[Zoo]

His hold-up play was impressive against their physical CB’s. He also didn’t sulk when moved to the left. Am happy with his effort today.

 

[Toshey]

if he was a contestant in Hell's Kitchen, Gordon Ramsay would be fecking staring at him angrily at the chopping block and ranting: "Are you done? Yeh I think you're done." (Would still let him stay, taking the apron off Donny at this point.)

I see what Ole is trying to do - play him into his spring form from last year.I hope he succeeds eventually, but there are no positive signs. I mean, people are praising Martial today for managing to hold the ball against West Ham defenders, but they were going for the draw and were never going to be aggressive enough. It's not difficult to play with your back to goal against a team that has no intent to attack whatsoever. They are just making themselves living obstacles, no pressure when receiving the ball whatsoever.

This shows why we badly needed Sancho in the summer and why it's complete bullshit we didn't push hard enough to get him. Rashford and Martial can't be fecking bothered with playing for their spot, because nobody can take their spot. Even if Cavani comes on, Martial just knows he is going to the wing.
We are out of options for our attack and it shows badly when 2 of our front 3 are in terrible form.

 

[Redlyn]

Alright match, worked a bit. Just the most shocking attempts I've seen in a while. It's like he summoned his inner Fred with his shooting.

 

[Godfather]

Thought he looked decent but again awful in front of goal. Was totally knackered at the end though

 

[AltiUn]

It was a strange performance, his effort and hold up play was good I thought but his finishing, passing and first touch were poor as they have been all season. If he can't pick it up soon then I think the management staff have a big decision to make over his future, he's not a kid anymore and he's one of our top earners. Last season showed all the signs he was going in the right direction but this season is his worst one since 16/17.

 

[Red Shorts]

He's starting off all wrong by facing fully back to the goal, holdup play just isnt his strength.

He needs to have that confidence back to half face the goal, take the ball in his stride and calmly slot it. Him and Rashford both seem to force it too much when we know they have shown the ability to make things happen. Both need to remember their strengths and believe they can pull it off

 

[berbatrick]

Solid performance. Touch and strength were good, passing was average, shooting was bad (well, he had one chance in the 121st minute). Don't think he could have done much - neither Cavani nor Rashford made any positive impression in the 2 positions he played.

Still looks short of confidence, and the linkup play is missing (from all the forwards). Funnily enough he celebrated this goal much harder than his own two vs Southampton.

 

[Rossa]

He looks unfit! Where is the player that would run at players with speed and trickery? Looks unfit and heavy. Needs to improve! His hold up play was impressive though!

 

[MattyB1986]

Wasn't a bad performance from Martial. Looks shot of confidence in front of goal, but signs were better tonight in his overall performance.

 

[drdoityourself]

The movement in the box is just not good enough for a striker. Greenwood has the ball on his right and the only plausible option for him to cross is to the near post but Martial doesn't read it and is just stuck between some defenders behind the action.

Rashford has the ball on the edge of the area as a winger and Martial is coming right up to him for one-two's. Nobody in the box. These examples rack up every game, his instincts are not right for the nr.9 position.

 

[Lay]

Better than what he has been but fecking hell his movement is shit.

 

[Raven]

Better than what he has been but fecking hell his movement is shit.

You must have missed the constant runs he was making in behind, only for our midfielders and Rashford to constantly ignore him.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Never feel like he will score. And he never does

 

[Frank White]

Expectations truely are under the ground, never mind on it if people genuinely believe that was a "good" performance....

There was nothing good about anyone's performance today bar maybe Scott's cameo.

Glad it didn't go to pens because with the way are forwards have been finishing lately wasn't confident in any of them putting theirs away.

Here's to hoping Martial finally discovers his form from last year because we're half way through the season now and he's been a big fat dud.

 

[spiriticon]

Turning into the new Jesse Lingard. Slowly, day by day.

Just needs to start dabbing

 

[Threesus]

At this point, we should accept that he is just a defensive striker like Firmino and focus on bringing a proper striker in this summer.
You have to ask, will martial start over RVN, Tevez, RVP? In my opinion, no and I don’t think even the hardcore martial cultists will argue against that.
We should have the same conversation with Rashford. I love Rashford, but he is only starting now because our alternative there is Dan James. Buying a striker and winger next summer is of paramount importance.

 

[#07]

Game could have gone on for hours and he still wouldn't have scored. Still got a nice all around game. Looks as dangerous as a toy sword.

 

[Red00012]

The movement in the box is just not good enough for a striker. Greenwood has the ball on his right and the only plausible option for him to cross is to the near post but Martial doesn't read it and is just stuck between some defenders behind the action.

Rashford has the ball on the edge of the area as a winger and Martial is coming right up to him for one-two's. Nobody in the box. These examples rack up every game, his instincts are not right for the nr.9 position.

Spotted that as well, Cavani’s instinct there would be to go to the near post immediately

 

[Nou_Camp99]

Seems like holding the ball up well now is good enough for his delusional fan club.

So what if he held the ball up well. His final ball and shots were awful yet again.

Rashford was equally poor but yet again comes up with a moment to send us through with an assist to Scotty.

Martial 7 goals 5 assists

Rashford 16 goals 10 assists

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Best he’s played in a while but his movement is so fecking bad. Makes him kind of pointless. Hasn’t got the movement of a striker or the passing ability of a more creative player. So what’s the point of him?

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Quite liked the physical way he played today. Did a great job of pinning the CB’s and at times totally outmuscled them. Made rice his bitch then that chest then touch to take him away from that defender was class. Needs to start doing better in front of goal but good that he was getting chances and taking them on.

Feel like he just needs another goal and quick to keep the confidence up.

 

[arthurka]

He isn't good at all.. If his best today was his working and hold up he is far from being good enough. We need a new striker/wide player.

 

[Shark]

Anyone else feel like we're now getting the France version of Martial? Just not a very good player in current form.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

The thing that summed Martial up for me today was in the 2nd half (or may have been extra time) he gave a poor pass trying to pick out Rashford on the right wing. West Ham countered back up the field. There were 4 players ahead of Martial in our attack. They all got back to our end of the field before Martial did. A few minutes later Cavani made the same mistake and gave the ball away which allowed West Ham to counter again, but Cavani was the first guy back in our end trying to make up for his mistake. It's all about the effort. Martial runs his ass off when he has the ball. When he doesn't? Not so much...

 

[Robbie Boy]

Thought he done ok.

 

[Devil may care]

He got involved plenty but his end product is so poor right now.

 

[MadDogg]

He's still struggling around the box, but his all round game was comfortably better than Rashford, VDB and probably Greenwood. Still not good enough but he was the best of a bad bunch.

I did notice that poor moment of laziness when he lost the ball that Sadler mentions above though. There were other moments I saw him work hard to get in position and press the opposition but that was a bad one.

 

[ghaliboy]

He's started to get really solid at holding up the ball which is promising. The movement stuff is still the same as pre-lockdown, which isn't a surprise. Still needs goals.

 

[RedDevil250]

Don't think he, Rashford, or Greenwood are good enough right now. All struggling. Even Cavani was poor when he came on. The longer it goes on with Tony you have to wonder if he can still play for this club or he needs to be moved along. I am starting to think he needs to be moved. Which is a shame. I think he has a great ceiling but a very, very poor floor. And he is at his floor too often to be challenging for anything. Looking at the recent title winners, all had good strikers that bang in goals consistently besides maybe Liverpool with Firmino but they have Salah and Mane next to him. But Vardy, Aguero, hell even Giroud were all better than Martial has been for us.

 

[hungrywing]

He's starting off all wrong by facing fully back to the goal, holdup play just isnt his strength.

He needs to have that confidence back to half face the goal, take the ball in his stride and calmly slot it. Him and Rashford both seem to force it too much when we know they have shown the ability to make things happen. Both need to remember their strengths and believe they can pull it off

He's started to get really solid at holding up the ball which is promising. The movement stuff is still the same as pre-lockdown, which isn't a surprise. Still needs goals.

I believe these two are part of what's happening.

It looks a lot like he's trying to focus solely on back-to-goal, AKA he's zoned in on 'got to get better at holdup play, got to get better at hold up play', so any other method is being pushed out of consideration.

That plus his preference for ball to feet so he can use his best attribute - dribbling - and you get what we're seeing.

 

[darko]

The movement in the box is just not good enough for a striker. Greenwood has the ball on his right and the only plausible option for him to cross is to the near post but Martial doesn't read it and is just stuck between some defenders behind the action.

Rashford has the ball on the edge of the area as a winger and Martial is coming right up to him for one-two's. Nobody in the box. These examples rack up every game, his instincts are not right for the nr.9 position.

If Cavani is not playing then Greenwood should be the number nine.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Disappointed in Martial. I've always been an admirer of his raw natural talent as well as effectiveness infront of goal. But this season has been such a let down. I don't think his all round play has been an issue but someone who used to be so clinical (and his issue was more about getting into goalscoring positions), to be this uneasy infront of goal for more than half a season, is really strange. It's like he's suddenly turned into Wellbeck in front of goal from a player who used to often have one of the highest goalscoring efficiency in the league. Really is a let down as someone who has felt that he's not that far from being a top player, when this is the age I would have expected him to go up a notch or two.

Also, I keep reading that Martial is on a mega contract but I can't understand why. He's been good for us in the past but we should be handing out huge contracts only once a player has truly made it as a top player, like DDG did or Bruno now has.

 

[lex talionis]

Projected a glimmer of hope, but dashed that hope with mediocre overall play. But at least Tony kept hope alive.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Wait what? A good performance?

 

[RooneyLegend]

How was that a good performance? Seems like the standard must be pretty low.

What does he consistently do that is considered good? Passing is awful, can't seem to finish anything at the moment, never beats a man consistently in a game and the worst part is his overall effort on the pitch has always been poor.

Would he still be around in City or Liverpool's team's over the last few seasons? Klopp and Pep would've got rid of him a long time ago. We need to upgrade on him if we want to challenge on all fronts, its as simple as that.

If he played for those guys he'did be fitter, he'did work harder and his movement would improve.

 

[Vaibhav Raj]

Considering Rashford wasted away most of our attacks by running into defenders and Greenwood mostly stayed quiet bar a few step overs and low crosses, Martial did look like he offered most quality on the ball of the front three. Most of it came from him trying to get the ball under control and keeping it moving. Nothing fancy really. Didn't really contribute to any noteworthy attacks at all. There weren't many anyway.

Being slightly better than poor shouldn't really be the standards. Martial certainly should look more threatening and pose more of goal threat.

 

[Threesus]

If he played for those guys he'did be fitter, he'did work harder and his movement would improve.

Players like Scott Mctominay, Luke Shaw and Bruno are fitter, work harder and are contributing to wins. Wonder who their manager is.
Martial FC is really a thing, huh.

 

[ash_86]

He was better today, atleast better than Rashford in general play. The chance he got at the last minute, he should've buried it.

 

[Bobcat]

Decent enough from him last night, but he still looks a bit pedestrian compared to Cavani

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

I thought Martial played reasonably well, one of the better players, but then saw him trending and people criticising him, which just shows that he's the latest scapegoat. Once you're a United fan scapegoat, it's hard to get away from it.