out to be dreadful and Martial is the most talented attacking player we have. Did Martial perhaps need a little belive from his manager and who bares the responsibility of putting Sanchez in for Martial? Mourinho should have solved the right wing problem that continues to limit our attacking play. Imagine if we had a player of the highest calibre on the right side and what that would do for Martial on the left wing. Would we then start to open teams up more and get into shape in a attacking sense? I belive that a front 3 of Martial,Rashford and Chong should be tried and then we need to fix this right wing problem a.s.a.p as this has been hurting us for a long time now. Midfield of Herrera,Peirera and Pogba would be interesting to see.

 

[UncleBob]

Depends what type of runs people expect. He's often enough looking to play off the shoulder to get in behind, we just rarely attempt the pass (which happens with several players). Plenty of times against Everton where Martial and Rashford were visibly unhappy that the ball wasn't played in behind.

In terms of Neville and Carraghers comparisons about not doing enough off the ball, I don't think it's a fair comparison. It's unfair to compare with players in completely different systems. Against a team that has a compact defence there's no miracle run that will free up space for others, the entire concept of lying deep and having a compact defence is to give away minimum space to the opposition in dangerous parts of the pitch, forcing them to shoot from distance. You can make any run you want in behind but odds are that the pass is too difficult and the ball never makes it to you, the space is so narrow that it doesn't matter or you're already in offside. Dummy runs to free up space works well when the ball is passed quickly and the opposition doesn't have time to reorganize the defence fast enough, defender then has to decide to follow the run or stay with the player that has the ball. When the opposition is so well balanced that they can double down on individual players, then it's a bit weird to expect miracles. Why was Ashley Young so successful at marking Salah ?

 

[Rozay]

Everton always brings the best out of him and Pogba. I knew they were going to run that game. In his first season, where Shneiderlein scored for us at Goodison, he took the piss out of Coleman all game, then did the same at Wembley in the FA Cup semi. Last season he took the piss at Goodison, and did it again on Sunday.

Pogba also turns into an auxiliary left winger, like he did against Everton in January and did, especially in the first half, on Sunday.

 

[Foxbatt]

Get a good CF up with him and he will play a lot better.

 

[Decomposing In Paris]

I'm sorry, but this is utter rubbish... Martial should be making these sorts of runs more frequently regardless. Whilst I think he has been harshly treated by the manager and I am a big, big fan of his... you can't have watched him regularly over the past couple of years and not noticed how he doesn't make enough runs in behind. He is always looking to come shorter and get the ball to feet. It is my only frustration with him.

Also, if he wants to reach his potential, he should be making these runs regardless of whether a pass gets threaded through or not. There are a big reasons why an attacking player should be doing this. It makes them less predictable for one and keeps the defender second guessing all the time - 'is he going to suddenly spin in behind me'. Another big reason is that in making the run, the defender has to go with him which stretches their defenders and makes space for our other attackers. Any argument that him not making the runs is somehow justified because he's unlikely to receive the ball is ridiculous.

This. Also, if the midfielders are expecting that he might be on his toes, ready for the ball behind, then more balls will come his way. I know he missed a one-on-one at the end of the last game, but how many times would Martial have put away the through balls Rashford has been on the end of numerous times this season alone?

 

[Canagel]

Anyone who has watched Tony play over the past few years will tell you what we saw on the weekend is trademark Tony Martial. The only difference is his become clinical with what his good at. That curling shot from the left. All the good things he did on the weekend is the exact same things he did under LVG. Also same as what he did when he was getting player of the month awards last year.

Of course theres nothing different in Martial. He was scoring goals before and he's scoring goals now. Goals are what keep you in the team. Before it seemed he was under pressure every time he didn't score he knew he would be back on the bench and this perhaps affected him. He just got his confidence back by getting an extended run in the team. The tracking back that Jose wanted martial was already showing this when he scored 3 goals in 3 games January against Everton, Stoke, Burnley. Then Sanchez arrived and martial was moved out of position to RW, we lost games against Spurs and Newcastle and martial was dropped from there. Only now he's back in the team again he's doing things he wasn't before. I'm not hearing that sorry.

 

[ABC of Football]

He’s the one player I’m excited for when we get the ball. Unfortunately we haven’t got many players that are exciting at the moment, but martial is one for sure!

 

[Andersons Dietician]

I'd also like to see Mourinho relieve him of some defensive duties, let him stay as high up as possible

Kind of agree but if our system that gets the best out of him is 433 that whole left side pretty much has our best attacking outlets and players you would kind of want having a bit of freedom. So Martial, Pogba and Shaw I think does need Martial being quite aware of his defensive duties, which to be honest is something I’ve always felt he has had anyway. He always comes back and of course there have been occasional lapses in concentration where he has let someone run but he’s never been lazy defensively in my opinion.

Hopefully that 3 strike a great balance because for me with DDG they are our most important players for the future of this club and where it wants to go.

 

[El-Manos]

He should be starting every game on the left now. Start Sánchez up front.

 

[Kostur]

Carragher and Neville had an analysis of him on MNF yesterday, a pretty good one too but pretty much rehashing everything that has been said about him, the good and the bad.

 

[3KDré]

Watch his performance from the Everton fa cup match


Everything you are talking about he was already doing. Receiving the ball on the run, driving into the space, makin runs in behind, receiving the ball on the turn, isolating players 1 v 1.

There is no difference between his performance yesterday and his first season here.

Ahhhh, the midfield three of Rooney, Carrick and Fellaini...

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Of course theres nothing different in Martial. He was scoring goals before and he's scoring goals now. Goals are what keep you in the team. Before it seemed he was under pressure every time he didn't score he knew he would be back on the bench and this perhaps affected him. He just got his confidence back by getting an extended run in the team. The tracking back that Jose wanted martial was already showing this when he scored 3 goals in 3 games January against Everton, Stoke, Burnley. Then Sanchez arrived and martial was moved out of position to RW, we lost games against Spurs and Newcastle and martial was dropped from there. Only now he's back in the team again he's doing things he wasn't before. I'm not hearing that sorry.

Look, it was unfortunate that he was forced onto the right wing but, honestly, it shouldn't excuse the drop in form we witnessed around late Jan/Feb. It seemed petulant but I don't want to make false statements. He played against Chelsea, as well, up front and was really poor so the right wing excuse doesn't stick. Right now is the best we've seen of Martial in a United shirt - something I mentioned when he first signed was his composure in front of goal particularly against Pool, Southampton and Ipswich in his first 3 games and we're seeing this again. Yes, he went on a goal scoring run last season but we've been in a bit of rut over the last few weeks and Martial has been clutch (if I may) for himself and his manager - 4 brilliant finishes with 3 coming under immense pressure and expectation.

Something no-one can deny is the talent he possesses but also the way he keeps it locked up for whatever reason. I honestly don't know if we can attribute this change in form to Jose but, if you're going to blame the loss of form on the manager then credit him too. Personally, I think the loss of form was Martials fault and I believe this purple patch is also down to him. I hope he doesn't leave. Ever.

 

[deafepl]

I dont think anyone can easily become Ronaldo.

I was implying that Martial could become goal machine, it took Ronaldo couple of seasons to finally scoring more goals 30+ seasons, the same thing happened to Salah last season, I hope it could happen to Martial.

 

[ash_86]

Another Mourinho apologist trying to do mental gymnastics to make Mourinho look good I see. Martial's game hasn't undergone a drastic change suddenly, he is playing exactly as he has been playing last year when he won those player of the month awards. Martial is not playing because of earth shattering change in his game, it's just that after a year Sanchez has looked beyond crap and if Mourinho had persisted with him a bit longer he would have been fired already.

It's not beyond realms of eternity to to think the manager does deserve some credit here. While Martial's forward play hasn't changed for years which we know is good, his defensive contribution is getting better. He was able to find a balance between tracking back and moving forward and he did it superbly vs Everton. That's definitely down to the manager. For him to be a regular starter under Jose, he needs to be showing more of this, which he has started to and hence being rewarded with the starting spot. Also, its looking increasingly certain that Jose isn't gonna be here next season. I don't think he cares about being fired now or at the end of the season and hence has no compulsion to make up with Martial. I'm pretty sure his ego wouldn't allow it if Martial has already been alienated.

 

[Shark]

Get a good CF up with him and he will play a lot better.

That CF should be Sanchez.