He's just different class when it comes to holding up the ball. There was one point in the match where he was surrounded by 3 or 4 players and he held off 2 on his back, feinted, turned and passed the ball off. Very few players are able to do that sort of thing.
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 36
- Goals
- 7
- Assists
- 5
- Yellow cards
- 1
- Red cards
- 1
- Status
And then there are some willing to sell him so easily. A player that is pure tech and quality. He is also just 25 and we are yet to see his very best here.
Your stats are irrelevant to hold up play.
On whoscored, a dispossession is described as "Player is dispossessed on the ball by an opponent" and more importantly "where no dribble is involved", so that debunks your theory.
It's not only his technique and quality though, he's incredibly physically talented as well. He's fast, powerful and has incredible balance. Love watching him play.
Amazing how even a near post stooping header looks beautiful when Martial scores it 
He just doesn't score ugly goals ever
I hope this is the start of good form as despite the goals none of our attackers have really looked at it at this season
He just doesn't score ugly goals ever
I hope this is the start of good form as despite the goals none of our attackers have really looked at it at this season
Always good when a CF is scoring a diving header.
Tony hitting form again at a great time for us 
Precisely. He has the full package, even football iq, except for his infuriating refusal to make runs off the ball.
IMO along with greenwood and perhaps pogba, our most talented, gifted player. Hope he finally puts it all together.
I think he'll kick on in the second half of the season. If he and Pogba can hit top form, along with the rest of the team keeping up their performances we can be in proper contention.
Lovely goal and he just strings things together so well. He gets towards top form from now and he’ll have you pushing Liverpool hard. He’s just been out of form, in terms of class he’s in your top two or three players.
Thought he was poor again but I will take Tony any day if he keeps playing badly but assists and scores. Such a frustrating player.
Yup. Martial has always had this unique combination of being physically imposing (strong and quick) and being technically fantastic with a grace on the ball you'd expect from the smaller/low centre of gravity attacking midfielders That's why he's got so many admirers, his natural abilities IMO have always been elite.
Where the question marks have arisen, and it's fair that they still stand to an extent, are his movement, mentality (confidence player etc) and aggression.
I think he has scope to improve on those aspects but he is already a very very good footballer which should not be forgotten.
Yeah he's already very good and has been finding some good form again lately. I still think there's more to come even on last season. He's outrageously talented.
Consistency is the issue. About time he delivers it every week.
Thought it was an average performance from Martial, but great that he got another crucial goal for us. Still key in linking the play for us and providing the outlet up front. If you watch him you would realize he wasn't lacking in effort - he was chasing down the centerbacks all game in a coordinated press.
Sadly, you just know if he doesn't score in the next game the knives will be out for him, the 'lazy' narrative will be rolled out from its dungeon and anyone who defends him will be derided as Martial FC fanboys.
Sadly, you just know if he doesn't score in the next game the knives will be out for him, the 'lazy' narrative will be rolled out from its dungeon and anyone who defends him will be derided as Martial FC fanboys.
He did it last season. Poor start but hopefully does it again this season.
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Wholesome stuff
It's funny how people including Owen criticised Martial for the goal. He said AWB should have crossed the ball in between the keeper and Mings and Martial should have gone for that space instead of handing back.
The reason why he scored was that's where Mings expected AWB to cross the ball and Martial to run into. The fact Martial scored it was because it was put behind Mings and Martial stayed back. Credit to AWB to put in the cross.
The reason why he scored was that's where Mings expected AWB to cross the ball and Martial to run into. The fact Martial scored it was because it was put behind Mings and Martial stayed back. Credit to AWB to put in the cross.
Not Zlatan
Very important goal, and a very good game. Most welcome! Been saying how we need Martial and Greenwood to get off the mark and we might just end up in a two horse race for the title.
So if we do end up mounting a proper title challenge this season, will the morons in here who regularly repeat that we won't win a title with Martial as our 9, admit they know feck all about football?
Two very different things.
I'm aware of that. Given that we have work to do at CB, RW and DM, if we mount a title challenge this season and strenghten those 3 areas, surely we'll be looking there or there about for the title, even with Anto as our main CF? Are you saying we won't win anything with him as our CF?
The idea that a CF has to score 20+ league goals a season in order for you to win the league somehow gained traction in the Caf without any real merit to them. For every Henry or Aguero you can easily find a Drogba or Benzema.
Look at Drogba stats, for instance. (Goals/Apps, league only)
04/05: 10/26
05/06: 12/29
06/07: 20/36
07/08: 8/19
08/09: 5/24
09/10: 29/32
10/11: 11/36
11/12: 5/24
He won the league in his best scoring season (edging out Rooney, just, but we really threw that away with a 1-1 draw against relegated Blackburn, losing out by 1 point at the end), and two seasons when he scored a respective 10 and 12 league goals. And that season was really an anomaly as Chelsea as a team scored a whopping 103 goals when they average for every other season during that time would be 68. And the consensus is Drogba was a brilliant CF and one defenders hated playing against, and was the mainstay in that team even as they brought in one striker after another, with absolute big names like Shevchenko and Torres.
Another example is Zlatan, he scored 16 goals in 35 league games in his first season at Juve aged 23, 7 in 35 aged 24, won the league in both, didn’t score more than 20 league goals until age 28 playing at Inter, and didn’t score more than 30 goals a season for club until age 31 playing for PSG. He was one of the most sought after and highly regarded forward in the game throughout that period.
If Martial ends the season with 2 league goals scored, sure, it’s unequivocally bad, but if he scores another 11/12 goals in the next 22 games and we end up winning the league or mount a very strong challenge until the last couple of match day, does that mean he needs replacing and another CF would have propelled us to the title? I would say that argument is based purely on projections and not real evidence.
Look at Drogba stats, for instance. (Goals/Apps, league only)
04/05: 10/26
05/06: 12/29
06/07: 20/36
07/08: 8/19
08/09: 5/24
09/10: 29/32
10/11: 11/36
11/12: 5/24
He won the league in his best scoring season (edging out Rooney, just, but we really threw that away with a 1-1 draw against relegated Blackburn, losing out by 1 point at the end), and two seasons when he scored a respective 10 and 12 league goals. And that season was really an anomaly as Chelsea as a team scored a whopping 103 goals when they average for every other season during that time would be 68. And the consensus is Drogba was a brilliant CF and one defenders hated playing against, and was the mainstay in that team even as they brought in one striker after another, with absolute big names like Shevchenko and Torres.
Another example is Zlatan, he scored 16 goals in 35 league games in his first season at Juve aged 23, 7 in 35 aged 24, won the league in both, didn’t score more than 20 league goals until age 28 playing at Inter, and didn’t score more than 30 goals a season for club until age 31 playing for PSG. He was one of the most sought after and highly regarded forward in the game throughout that period.
If Martial ends the season with 2 league goals scored, sure, it’s unequivocally bad, but if he scores another 11/12 goals in the next 22 games and we end up winning the league or mount a very strong challenge until the last couple of match day, does that mean he needs replacing and another CF would have propelled us to the title? I would say that argument is based purely on projections and not real evidence.
To be fair Zlatan was terrible at that when he was at United, like atrocious. His hold up play was non existent either and he gave the ball away more than Fred after happy hour.
If anything really stood out to me from Martials performance yesterday it was the workrate and running he did. Think it was the most I’ve seen him run really.
Really good post.
I think Martial has taken a long time this season to hit form but seems to be doing so over the last month or so. I think he's up there with Bruno and maybe Pogba as our best player when on form. Why he's taken so long to find form this season is anyone's guess but it's a strange season with lots of football in a short space of time and with no preseason so I find it even more difficult to judge players too harshly.
If our best players can all maintain good form for the rest of the season, I think we're in an excellent position to challenge for the title because we now have the squad to go with the very good first 11. It really annoys me when people start banging on about never winning anything with Martial as our CF or with Rashford as our main man. They are 2 exceptional players who are now becoming senior members of the squad at a time when we look the best we have since Fergie, I just find the negativity bewildering.
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That play at the end was a bloody foul. Useless ref!
Thought his workrate was better last night. He was closing down in stoppage time and seemed to swap to the wing to cover for Rashford who looked like he was struggling.
His movement for the goal was great. So glad to see him make that run to the near post especially with the space behind if the cross was high freed up for our second attacker
Getting In the goals at an important time for us too
Getting In the goals at an important time for us too
Definitely on the uptick
True, but his problem was that he couldn’t follow through on a big run after laying it off. Now 2010 Zlatan on the other hand...
On paper he’s the perfect footballer. His finishing was good before this season.If he became more aggressive and took chances with h
Wonder if Cavanis influence is working on him. He is really a superb player when it clicks, and hopefully would lead our team to glory alongside greenwood and maybe grealish in future seasons
Most assists in 2020. Pleasantly surprised to see Martial so high on the list.
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It was only a matter of time. I'm glad he's proven those of us who stand by him that he is a key figure to the squad. He's showing great impact in the last few games and while I think he'll have the odd dip here and there, he's back to a confident self and that's usually going to spell out good things for United more often than not. If Greenwood can follow up and find his form as well, good times ahead for United.
Delighted he got the goal against Villa. His finishing has been a bit ropey lately but thought he looked lively in the Wolves games when he came on.
We play much better football with Martial in the team than without him, and given that we will over time score more goals with Martial than without him, regardless of how many goals he himself scores. It really is that simple.
Reminder that 12 months ago the Martial forum was flooded with messages begging us to sign a 'proper' striker like Timo Werner. Having watched him today as well as numerous times this season I'm so thankful we didn't follow through with these reactionary shouts. Martial is a superior player in almost every aspect, we really have something good with him but I don't think the majority of fans will realize this until he leaves.
Yeah, the German league is far kinder on attackers, I feel. But generally speaking there aren't too many players as good at what Martial does around.
Agreed, although I think it's still a bit early to judge Timo but boy has he looked poor so far. Even simple things seem complicated for him. I think the Bundesliga is massively overrated and it does make attacking players look far better than they really are.
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