Has Martial done enough to be backed as our long-term #9?

[James Peril]

I really, really don’t understand the «he was fantastic»-posts and plaudits after this game. He barely touched the ball, he missed a sitter with an awful finish.... he won the penalty naturally after 30 seconds, but that says very little about his performance. Anonymous, not much involved, like most of our attacking players as it was a defensive display where we didn’t see much of the ball.

 

[wolvored]

He had a decent game, but didnt score and thats what you want from your main striker, so its still a no from me. Way too inconsistant and if we go into the next season with him as the main striker, we will win feck all again.

 

[tomaldinho1]

I really, really don’t understand the «he was fantastic»-posts and plaudits after this game. He barely touched the ball, he missed a sitter with an awful finish.... he won the penalty naturally after 30 seconds, but that says very little about his performance. Anonymous, not much involved, like most of our attacking players as it was a defensive display where we didn’t see much of the ball.

You literally must have missed large chunks of the game. Guy was getting fouled left right and centre whilst keeping the ball (mostly) and reliving pressure/taking people on. There was a point where he went past Rodri and another City player like they weren’t there and they both tried to hack him down - G Nev said he was ragdolling their defenders and it nearly brought a tear to my eye.

 

[arthurka]

Had a fine game but nothing special just worked harder than usual but should have buried that sitter. Hate to be talking about him having a good game when he did the minimum that should be required from a striker at Utd.

 

[tenpoless]

He'll be perfect as a second striker. This i believe.

 

[Foxbatt]

He'll be perfect as a second striker. This i believe.

Spot on. He likes to come deep and get on the ball. He is not a strict 9 and you play with a Kane or Haaland and he is going to destroy defences.
He can take on defences. He is not quick like Rashford or James but has a burst of pace.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

He’s great at link up play & hold up play. His finishing is horrific though.

 

[NinjaZombie]

How did he miss that chance? All he had to do was find the bottom left corner.

 

[Polar]

He'll be perfect as a second striker. This i believe.

Agree. Perfect backup striker and also backup RW/LW.

Perhaps an overpaid backup player, but at least no wage increase for him in the future!

 

[Sky1981]

Onr good game and he's back. New position to try out next season.

That's martial sorted for the next 3 years stinking out the place

 

[Longshanks]

He was good yesterday no doubt, hold up play and link up excellent also showed his ability to carry the ball and beat players, shame he seems to.have lost his goalscoring touch because he deserved one for his performance.

It's not enough to make up for his poor performances this season so far, if he can replicate his run in form from last season maybe just maybe I wont be to unhappy if he is still here next season.

 

[Red_toad]

He’s great at link up play & hold up play. His finishing is horrific though.

No it isn't, he's out of form, his finishing is usually very good. You'll be saying Greenwood is a terrible finisher next...

 

[Bobcat]

I really, really don’t understand the «he was fantastic»-posts and plaudits after this game. He barely touched the ball, he missed a sitter with an awful finish.... he won the penalty naturally after 30 seconds, but that says very little about his performance. Anonymous, not much involved, like most of our attacking players as it was a defensive display where we didn’t see much of the ball.

Yeah, after sleeping on it its clear the bar is really low for him at the moment.

Not outstanding by any metric, but it was a massive step in the right direction

 

[Tony247]

Poor in front of the goal which is what his main job is. Good that he won the pen but otherwise unconvincing as a forward.

 

[Hawks2008]

Good game, hopefully ends the season with more good games and raises his transfer value a bit.

 

[Bebestation]

I would rather sell Cavani than Martial if we get Haaland. Martial is a different type of player to Haaland and Cavani.

I'd rather have a type a and b forward than two type a forwards.

 

[buckooo1978]

Excellent from Tony yesterday

lets hope this is the catalyst for a strong finish to the season and a bit of self-belief for him

Time to put this disaster of a season behind him

 

[RashyForPM]

I would rather sell Cavani than Martial if we get Haaland. Martial is a different type of player to Haaland and Cavani.

I'd rather have a type a and b forward than two type a forwards.

Yes, if AM shows consistency and quality all the way to the end of the season. Sounds basic but it’s that simple, because he hasn’t throughout the season all the way until this City game, where he was absolutely brilliant last night. He’s much younger and less injury prone than Cavani.

There’s one caveat though; I feel Martial is a bit of a bottler when he has real competition. In this two seasons where he had no competition for his place, last season and 2015-16, he was consistently good. In other season, with competition from the likes of Lukaku, Sanchez, Zlatan and Cavani, he looks a shadow of the clinical all-round striker in the two seasons. If Haaland comes in, he will be the undisputed first choice, and I doubt Martial, who straight up sulks when things don’t go his way, will react well to that.

 

[Globule]

His performance yesterday was a perfect encapsulation of his season. His hold up play looks to have really improved over the past couple of seasons and that was a big hole in his game. He looks like he can actually lead the line as a striker.
Unfortunately his finishing has fallen off a cliff. He was always a fairly calm and clinical finisher so I'm really not sure what's happened there.

Having become better at holding up play with his back to goal, the only thing that you'd expect him o be missing is his movement in the 6-yard box, but his problems scoring is a real worry.

 

[Marwood]

Though Gary Neville went a little overboard describing his performance as "outstanding"

I thought he did some basic centre forward play, the type of stuff that should be the minimum requirement. Still good to see but it's just a first step in getting back to some sort of form.

If Martial was outstanding how do we describe Kane's performance against Palace?

 

[kafta]

I think the bar has been set pretty low for Anthony. I though he had a good game yesterday, but that is the minimum requirement for a starting striker.

Its similar to the Burno situation. I never really figured how much a world class No. 10 would add to our team. And i think if we do sign a world class striker, it will become much more obvious what we have been missing. Hopefully he turns it around, cause i had very high hopes for him, but we need our forwards to start being consistent.

 

[eire-red]

Though Gary Neville went a little overboard describing his performance as "outstanding"

I thought he did some basic centre forward play, the type of stuff that should be the minimum requirement. Still good to see but it's just a first step in getting back to some sort of form.

If Martial was outstanding how do we describe Kane's performance against Palace?

How did Kane perform at the Etihad? Not really fair to compare the performances in games of completely different quality and intensity.

Martial has been terrible all season, but credit where it's due, him being involved and being a focal point for our attack was a huge difference in the game.

If he finished that chance, it's pretty much the perfect CF performance against the best defence in the league. The real question is where did that performance come from, and why can't he do it regularly?

 

[Sky1981]

How did Kane perform at the Etihad? Not really fair to compare the performances in games of completely different quality and intensity.

Martial has been terrible all season, but credit where it's due, him being involved and being a focal point for our attack was a huge difference in the game.

If he finished that chance, it's pretty much the perfect CF performance against the best defence in the league. The real question is where did that performance come from, and why can't he do it regularly?

Now imagine if we actually have a fit and functioning striker all year instead of Martial.

Would swap him for a proper functioning striker that functions 38 games a season instead of few games a season

 

[tomaldinho1]

Though Gary Neville went a little overboard describing his performance as "outstanding"

I thought he did some basic centre forward play, the type of stuff that should be the minimum requirement. Still good to see but it's just a first step in getting back to some sort of form.

If Martial was outstanding how do we describe Kane's performance against Palace?

1. No one doubts Kane as being a top class CF
2. Only United struggled against Palace. Just look at their previous games, they’ve been gifting a ridiculous number of chances to teams for months.

 

[eire-red]

Now imagine if we actually have a fit and functioning striker all year instead of Martial.

Would swap him for a proper functioning striker that functions 38 games a season instead of few games a season

Absolutely.

If we had a Cavani but two or three years younger, or even Martial from last season, we'd be closer to City you'd like to think.

It's a absolute priority in the transfer window. City are the exception to this, but it's rare to find a top team that doesn't have a top CF.

 

[Marwood]

How did Kane perform at the Etihad? Not really fair to compare the performances in games of completely different quality and intensity.

Martial has been terrible all season, but credit where it's due, him being involved and being a focal point for our attack was a huge difference in the game.

If he finished that chance, it's pretty much the perfect CF performance against the best defence in the league. The real question is where did that performance come from, and why can't he do it regularly?

There's still a huge gap between the two performances even taking that into consideration. That was the same Palace our entire team struggled to fashion a chance against.

I've always been a Martial fan but yesterday it was just a few moments of decent hold up play. The kind of thing I'd expect from a mid table centre forward. Chuck in him missing a sitter and no way can it be described as "outstanding."

 

[Bilbo]

I think the bar has been set pretty low for Anthony. I though he had a good game yesterday, but that is the minimum requirement for a starting striker.

Agree with this

 

[Lemon Moon]

Spot on. He likes to come deep and get on the ball. He is not a strict 9 and you play with a Kane or Haaland and he is going to destroy defences.
He can take on defences. He is not quick like Rashford or James but has a burst of pace.

Do you think we would deploy him as a second striker?

I guess that would mean us switching to a 442, but the main question then is who do you have in midfield?

Could Bruno & Pogba play the 'Scholes & Keane' roles? I don't believe they could.

We are seeing a bit of a resurgence of 442 in this league though, i like it.

 

[eire-red]

There's still a huge gap between the two performances even taking that into consideration. That was the same Palace our entire team struggled to fashion a chance against.

I've always been a Martial fan but yesterday it was just a few moments of decent hold up play. The kind of thing I'd expect from a mid table centre forward. Chuck in him missing a sitter and no way can it be described as "outstanding."

Kane is one of the best forwards in the world. I don't understand what is to gain from comparing his performance against Palace to that of Martial against City?

I've been heavily critical of Martial this season, but if that was his level of performance all season you'd have to think he'd have found that goalscoring touch and would be having a much better season.

Let's take yesterday as a positive, because he's set the bar so low this season that even though yesterday was the 'baseline level' you'd expect from a United forward, its actually a performance to build off for once.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Much better yesterday, but he still lacks real centre forward instincts. He rarely gambles on a near post run, or makes a run knowing he won't get the ball at the end of it. His link up and hold up play was very good yesterday, some really good turns to initiate the counter. He really should have made it 3-0 though. He should have lashed it across the goal keeper who was in a poor starting position and had tons of space on the other side of the goal.

If he just moved the way Cavani does in games, he'd be an immeasurably better player. Knowing where to run and when isn't an unteachable talent.

 

[edgecutter]

He played well yesterday, but that shouldn't cloud over the last 7 months of absolute dross he has served up.

 

[VeevaVee]

Agree with those wondering what was so great about him yesterday. He just wasn’t shit like usual, apart from the bit where he was really shit in front of goal.

Those saying he’d be perfect for this role or that role, based on what? The one decent performance he’s put in all season?

 

[Lentwood]

Agree with those wondering what was so great about him yesterday. He just wasn’t shit like usual, apart from the bit where he was really shit in front of goal.

Those saying he’d be perfect for this role or that role, based on what? The one decent performance he’s put in all season?

It was better than 'decent'. City suffocate teams by playing very high and pressing intensely. They make it incredibly difficult for teams to play the ball into the forwards and get out.

Martial was very good with his back to goal yesterday. He held-off Stones and Dias numerous times and found good passes which relieved pressure and enabled us to get out.

Don't forget, he also won us the first-minute penalty with his direct running, which swung the game in our favour

 

[VeevaVee]

It was better than 'decent'. City suffocate teams by playing very high and pressing intensely. They make it incredibly difficult for teams to play the ball into the forwards and get out.

Martial was very good with his back to goal yesterday. He held-off Stones and Dias numerous times and found good passes which relieved pressure and enabled us to get out.

Don't forget, he also won us the first-minute penalty with his direct running, which swung the game in our favour

Yeah, he was decent. I don’t really see what he did as much more that that. While a penalty was fantastic for us, I don’t think it makes his performance that much better.

Wonder how much the consensus would change if he’d fluffed the shot at 1-1 but still played the same the rest of the game?

 

[PieCrust]

I really, really don’t understand the «he was fantastic»-posts and plaudits after this game. He barely touched the ball, he missed a sitter with an awful finish.... he won the penalty naturally after 30 seconds, but that says very little about his performance. Anonymous, not much involved, like most of our attacking players as it was a defensive display where we didn’t see much of the ball.

Have to agree honestly. He was more "not terrible" than good. Which is some sort of improvement I guess. Still needs to be sold and signing a real ST is high on the list for this summer.

 

[Jericho]

Have to agree with Souness that you just can't trust him. If he's content to be on the bench then I'd keep him for that reason.

Hard to believe he's 25 now. His game hasn't matured at all really in the time he's been here.

 

[UpWithRivers]

Yeah, he was decent. I don’t really see what he did as much more that that. While a penalty was fantastic for us, I don’t think it makes his performance that much better.

Wonder how much the consensus would change if he’d fluffed the shot at 1-1 but still played the same the rest of the game?

This goes both ways. He has played at this level most of the season. When we win he's good when we loose he's sht. But the truth is somewhere in between. I agree decent is the overall assessment. Good with build up, holding on to the ball, back to goal, dribbling etc. Bad with shooting and making runs in the box. If he gets his last years shooting boots on then he is a top player.

 

[gerdm07]

He was pretty good yesterday. However, I was getting really frustrated with the number of times he received the ball to hold up and he held, held and held until he could go down from a foul. There was one moment in the 2nd half he did that and didn't get the call. That and a number of other times if he had been quicker with the ball he might have sparked a good attack.

That seems to define his hold up play now. Receive, wait for a foul and crumble to the ground. It's as if he doesn't want to have to make a decision and make a play.

 

[Kaos]

I don't get the plaudits from the City game. Yes he played much better and was mostly a nuisance for their defenders but he still has failed to one thing you'd expect number 9 to do - score, something he's failed to do pretty much all season. And that's after gifting him two chances on a plate.

Unless he goes on a freak goalscoring romp between now and the end of the season I'm still learning towards selling him and making way for a number 9 who reliably bags us 20+ goals a season. I'm a big converted Cavani fan and would be happy for him to have another season here, but he's not the solution going forward, nor is Martial.

 

[hobbers]

Shows just how low the bar is for some people if they are raving about his performance yesterday.

He was a lot better than he has been in other recent games but that's not exactly earth shattering.