[Grande]

Yawn. Pretty comfortably our best attacker tonight, which still isn't great but he was trying quite a lot, it just wasn't coming off. In recent games his basics had gone totally, get outmuscled by defenders, touch gone, not trying anything. This evening was totally different, just needed a better final product.

I don’t agree, I think James was comfortably better, and Bruno. But not a very bad performance, slightly poor I’d say. It looks like he has become slower and weaker simultaneously. Which should be impossible for a 25 year old training well (which Solskjær tells us he is). It may also just look that way because his anticipation has fallen back again. For a period last year he was very good as a back-to-goal 9 shielding the ball, but today three of their best attacks comes from the CB just running through him to start a counterattack. Looking at the replay,he isn’t plain outmuscled, he is just taken by surptise every time, by the one thing he must know is going to happen every time.

If Icould unlock that boy’s mind ...

 

[Raven]

I don’t agree, I think James was comfortably better, and Bruno. But not a very bad performance, slightly poor I’d say. It looks like he has become slower and weaker simultaneously. Which should be impossible for a 25 year old training well (which Solskjær tells us he is). It may also just look that way because his anticipation has fallen back again. For a period last year he was very good as a back-to-goal 9 shielding the ball, but today three of their best attacks comes from the CB just running through him to start a counterattack. Looking at the replay,he isn’t plain outmuscled, he is just taken by surptise every time, by the one thing he must know is going to happen every time.

If Icould unlock that boy’s mind ...

Yeah, I'm not entirely sure what's going on. Something I was thinking the other day when Ole made that comment about him training well was that he regularly talks about us not being able to train because the time between games is too small. Could feel a little out of sync or lacking fitness, could have nothing to do with anything, just something I picked up on.

 

[TheRedHearted]

If only he was half as clinical as last season, or even just as good. Where would we be?
Come on, Tony. You got it in you.

 

[simonhch]

I don’t know what to say. Always been a huge supporter and fan. He has brilliant feet and dribbling, but he is the perennial almost man. Almost great, always. Second half of last season I thought he was sensational. He had finally made it. His all around game was just brilliant, holding it up, bringing others into play, running at defenders. Here, I thought, the complete center forward. That’s a 150M pound player right there. I just don’t know what happened to that Martial to turn him into this one. He just hasn’t shown up this season at all. He’s looked lethargic and bereft. It’s depressing.

Spending years developing him, is supposed to pay off now. He’s supposed to entering his peak. Instead, I would say we should legitimately be looking at replacing him. His movement in and around the box is appalling, he just doesn’t want to pick up those “cheap” goals by making the runs to the near post, or edge of the six yard box. Poacher’s goals. Goals that give you confidence and get you through any sort of bad form.

He’ll be very expensive to replace. And I Don’t think Greenwood is ready to lead the line yet. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops over the rest of the season. I’d say he is legitimately playing for his United future now. If he doesn’t turn it around spectacularly over the next few months, I think he’s got a future as a squad player.

 

[ghaliboy]

Thought he was pretty good to be honest, those strings to his bow are definitely still there. Hold up play and interplay was pretty good. You can tell he needs goals badly but he can't seem to get them at the moment, if he gets a bag I wonder if he'll go on a tear.

Also good to see the user back in here abusing everyone else in the thread again, fun times.

 

[Obiorahking_]

Needs to boost his transfer value as much as possible and he tried tonight.

 

[Sylar]

He played today like he's played all season. Wants the ball at feet, no runs behind defender and one shot on target.
The martial treble

I honestly think he's played worse which says it all.
I mean his hold up was decent but we've seen games where the ball just bounces of him all the time. Think west Ham as an example

 

[Bobcat]

He was our best attacking player tonight and still gets hate. We haven't created any chances and I thought he kept trying to hold the ball and find the space to shot.

This is not FIFA where you can zip around magnetic passes straight to the feet of your players. Martial shows zero movement, zero anticipation and zero instinct, which makes marking him out of the game the easiest job in the world.

Pro attackers are not good just because they can strike the ball. 90% of the job is actually getting at the end of chances and Martial is completely lacking in this area

The worst part is that last night he even showed some desire and even then our attack was completely blunt. Its no coincidence that the only attempts he had all night were cases where he had the ball played to his feet, and he managed to get a yard of space to shoot.

I have no ill will towards him. Last season id argue he was our most important player (before Bruno arrived) but its clearly not working for him any longer at United so its best for both him and the club if we part ways

 

[Sassy Colin]

He's had a much better season than Greenwood. He played decent yesterday, again better than Greenwood. Yet he has the lowest player rating.

He did far more in the game than Greenwood.
Shoretire got involved in play a fair bit, Amand did nothing. All 3 got 5.7 ratings, Martial got a 5.

Were people even watching the game? Even on my stop/start stream, Martial had a much better game than all 3, on a par, or greater than James, also a 5.7.

Since everyone's expectation of him now is that he's rubbish, then he certainly performed above expectation.

I have no idea why he has dropped off in form or lost confidence, but he's clearly a class player.

Mind you, many people have massively criticised Rashford, who's figures aren't that far behind Bruno's. Martial should be on a par with Rashford though, certainly.

 

[arnie_ni]

I don’t know what to say. Always been a huge supporter and fan. He has brilliant feet and dribbling, but he is the perennial almost man. Almost great, always. Second half of last season I thought he was sensational. He had finally made it. His all around game was just brilliant, holding it up, bringing others into play, running at defenders. Here, I thought, the complete center forward. That’s a 150M pound player right there. I just don’t know what happened to that Martial to turn him into this one. He just hasn’t shown up this season at all. He’s looked lethargic and bereft. It’s depressing.

Spending years developing him, is supposed to pay off now. He’s supposed to entering his peak. Instead, I would say we should legitimately be looking at replacing him. His movement in and around the box is appalling, he just doesn’t want to pick up those “cheap” goals by making the runs to the near post, or edge of the six yard box. Poacher’s goals. Goals that give you confidence and get you through any sort of bad form.

He’ll be very expensive to replace. And I Don’t think Greenwood is ready to lead the line yet. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops over the rest of the season. I’d say he is legitimately playing for his United future now. If he doesn’t turn it around spectacularly over the next few months, I think he’s got a future as a squad player.

Sums my thoughts up exactly. Loved him and finally thought he made it last season

 

[MadDogg]

His movement in the box was still poor, but I thought his play outside the box was actually quite good. He held the ball up well when we needed him to, he bought others into play, he pressed better than he has lately, and he also made a few good runs where the ball wasn't given to him. There was nothing amazing but he was probably the best of our attackers.

 

[romufc]

Poor again last night, clearly he is struggling. His all round game was poor, made every run late so was never on the receiving end of anything. I think his runs are more reactionary than proactive.

A couple times the ball was crossed in and he was always 2 seconds behind the defender. His hold up play was poor as well.

 

[Smores]

His movement in the box was still poor, but I thought his play outside the box was actually quite good. He held the ball up well when we needed him to, he bought others into play, he pressed better than he has lately, and he also made a few good runs where the ball wasn't given to him. There was nothing amazing but he was probably the best of our attackers.

That's such a low expectation though, basically he wasn't dreadful.

He did the two things be can do, receive and pass to someone close and the right footed shot from the left of goal. Didn't do much else though, lazy and poor movement yet again.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Much better last night. First half was alright but really started to show signs of promise in the 2nd half. Looked to be trying and putting in effort. Wasnt just doing the usual of dropping deep and staying there. Making an effort to get in the box. Movement was decent as well.

When Bruno and Fred went off not that they were stellar it seemed like there were very little chances unless it was Martial man handeling their defenders.

 

[GioF]

Looked better last night. Seemed like his first touch was more positive. Receiving the ball on the half turn and passes around the corner linking up with Bruno was better.
Still prefer him from the left though but I thought he done enough last night to deserve a goal.

 

[MattofManchester]

The expectations for performances from him are incredibly low, which is sad to see.

He had a few nice touches. That's nice. He was still awful.

 

[lex talionis]

There was a moment when Martial looked interested, but his interest faded away quickly.

 

[Based Adnan]

Terrible cameo. He looks genuinely shocking right now.

 

[NinjaZombie]

Might as well play Ole up front.

 

[snk123]

Didn’t even touch the ball that many times ffs. Why is this thread bumped?

 

[DickDastardly]

Not like this kind of performance wasn't expected.

He's been poor for so long it's almost like he's clinicly depressed.

Dragging his feet and face all over the place.

 

[MetoTTT]

Did a lot of sprints, hard work, pressing and defending in 15 minutes...worked his arse off when everybody was tired. Thanks Tony! (sarcasm inside).

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

Doesn't even try to close down players 2 yards away from him. Don't want to see him in a United shirt again to be honest, but we won't get anything for him anyways

 

[Raven]

Not sure why this thread is bumped at all. Showed good desire on the counter and had about 2 touches, literally nothing to talk about.

 

[snk123]

Not sure why this thread is bumped at all. Showed good desire on the counter and had about 2 touches, literally nothing to talk about.

He’s rated as the worst player of the match. This place is just fecking amazing isnt it.

Agenda/racism is the only reason.

 

[Raven]

He’s rated as the worst player of the match. This place is just fecking amazing isnt it.

Agenda/racism is the only reason.

Probably not the best idea to go labelling it as racism, especially given that he has received disgusting abuse recently. It's certainly an agenda though, people are talking about how class Greenwood was today when he turned in your average Martial of this season performance. It's pretty embarrassing really, the double standards.

 

[Ludens the Red]

I’m guessing people didn’t like that he came on and was jogging. This is normal though. But before then our front three were pressing and running quite a bit so when he comes on doing his slow fake jog thing, it’s going to be more obvious.

 

[Based Adnan]

I specifically remember two cases where he failed to hold up a basic ball into him on the halfway line and we got countered on. Lack of intensity was, as usual, also evident.

But no it's clearly racism/agenda pointing out his failure to do anything positive coming off the bench.

 

[Jackal981]

I’m guessing people didn’t like that he came on and was jogging. This is normal though. But before then our front three were pressing and running quite a bit so when he comes on doing his slow fake jog thing, it’s going to be more obvious.

Why he always do this slow jog thing ?? He never presses even once

 

[SAFMUTD]

Its not only a patch in form and low confidence. Its poor attitude.

I dont know why Ole insist on playing him, soulless performance after soulless performance from Martial.

 

[SAFMUTD]

He’s rated as the worst player of the match. This place is just fecking amazing isnt it.

Agenda/racism is the only reason.

Racism? You do know we have a lot bunch of black players dont you?

Maybe it has to do more with the fact that his body language and effort suggest he doesn't give a feck more than his race?

 

[el3mel]

He’s rated as the worst player of the match. This place is just fecking amazing isnt it.

Agenda/racism is the only reason.

We indeed have an agenda against him. He took my place in the team. I should be United's main striker but Martial took it so I have an agenda against him.

 

[Raven]

Racism? You do know we have a lot bunch of black players dont you?

Maybe it has to do more with the fact that his body language and effort suggest he doesn't give a feck more than his race?

I think you need to realise that we were sitting back at that stage of the game and there was no pressing in the opposition half. The idea was to let them push forward and hit them on the counter, which would have worked if McTominay didn't feck up his final ball. Saying his body language is shit and he put in no effort is just nonsense because when we were on the counter, he bust a gut to get in the box, which is exactly what Ole will have told him to do.

 

[SAFMUTD]

I think you need to realise that we were sitting back at that stage of the game and there was no pressing in the opposition half. The idea was to let them push forward and hit them on the counter, which would have worked if McTominay didn't feck up his final ball. Saying his body language is shit and he put in no effort is just nonsense because when we were on the counter, he bust a gut to get in the box, which is exactly what Ole will have told him to do.

He had about 10 minutes to play, Im expecting my sub to go in and run like a mad man, not jogging around.

 

[Adam-Utd]

Probably the worst player you can get as an impact sub, looked like he just rolled out of bed.

he is on really thin ice right now, I think maybe next year he get sold.

 

[Raven]

He had about 10 minutes to play, Im expecting my sub to go in and run like a mad man, not jogging around.

So, just ignore the instructions the manager gives him then? Interesting.

 

[SAFMUTD]

So, just ignore the instructions the manager gives him then? Interesting.

Would be really strange for Ole to say "hey Tony come here I need you to get in there and jog the heck out of you!"

 

[flappyjay]

Our forwards barely had anything, Greenwood was feeding on scraps all day. This guy gets in for 10 minutes and his thread gets bumped.

 

[Regulus Arcturus Black]

Why is this thread even active? The bloke played what, 11 minutes?

 

[Raven]

Would be really strange for Ole to say "hey Tony come here I need you to get in there and jog the heck out of you!"

What hes said is hold shape and wait for the counter, pretty glaringly obvious really.