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2019-20 Performances


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6.2 Season Average Rating
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48
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23
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8
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romufc

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He's proved me wrong this season. Didn't think he had it in him. Great stuff from the lad. Long may it last!
I think he has proved most people wrong. We all knew he was a talented player.

Alot of credit should be put on Ole for this. He came in last year and Martial played LW with Rashford up top, not many thought he would start Martial up top, we saw it first in pre season.

The way he has gone up levels this season is impressive. Alot of names were labelled at him, everyone calls him lazy, he probably presses more than Rashford now.

It shows what a player can become when a coach really trusts him
 

romufc

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Do I think he can be the best striker in the league, like we've had before? Maybe, but i'm not convinced right now. That's why i link him more to the likes of Saha, or Chicharito if you like. I think he can do very well, but simply am not sure if he will hit that next level where you can seriously make a case for him being the best striker in the league.
On current form, he is the best in the league. 17 goals and 7 assists for him this season, for a team playing with alot less talent than previous United strikers.

Comparing him to Chicarito is not right. He is a completely different player. Martial offers hold up play, link up play, dribbling, finishing and even world class goals.

You will struggle to find a better all rounded striker in his age bracket in Europe, let alone the PL.
 

LawCharltonBest

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On current form, he is the best in the league. 17 goals and 7 assists for him this season, for a team playing with alot less talent than previous United strikers.

Comparing him to Chicarito is not right. He is a completely different player. Martial offers hold up play, link up play, dribbling, finishing and even world class goals.

You will struggle to find a better all rounded striker in his age bracket in Europe, let alone the PL.
Then that's fair and I respect your opinion. I hope I'm proved wrong.

Just to note though, I'm not actually directly comparing him to these players. I'm just stating players who I would say were good forwards here, just perhaps a tier below the top, top strikers we've had.
 

romufc

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Then that's fair and I respect your opinion. I hope I'm proved wrong.

Just to note though, I'm not actually directly comparing him to these players. I'm just stating players who I would say were good forwards here, just perhaps a tier below the top, top strikers we've had.
We also have to note that play styles have changed alot more. We used to play with 2 strikers so we could afford to have different types of strikers. Now, we are relying on one striker to occupy both CB's, help us get out under pressure by holding up the ball, score goals and link up play.
 

KennyBurner

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Nope and I never said I did expect him to do that.

I'm judging the player overall from what we've seen of him since 2015. I think he's going to be a very good player, absolutely can play a big part in a title challenge. Do I think he can be the best striker in the league, like we've had before? Maybe, but i'm not convinced right now. That's why i link him more to the likes of Saha, or Chicharito if you like. I think he can do very well, but simply am not sure if he will hit that next level where you can seriously make a case for him being the best striker in the league.

I was purely looking for opinions. I don't appreciate your first reply because its not needed, I never try to make people look stupid on here. It's sad. Be better. If you're confused by what people mean, ask them don't mock them. Or you'll end up like @UncleBob
Comparing him since 2015 to strikers when he has played as a winger? Just admit you’re post is clueless.
 

LawCharltonBest

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Comparing him since 2015 to strikers when he has played as a winger? Just admit you’re post is clueless.
He's played in various positions over the front 3. I'm judging the player on that, plus his one season as a regular striker.

I can gain an opinion on a player on 5 seasons, just as i've gained an opinion on Bruno for watching him for just a few months.

I've not said Martial's not done well, never. I've said it seems to me that he might not reach that top brass. Even then, I've not said he definitely won't.

If you think my post is clueless then okay, at least i presume that is what "you are post is clueless" means. You clearly don't have any opinion of your own to offer so there's clearly not any kind of back and forth to be had.
 

KennyBurner

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He's played in various positions over the front 3. I'm judging the player on that, plus his one season as a regular striker.

I can gain an opinion on a player on 5 seasons, just as i've gained an opinion on Bruno for watching him for just a few months.

I've not said Martial's not done well, never. I've said it seems to me that he might not reach that top brass. Even then, I've not said he definitely won't.

If you think my post is clueless then okay, at least i presume that is what "you are post is clueless" means. You clearly don't have any opinion of your own to offer so there's clearly not any kind of back and forth to be had.
Rooney, RVN all took penalties for United. Martial scored 17 without taking any in the league although we had 14 penalties in the league this year which is a record. I wonder how the perception of him would change if we allowed him to take a good portion of that.

it’s also nonsensical to compare him since he arrived in 2015 to our greatest strikers over the years when he has only played as a striker for 1 season out of 5. You might as well add Ronaldo to the conversation for it to seem more plausible.

I criticized your post because it has no context which is most of the nonsense I usually see when judging martial.
 

KennyBurner

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If Martial has a better player than Rashford would he get better?
I mean yes is the obvious answer. Still Rashford is important for how we want to play. Greenwood and Sancho are not direct players but more technical. Rashford is raw power and directness which provides balance. Hopefully we rest Rashford till September because he hasn’t looked the same after the restart due to fatigue. Ole is overplaying him.
 

LawCharltonBest

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Rooney, RVN all took penalties for United. Martial scored 17 without taking any in the league although we had 14 penalties in the league this year which is a record. I wonder how the perception of him would change if we allowed him to take a good portion of that.

it’s also nonsensical to compare him since he arrived in 2015 to our greatest strikers over the years when he has only played as a striker for 1 season out of 5. You might as well add Ronaldo to the conversation for it to seem more plausible.

I criticized your post because it has no context which is most of the nonsense I usually see when judging martial.
I never compared him to them. I’m talking about what he’ll become here. I said I’m not sure he’ll reach that level in the future but that I hope I’m wrong.

I hope he scores 20+ goals in the league next season. But I’m not sure Martial is a player where I can absolutely bank on it happening, like you could with Aguero or Kane when fully fit. I’m not saying he cannot. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put money on it.
 

Sayros

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I never compared him to them. I’m talking about what he’ll become here. I said I’m not sure he’ll reach that level in the future but that I hope I’m wrong.

I hope he scores 20+ goals in the league next season. But I’m not sure Martial is a player where I can absolutely bank on it happening, like you could with Aguero or Kane when fully fit. I’m not saying he cannot. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put money on it.
With 1/3rd of the penalties the team had this season, he's over 20+ league goal realistically, a luxury those other strikers have that he doesn't, without him even being bad at them but Bruno's better. Who cares if he's not RvN etc.? Those strikers are a rare breed in today's game and there's maybe a handful of them in world football at the elite level. I do share your belief that the club needs another striker for depth and competition, although if Sancho comes, then Greenwood can be a competitor for all three forward slots given his lack of weak foot.

I understand that it's the first season as a striker, and so there's some who will see his return and wonder if he is able to sustain it. Their reason for concern is my reason for optimism, it's his first true season as a striker, with two months off, and look at that incredible return considering no PKs taken! It's quite extraordinary, when you consider his past 5 years at the club, that he's been able to pick it up so quickly and become one of the best strikers in the PL. I think it would be massively foolish to bet against him to not only re-create it next season, but surpass it given a clean bill of health throughout the season, which competition at the forward positions will help with.
 

Santoryo

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Add Sancho(wasn't that keen on him initially) and Greenwood will be competing for all those 3 spots in attack, especially the CF role which will be good for the team and avoid any complacency from anyone in that front 3. Whoever plays well and can sustain it consistently will see more game time between those 4.
 

Quinzaine

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How do people feel about him as our main Striker next season then?

Good goal scoring season this season sure, first season as our main #9.

I'm somewhere in the middle. Thinking ruthlessly "title challenge next year" - I think we at least need someone competing with him. I'm not convinced we will title challenge with him as our starting striker in all 38 PL games. Ability-wise, I would place him around the pre-injury-prone Louis Saha level, rather than Nistelrooy, Cole, Rooney, Cantona etc.

Thoughts? Feel free to disagree with reason why.
My thoughts are that if we deem Martial not good enough for a team winning the league then we have to hold the whole squad to the same standard and in that case we'd have to replace everyone in the starting 11 bar maybe Pogba and at a push Bruno.
 

Quinzaine

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How do people feel about him as our main Striker next season then?

Good goal scoring season this season sure, first season as our main #9.

I'm somewhere in the middle. Thinking ruthlessly "title challenge next year" - I think we at least need someone competing with him. I'm not convinced we will title challenge with him as our starting striker in all 38 PL games. Ability-wise, I would place him around the pre-injury-prone Louis Saha level, rather than Nistelrooy, Cole, Rooney, Cantona etc.

Thoughts? Feel free to disagree with reason why.
However to give you a more serious response, his actual ability is up there with the very best. He was voted the best teenager in the world, sharing company with the likes of Mbappe, Pogba, Sterling, De Ligt and Joao Felix since 2013. He was also the most expensive teenager in the world when we signed him for a reason. The ability is never in question, the question was whether he'd adapt to being a striker after being shifted out wide for a number of years and the signs from his first season suggest that he is adapting and will continue to adapt rather well.
 

Lj82

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I never compared him to them. I’m talking about what he’ll become here. I said I’m not sure he’ll reach that level in the future but that I hope I’m wrong.

I hope he scores 20+ goals in the league next season. But I’m not sure Martial is a player where I can absolutely bank on it happening, like you could with Aguero or Kane when fully fit. I’m not saying he cannot. I’m just saying I wouldn’t put money on it.
He is only 3 goals away from 20 league goals, despite not taking any penalties and spending 2 months out with injuries. Why are you so doubtful that he can achieve it?

Besides, Martial provides much more than goals. The last two league games you can see how involved he was with the goals despite not scoring. He brings other players into play. Both Rashford and Greenwood enjoys playing with him, as do Bruno and Pogba. His hold up play is fantastic. He literally is the perfect player for our system. He is not without flaws, of course. But he definitely is the least of our problems if we want to win the league
 

In Rainbows

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However to give you a more serious response, his actual ability is up there with the very best. He was voted the best teenager in the world, sharing company with the likes of Mbappe, Pogba, Sterling, De Ligt and Joao Felix since 2013. He was also the most expensive teenager in the world when we signed him for a reason. The ability is never in question, the question was whether he'd adapt to being a striker after being shifted out wide for a number of years and the signs from his first season suggest that he is adapting and will continue to adapt rather well.
I'm still unnecessarily upset that Felix won over Sancho.
 

amolbhatia50k

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How do people feel about him as our main Striker next season then?

Good goal scoring season this season sure, first season as our main #9.

I'm somewhere in the middle. Thinking ruthlessly "title challenge next year" - I think we at least need someone competing with him. I'm not convinced we will title challenge with him as our starting striker in all 38 PL games. Ability-wise, I would place him around the pre-injury-prone Louis Saha level, rather than Nistelrooy, Cole, Rooney, Cantona etc.

Thoughts? Feel free to disagree with reason why.
He's definitely better than Saha.

Regardless, Rashford isn't as good as Giggs, Greenwood /Sancho not as good as Ronaldo, everyone is midfield not as good as Scholes/Carrick/Keane and the back four not as good as Neville-Vidic-Rio-Evra.

So why is it Martial that you're contemplating the quality of when the entire team cannot compare to our all time greats? We aren't challenging next season Imo. We finished 33 points behind Livepool. The point is to progress so that this gap can end up being 10 or lower (depending on how Liverpool perform) and half challenge. For that, we should first improve our weaker areas (such as RW) rather than our strongest ones.
 

Yagami

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How do people feel about him as our main Striker next season then?

Good goal scoring season this season sure, first season as our main #9.

I'm somewhere in the middle. Thinking ruthlessly "title challenge next year" - I think we at least need someone competing with him. I'm not convinced we will title challenge with him as our starting striker in all 38 PL games. Ability-wise, I would place him around the pre-injury-prone Louis Saha level, rather than Nistelrooy, Cole, Rooney, Cantona etc.

Thoughts? Feel free to disagree with reason why.
I'm happy with him as our #9 going into next season. For me, he's not only been our most consistent attacker, but has been our best player in general this season.

One thing that shouldn't go unnoticed that he displayed this season as a CF was his versatility in the position. Pre Bruno (& Pogba coming back), he was playing as a false 9. He had to do this because we lacked the players capable of getting the ball to him on a consistent basis, so he'd constantly have to come deep to create for himself and others. He was brilliant in this role.

Then, after signing Fernandes (&, later on, Pogba returning), he started playing like a classic 9 because we actually had midfielders capable of getting the ball forwards now. He was brilliant in this role, too.

There aren't many CFs who can play both style of 9 to the same level as him.

Regarding his stats, they're impressive in and of themselves. Especially when you take into account that he missed two months of the season, was playing as a CF for the first time on a consistent basis in his senior career, and was playing with only one player on his level for about half a season.

In the Premiership, he was joint first with Raul in assists for CFs, and when you look at some of the huge chances missed this season, he could've had more. His throughballs to onrushing FBs/wingers when deep shouldn't go unnoticed either. They were key to many of the chances created in the earlier parts of the season whilst playing as more of a false 9.

With his goal tally in the league, some might see that he didn't reach 20 and assume he can't do it, but context is needed. First, he was hardly getting chances in the first half of the season due to our poor creativity. Then you need to factor in the two months he missed. You then have to remember that, unlike most of the other CFs in the league, he doesn't take penalties. When you look at just goals from open play, I believe he was the 3rd top goalscorer in the league this season. If, like his CF counterparts, he took pens, he could've probably won the golden boot considering we got 14 of them, was it?

Ability wise I think he's one of our most talented CFs ever. A lot better than Saha, and that's no disrespect to Saha who was talented. That's not to say I think he's already one of our best CFs. I'm just talking about ability alone as per your own statement.

I'll finish off by saying that along with his physical talent, I think he's one of our most mentally strong players, too. There are a load of examples of this, but you can just look to recently to save time. When Pogba, Fernandes, Rashford and Greenwood all looked shattered/done at different points of our last few games, Martial was the one constant who was constantly playing well; keeping us on track for that 3rd spot we won.
 

Raven

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How do people feel about him as our main Striker next season then?

Good goal scoring season this season sure, first season as our main #9.

I'm somewhere in the middle. Thinking ruthlessly "title challenge next year" - I think we at least need someone competing with him. I'm not convinced we will title challenge with him as our starting striker in all 38 PL games. Ability-wise, I would place him around the pre-injury-prone Louis Saha level, rather than Nistelrooy, Cole, Rooney, Cantona etc.

Thoughts? Feel free to disagree with reason why.
He's possibly our best player and I'm absolutely convinced that he can become one of the best strikers in the world. So, yes I'm very confident in him being our starting CF for the next few years at the least.
 

Wednesday at Stoke

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I don't think its a coincidence that he started making the runs behind and between the center backs as soon as he realised that there were midfielders behind him who can spot those passes and play him through. That was the only thing working in attack in the Leicester game and won the decisive penalty. I'm excited to see what else he can bring with another summer and a training camp under Solskjær.
 

JPRouve

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I don't think its a coincidence that he started making the runs behind and between the center backs as soon as he realised that there were midfielders behind him who can spot those passes and play him through. That was the only thing working in attack in the Leicester game and won the decisive penalty. I'm excited to see what else he can bring with another summer and a training camp under Solskjær.
He was making those runs before but wasn't spotted. Maybe he makes them more often but it's not as if he wasn't making them.
 

Lewnited

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Fantastic season from Martial, so happy for him! To have gotten the G+A tally he has this season while missing a couple months through injury, having no Bruno/Pogba for half the season and all in his first full season playing as a #9 is crazy!
He's absolutely capable of being a 30+ goal a season player, but what's more impressive is that he fits perfectly in to the archetype of the modern day #9. He has the pace and skill to float to either wing, while having the passing ability and vision to drop deep and link play with his team mates.
Once he starts doing it on the big stages in Europe as well as internationally, I think he'll start to get a lot of recognition for just how good he actually is.
 

UncleBob

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It's not always easy to understand the amount of stick Martial is getting.

There's always an issue no matter how he performs.

After a season where he's, easily as well, been one of our best and most important players, and shown why Ole was right to trust the players available instead of trying to spend big to replace Lukaku. There is still the notion being thrown around to discredit his performances that Martial isn't good enough if we want to challenge for the title, and "Greenwood will replace him shortly".

At what point do people wake up and take notice of how Liverpool won the league without a traditional striker, Firmino barely scored a fecking goal and yet Manchester United, with a trio that outscored Mane, Salah and Firminio, are desperate for a 25+ goals traditional striker in order to mount a title challenge?

What we need to do is improve the working conditions for Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and hopefully Sancho. So that we don't find ourselves relying on a centre midfield of Fred, Pereira and Lingard ever again.
 

KennyBurner

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It's not always easy to understand the amount of stick Martial is getting.

There's always an issue no matter how he performs.

After a season where he's, easily as well, been one of our best and most important players, and shown why Ole was right to trust the players available instead of trying to spend big to replace Lukaku. There is still the notion being thrown around to discredit his performances that Martial isn't good enough if we want to challenge for the title, and "Greenwood will replace him shortly".

At what point do people wake up and take notice of how Liverpool won the league without a traditional striker, Firmino barely scored a fecking goal and yet Manchester United, with a trio that outscored Mane, Salah and Firminio, are desperate for a 25+ goals traditional striker in order to mount a title challenge?

What we need to do is improve the working conditions for Rashford, Martial, Greenwood and hopefully Sancho. So that we don't find ourselves relying on a centre midfield of Fred, Pereira and Lingard ever again.
Our problem is no longer our attack. If we cant compete for the best honors it would be our defense then midfield. Those guys up top ourscored most of the best attacks in the world. Would even be more if Rashford kept taking penalties instead of Bruno.
 

lenny_1248

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I don't understand this "we need a 25/30-goal striker to win the league". What a nonsense.
Ronaldo scored 17 in 2006/2007 being a highest scorer. 18 in 2008/2009. Even Liverpool this year with Salah, 19 goals. Tons of examples.
Idiots just try to come up with new stuff to push their lazy agenda. It's baffling to me how clueless all these pundits are who get paid millions to talk this nonsense.

Anyway, I still expect Martial to score 20+ goals in the league if he plays 30+ games. He can even get to 25. And all this w/o penalties.
 

Foxbatt

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He is also a very intelligent player. Against Leicester as soon as he saw he was the only one to do the press at the end of the first half, he dropped back into midfield to cover the space instead of continuing with his press.
 

E-mal

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Don Hutchinson, the dumb fecker who hates Martial. He is perhaps the least intelligent pundit out there with his repeated cliches. Imagine been worse than Tim Sherwood, Craig Burley and Dion Dublin.

The disrespect for international epl viewers having these pundits on TV.
 

Foxbatt

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Don Hutchinson, the dumb fecker who hates Martial. He is perhaps the least intelligent pundit out there with his repeated cliches. Imagine been worse than Tim Sherwood, Craig Burley and Dion Dublin.

The disrespect for international epl viewers having these pundits on TV.
Most of them are idiots. Though I like Sherwood. The reason why Blackburn didn't buy zidane.
 

amolbhatia50k

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Don Hutchinson, the dumb fecker who hates Martial. He is perhaps the least intelligent pundit out there with his repeated cliches. Imagine been worse than Tim Sherwood, Craig Burley and Dion Dublin.

The disrespect for international epl viewers having these pundits on TV.
Nearly everyone on ESPN is a bit clueless.
 

manutddjw

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Does anyone remember that guy on the caf who hated Martial because he was barely in his 20’s and had 2-3 relationships already and attributed his poor form under Jose to “having sex on the brain too much”?
 

Rolaholic

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Does anyone remember that guy on the caf who hated Martial because he was barely in his 20’s and had 2-3 relationships already and attributed his poor form under Jose to “having sex on the brain too much”?
Can't remember the exact names but there were a whole lot of weirdos shitting on him that summer it looked like he might be pushed out by Jose after daring to leave the meaningless US preseason/PR tour to go back home for the birth of his son.

The amount of personal attacks on his character and lifestyle as a young 22 year old was shocking and I'm glad much of that toxicity left with Jose. He did a nasty number on a lot of the fanbase
 

Santoryo

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I remember when some guy, probably the same guy being referred here who claimed that Martial was autistic or some nonsense like that. :lol:
 
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