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2020-21 Performances


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5.1 Season Average Rating
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36
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7
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Strelok

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No one said he's trash ffs, he's a decent forward player but that's it. He's not an elite CF that we need, like a lewandowski or Haaland. Someone you can really bank on scoring most games, scoring 20+ goals season after season. Can you really tell me martial gives you that confidence?
Do you think realistically we could get Lewandowski and Haaland? Do you have an idea how many chances Lewandowski missed a season despite being one of the best forwards in the world? Do you know Martial has one of the best conversion rates in Europe last season?

And last season he had 17 goals in the league in 32(1 sub) matches. Now it's 7 matches into the season, and he was out for 4 matches and you already decided to write him off?
 

DRM

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Do you think realistically we could get Lewandowski and Haaland? Do you have an idea how many chances Lewandowski missed a season despite being one of the best forwards in the world? Do you know Martial has one of the best conversion rates in Europe last season?

And last season he had 17 goals in the league in 32(1 sub) matches. Now it's 7 matches into the season, and he was out for 4 matches and you already decided to write him off?
Where did I say we should get lewandoski and Haaland?
I havent written him off after 4 matches this season, I have written him off after seeing him for 6 seasons and having played over 200 appearances. He's simply not good enough to be an elite striker.
 

Strelok

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Where did I say we should get lewandoski and Haaland?
I havent written him off after 4 matches this season, I have written him off after seeing him for 6 seasons and having played over 200 appearances. He's simply not good enough to be an elite striker.
Ok then who is on the level of Lewandoski or Haaland that realistically you think we'd get to replace Martial?

And according to you what should a striker should have/is to be considered an elite striker?
 

DRM

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Ok then who is on the level of Lewandoski or Haaland that realistically you think we'd get to replace Martial?
I don't know mate i'm not being payed by man utd to scout for players, let them do their JOB!

And according to you what should a striker should have/is to be considered an elite striker?
Read my earlier posts.
 

Strelok

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I don't know mate i'm not being payed by man utd to scout for players, let them do their JOB!



Read my earlier posts.
Uhm nice way to debate, or you obviously were talking about things you have no idea about.

Anyway you mean scoring 20+ goals season after season right?
 

L_O_S_T

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The top forwards all have this single minded ness to score goals, just a pure drive to get into the best areas and take maximum advantage of any situation. Watching Martial throughout the match though, I find myself shaking my head. He just doesn't have that natural instinct to find space in behind, to dart into areas, to anticipate a cross or a loose ball. He doesn't find opportunity, he just wants to collect the ball to feet and play one-twos, to me he is just not a natural striker. Though I would admit that he has improved on his forward play since converting from winger, but still sometimes, he regresses during the match.

But its his off the ball movement, that really irks me. When the ball moves out to the flank, or when there is a counter attack on, most forwards will be steaming into the box to get on the end of any chance, but most of the time Martial would be casually jogging away, or lagging behind the defenders. And how many times he is caught flatfooted and does not anticipate or win the second ball. Must have been why Mourinho was on the verge of selling him, he would have been totally useless in a direct counter attacking team.

The second part of his problem, which is the biggest problem i feel, is his concentration levels. Throughout the match you can see him behind in play, not finding the right spaces, not pressing correctly and generally not making the right decisions and not being alert enough. That all comes down to concentration, at to me, it seems he just switches off way too much, which is why its so typical of him to drift on and off during matches. With all the natural football talent, its such a shame that he can't execute when it matters.
 

GueRed

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The top forwards all have this single minded ness to score goals, just a pure drive to get into the best areas and take maximum advantage of any situation. Watching Martial throughout the match though, I find myself shaking my head. He just doesn't have that natural instinct to find space in behind, to dart into areas, to anticipate a cross or a loose ball. He doesn't find opportunity, he just wants to collect the ball to feet and play one-twos, to me he is just not a natural striker. Though I would admit that he has improved on his forward play since converting from winger, but still sometimes, he regresses during the match.

But its his off the ball movement, that really irks me. When the ball moves out to the flank, or when there is a counter attack on, most forwards will be steaming into the box to get on the end of any chance, but most of the time Martial would be casually jogging away, or lagging behind the defenders. And how many times he is caught flatfooted and does not anticipate or win the second ball. Must have been why Mourinho was on the verge of selling him, he would have been totally useless in a direct counter attacking team.

The second part of his problem, which is the biggest problem i feel, is his concentration levels. Throughout the match you can see him behind in play, not finding the right spaces, not pressing correctly and generally not making the right decisions and not being alert enough. That all comes down to concentration, at to me, it seems he just switches off way too much, which is why its so typical of him to drift on and off during matches. With all the natural football talent, its such a shame that he can't execute when it matters.
Good post

thats the word. Concentration.

Martial's concentration levels are fecking terrible

he drifts in and out of games and loses the ball so often it sometimes feels like we're playing with 10 men!!!
 

MattofManchester

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Good post

thats the word. Concentration.

Martial's concentration levels are fecking terrible

he drifts in and out of games and loses the ball so often it sometimes feels like we're playing with 10 men!!!
I agree with both of you.

Ever since he's come here he's had the same issues. He was my favourite player when he arrived, but I don't think he has actually improved at all since then.
He's applied more effort, definitely, and it's done great things for him, but I'm still seeing the same player with great natural talent, but has not worked on any of his other issues(movement, anticipation, etc).
He's 25 now. Are we really sure he's the forward we want around for years to come?
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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Last season he showed the hunger to score goals but he's back to the Martial that seems more interested in dribbling and link up play than he is in scoring.
 

Mr PG

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Ollie Watkins at Villa is unbelievable. Both with his feet and heading as well. Came from the championship his his hold up play, movement and finishing is light years ahead of Martial. Any other club would have gotten rid of Martial, Shaw, Pogba years ago when it became clear it wasn't working but here we are still hoping our Martial suddenly grows into the player we thought he was.

Lukaku, Smalling gone. Time for Martial, Pogba to join them. Pogba great talent just not suited to the premier league.
 

Still ill

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It's been a weird season for him. Made such strides last season. His intensity was so much better, physicality, instincts close to goal. Where has that all gone? He seems a millisecond behind everyone this season, just never in quite the right place, touch just off etc.
 

White Fury

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Okay I lost hope for him. Its been what 5 years at the club now ? Very inconsistent and his progress is little. Same case with Pogba. Both have all the talent in world football, golden ball potential, yet they dont have that drive, determination, hunger, and mental strength that the best players have (like CR7, Messi). Hes mentally weak and crumbles easily, when things arent going his way he sulks and stops trying harder. Just look at Bruno this is the kind of mentality that world class players have. When Pogba leaves maybe Martial is next. Im sure we can easily replace him.
 

Hernandez - BFA

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He's such an easy footballer to just give up on - because that's the demeanor he shows sometimes when playing football.
Against Everton, someone misplaced pass maybe 2 yards in front of him while in middle of the field - and instead of hunting it down to get on it to possibly still retrieve it - he puts his hands up as if it's gone out of play.

It's just sheer laziness.

He's a joy to watch when he's feeling it - which makes it even more annoying. His consistency is atrocious.
 

HowYouDoin

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Ollie Watkins at Villa is unbelievable. Both with his feet and heading as well. Came from the championship his his hold up play, movement and finishing is light years ahead of Martial. Any other club would have gotten rid of Martial, Shaw, Pogba years ago when it became clear it wasn't working but here we are still hoping our Martial suddenly grows into the player we thought he was.

Lukaku, Smalling gone. Time for Martial, Pogba to join them. Pogba great talent just not suited to the premier league.
Good post. We have already given up on Pogba, he is as good as gone at this point but yeah Martial surely has to be next. It would help if Greenwood really got it going then there would really be no need for Martial.

Sell Martial, buy Grealish, play Greenwood centrally, Grealish at RW.
 

Bebestation

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Good post. We have already given up on Pogba, he is as good as gone at this point but yeah Martial surely has to be next. It would help if Greenwood really got it going then there would really be no need for Martial.

Sell Martial, buy Grealish, play Greenwood centrally, Grealish at RW.
:lol:

Great post
 

suntharp

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I think better play martial on left. He is more effective on the left than middle. Also move rashford to right.. rashford has more scoring opportunity on the right than on the left(only cut in and shoot)...he can be our answer for Sancho
 

HowYouDoin

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:lol:

Great post
This is not a thread about Grealish so dont want to make it about him but heck he can play LW too for us, have Rashford play RW. Or Rashford centrally, Greenwood on the right, Grealish on the left. Whatever.

Point is, I would personally like to see Martial either sold or demoted to the bench. Just doesnt do it for me. Good player but not for us. He's a mid table level. Hasnt improved since his first season. At 25 thats it. We should look to upgrade. Now personally for me its Grealish, someone else might say Sancho, Haaland or even DCL or Jimenez, thats all fine. Point is we do need to upgrade and we need an elite player instead of Martial in our front 3.
 

thepolice123

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Looks disinterested again and I just don’t understand what contributed to these mood swings (and they must be just that because a professional footballer who we KNOW from last season can put in a shift just isn’t)? He’s very frustrating because if he had Bruno’s mentality I think he’d be right up there with the very best but I fear he is going to forever lack the consistency.

I’d quite like to see him out on the wings for a bit with Cavani in the middle - there’s no reason why him and Rashford can’t play as swapping wingers (with Rashford starting on the right). I actually think Tony has the better cut in shot to the far corner where as Rashford has the better dragged shot and cross.
We tried it with Martial and Depay. There were certain games in this season too. Both Rashford and Martial are terrible on the right flank. Never worked and will never work.
 

HowYouDoin

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We tried it with Martial and Depay. There were certain games in this season too. Both Rashford and Martial are terrible on the right flank. Never worked and will never work.
Rashford is better there, Rashford can pull it off.
Martial though yeah too one dimensional.
 

DRM

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The top forwards all have this single minded ness to score goals, just a pure drive to get into the best areas and take maximum advantage of any situation. Watching Martial throughout the match though, I find myself shaking my head. He just doesn't have that natural instinct to find space in behind, to dart into areas, to anticipate a cross or a loose ball. He doesn't find opportunity, he just wants to collect the ball to feet and play one-twos, to me he is just not a natural striker. Though I would admit that he has improved on his forward play since converting from winger, but still sometimes, he regresses during the match.

But its his off the ball movement, that really irks me. When the ball moves out to the flank, or when there is a counter attack on, most forwards will be steaming into the box to get on the end of any chance, but most of the time Martial would be casually jogging away, or lagging behind the defenders. And how many times he is caught flatfooted and does not anticipate or win the second ball. Must have been why Mourinho was on the verge of selling him, he would have been totally useless in a direct counter attacking team.

The second part of his problem, which is the biggest problem i feel, is his concentration levels. Throughout the match you can see him behind in play, not finding the right spaces, not pressing correctly and generally not making the right decisions and not being alert enough. That all comes down to concentration, at to me, it seems he just switches off way too much, which is why its so typical of him to drift on and off during matches. With all the natural football talent, its such a shame that he can't execute when it matters.
@Strelok
 

Bebestation

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Do people like Berbatov or Martial?

I prefer Martial especially considering he has played with significantly weaker teams and helped us win some cups along the way.

We are going to need a more predatory striker as a team to move a step forward but I enjoy watching the guy play when he gets in a rhythm. That rhythm isnt always there through him aswell as a team either so I'm not one of those people who want to sell the guy. Has had many more useful performances than Pogba and has made the players around him better aswell.
 

The_Midfielder

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Do people like Berbatov or Martial?

I prefer Martial especially considering he has played with significantly weaker teams and helped us win some cups along the way.

We are going to need a more predatory striker as a team to move a step forward but I enjoy watching the guy play when he gets in a rhythm. That rhythm isnt always there through him aswell as a team either so I'm not one of those people who want to sell the guy. Has had many more useful performances than Pogba and has made the players around him better aswell.
Martial is better than Berbatov...
Berbatov went missing when we really needed him
 

Highfather_24

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People giving up on Martial, but he was carrying us post restart, and was our best player in the front 4. Its shocking to see how quickly posters turn on our own players, playing down the qualities of our players. Martial has always been hated by a lot of people, because of his "demeanour", but stats show he covers a lot of ground, for example against RB Leipzig, he was among the top distance covered in the match after Fred and a couple of other players. He is a hard working player.
 

Aren86

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People giving up on Martial, but he was carrying us post restart, and was our best player in the front 4. Its shocking to see how quickly posters turn on our own players, playing down the qualities of our players. Martial has always been hated by a lot of people, because of his "demeanour", but stats show he covers a lot of ground, for example against RB Leipzig, he was among the top distance covered in the match after Fred and a couple of other players. He is a hard working player.
Agreed.

His also had far less poor games than Rashford since the start of last season but seems to get the most flack for it.
 

Highfather_24

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Our 5 best players last season : Bruno, Fred, Martial, Rashford, AWB. Shocking that when we have such glaring weaknesses in our squad, and other average/not good enough players, its Martial, who got 35 goals+assists last season for us, is facing so much criticism and lack of backing.
 

Strelok

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You seem a bit too bitter I think :lol:

Anyway, for that post, tbh I stopped reading after the first two, three lines. That guy just doesn't understand football. It's not single minded ness, pure drive or whatever he called that get a striker into a goal scoring position. That thing called anticipation and experience.

Now I've read that post. I disagree with most of what he said. Watch the goal Martial scored against City from Bruno's pass and most would see his anticipation, concentration, movement is pretty ok I think.

Plus that guy judged a #9 based on scoring only. Agreed that it's the biggest job of a #9 but not all. A modern #9, especially in our current tactic requires much more than that. Otherwise Greenwood would have started instead of Martial.
 

AltiUn

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Martial's been appalling this season. Doesn't mean I want us to get rid of him, nor do I think it'll last. People get very weird with Martial, he's overly criticised by some and almost a cult leader to others. Very few are actually "turning on him" but only 1 goal from open play this season isn't a good return and it's fine to point that out, his finishing looked erratic during the closing stages of the EL too. He's facing no more or no less criticism than any other player on this forum, Ferndandes has been receiving heavy criticism and he's our best player, this forum's just very critical.
 

Strelok

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Martial's been appalling this season. Doesn't mean I want us to get rid of him, nor do I think it'll last. People get very weird with Martial, he's overly criticised by some and almost a cult leader to others. Very few are actually "turning on him" but only 1 goal from open play this season isn't a good return and it's fine to point that out, his finishing looked erratic during the closing stages of the EL too. He's facing no more or no less criticism than any other player on this forum, Ferndandes has been receiving heavy criticism and he's our best player, this forum's just very knee jerk.
Fixed it for you :wenger:

Joking aside, I'm totally fine with criticizing a player, whoever he is after a bad performance. Or he's been playing badly. But getting rid of our POTY last season after he had played like 5, 6 games into a new season ?? What's wrong with some of our 'fans' tbh ???
 

rooney2009

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I can’t believe people are constantly having a go
at Martail,when He is not playing we struggle to hold on to the ball in attacking positions
When He plays we create and score goals
He seems to be lacking match fitness but He will come good again
 

jamesjimmybyrondean

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Martial personally proved to me he can play as a 9. I think the problem with Martial is that he's shit when we are shit. Though that's not a good trait for the player leading our forward line
 

AltiUn

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Fixed it for you :wenger:

Joking aside, I'm totally fine with criticizing a player, whoever he is after a bad performance. Or he's been playing badly. But getting rid of our POTY last season after he had played like 5, 6 games into a new season ?? What's wrong with some of our 'fans' tbh ???
That's probably a better way of putting it :lol:

Yeah, anyone who wants to get rid of him because of a rough patch is way OTT. Once he gets back to his best I'm sure we'll all be laughing.
 

AltiUn

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Martial personally proved to me he can play as a 9. I think the problem with Martial is that he's shit when we are shit. Though that's not a good trait for the player leading our forward line
I think the opposite is true, when we're shit it's Martial who suffers the most.
 

Bebestation

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Martial is the most team player out of our current forwards.

I'm not talking about his mentality but what he tries to do. From him dropping deep, the positions he holds in front of defenders (rather than moving all around the place, which is a slight undervalued aspect by some), the first touches, the short passes etc.

He isnt ever going to be that predatory selfish striker because he doesnt have the skills for it. As much as I value that type of striker and I want it - that doesnt make me want to ditch Martial in the bin. He is a great plan B if our predatory striker is our plan A just as much as he is a good Plan A if our our predatory striker is our plan B.

However he needs the team work to be cohesive to utelise his play.

Consider a traditional goalscorer playing with Rashford off form. The traditional goal scorer may still get a chance of putting one in the net due to another players ability to create a chance but what is Martial going to do when Rashford is off form? Rashford is going to struggle just as much as Martial because Martials play is more about getting the best out of Rashford and the forward line as a whole than just putting one in the net by himself.

Martial is a luxury player but saying that - he hasnt failed here and far from it because he has had more successful games than I can count.

I can see why people want a more traditional number 9 but I dont see the reason why he should be binned. I actually think what he does and how he plays is quite rare - when bought in to a team on great form he becomes this glue where the ball is attached to and hard to replicate.
 

Foxbatt

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For some reason he is taking extra touches instead of shooting. He also needs someone playing closer to him. Now he is too isolated.
 

Mr PG

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Martial Pogba debate ranges on for years because the team has been short of quality so Martial looks good as the only no.9 on the team.

Pogba now has competition as Bruno/ VDB are good samples. Martial will be displaced by Cavani as soon as he's fit enough.

Also when that happens we will have a problem on our hands. Both Martial and Rashford already feel entitled to starting games as they came into the team when we were very poor and they have been starters...due to lack of alternative options.
 

Water Melon

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Martial Pogba debate ranges on for years because the team has been short of quality so Martial looks good as the only no.9 on the team.

Pogba now has competition as Bruno/ VDB are good samples. Martial will be displaced by Cavani as soon as he's fit enough.

Also when that happens we will have a problem on our hands. Both Martial and Rashford already feel entitled to starting games as they came into the team when we were very poor and they have been starters...due to lack of alternative options.
Cavani is very very unlikely to ever become a regular starter in our team for various reasons, age and injury record being some of them. If anything, I believe having Martial is not a problem but an advantage. Time will tell though.
 

InfiniteBoredom

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The fact that this thread is always busy when we aren’t playing say a lot about how toxic part of our fan base is towards Martial.

For all those wringing their hands about his form, here’s a comparison for you. In 08/09, Ronaldo got 8 goals and 4 assists in his first 8 league games, then got only two assists in the next 9, and didn’t score in the CL until March. That’s the then BPITW.

I’m sure there’s a few geniuses who will immediately jump in saying the comparison is laughable because Ronaldo was proven world class. Yes my friends that’s the point, even world class players at the peak of their power go through dry patches, so instead of latching on to a sample of 7 games when he was subpar but still got 5 goal contributions, let’s actually be patient and give the guy a chance to get into form. The way people go on in this place you would’ve thought our legends of years past didn’t go through rough patches, ever. Rooney scores more than 20 league goals only twice and regularly turned up to the new season overweight and so out of form he was an actual liability on the pitch.
 
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