Martial's first touch has been perfectly fine when he has players close by to hold the ball on to before making a pass.
How did you find his first touch when Rashford & Greenwood, Mctomminay were playing around him?
Ever since Rashford has been injured & Greenwood stopped playing in that setup - he has played with the likes of James & Mata - players who leaves him with absolutely no one to link up with. He tries to hold it up - all the defenders signal him out because James is in a completely different territory not playing as a forward that can interlink with passes so he looses it.
The only player Martial can even attempt to interlink with now is Bruno Fernandes & Fred - occasionally Williams. Nothing from another forward.
His first touch was one of the best thing about his game when he had the players around him playing in a close set up because he was one step ahead of everyone creating space for players like Rashford behind him - but now that's gone the defenders are one step in front of him because they mark him out the game.
His hold up play and first touch is good when he has other strikers to play off him.
When he's the only one he has absolutely no one who he passes off to - has absolutely no one who makes those runs close enough to him so he gets closed of & his lanes get cut off.
When someone like Ighalo plays - he doesn't give a cr*p about holding the ball and making passes for the forwards next to him - all he wants to do is wrestle his way past defenders & that's why Ighalo faces the front of goal when holding on to the ball whilst Martial usually has his back towards goal after a first touch - because he wants to bring someone else in to play as a support striker.
@UNITED ACADEMY