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2020-21 Performances


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5.1 Season Average Rating
Appearances
36
Goals
7
Assists
5
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1
Red cards
1
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Nou_Camp99

what would Souness do?
Joined
Apr 1, 2013
Messages
10,274
Who is going to buy him in these crazy Covid times? Everyone is skint.

I think he might still be here next season. The Glazers love him apparently and I seriously don't think we will find a club who will give us the fee we'd want and pay his wages.

Anyone tells me he's better than Rashford again I'm guna laugh in their faces. Rashford isn't perfect but my word he's different levels to this guy. Rashy at least turns up when he plays poorly and tries hard. Martial disappears.
 

M16Red

Full Member
Joined
Oct 24, 2011
Messages
3,143
What did they say ?
What we've all been saying, he not in the box enough for a 9.

Guy is always outside the six yard box - think the worst part was when Rashford, Bruno, Marital where on the left.. Stood 4 metres apart.
 

Manncunian

Full Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2021
Messages
1,018
Location
Manchester
The irony of how we chanted with gleeful sarcasm about “£50m down the drain”....

Down the drain it has gone, slowly bimbling along the sewers, plopping into a huge pile of excrement.

Sell ASAP. His attitude cannot be good for team morale and he needs to go before it either rubs off on others, or irks them enough to cause major friction.

I can forgive huge dips in form, terrible performances and a lack of energy at times with mitigating circumstances. But what I cannot forgive, is a can’t-be-arsed attitude with zero desire to work/get on the ball/create things or to even win.
 

manuchamp88

Full Member
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Jun 22, 2013
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1,867
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Who is going to buy him in these crazy Covid times? Everyone is skint.

I think he might still be here next season. The Glazers love him apparently and I seriously don't think we will find a club who will give us the fee we'd want and pay his wages.
Our best hope might be a swap deal.
 

AgentSmith

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Messages
1,555
Our best hope might be a swap deal.
Which team do you think would be interested? And what player from that team would suit.

It’s an interesting idea. His wages and form make the idea of getting a reasonable transfer fee basically impossible.
 

spiriticon

Full Member
Joined
Feb 3, 2013
Messages
7,384
What we've all been saying, he not in the box enough for a 9.

Guy is always outside the six yard box - think the worst part was when Rashford, Bruno, Marital where on the left.. Stood 4 metres apart.
I know exactly what you're talking about because I burst out laughing at that point :lol:. It was funny as feck

If it weren't for social distancing they'd probably be holding hands
 

AgentSmith

Full Member
Joined
May 13, 2019
Messages
1,555
Either him or the manager needs to go.

1 will leave and be successful.
That doesn’t really make any sense.

Why would Martial’s complete lack of form mean Ole has to go and why would that then improve Martial (or us for that matter)?

Ole’s only picking him at this point because there isn’t another viable back-up option in the squad given the injuries.
 

Cassidy

No longer at risk of being mistaken for a Scouser
Joined
Oct 2, 2013
Messages
31,032
Sad to say but I think his times up
 

Mainoldo

New Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
22,965
That doesn’t really make any sense.

Why would Martial’s complete lack of form mean Ole has to go and why would that then improve Martial (or us for that matter)?

Ole’s only picking him at this point because there isn’t another viable back-up option in the squad given the injuries.
Like Lingard and a few others that have left under him... They aren’t going to look good under him. Whether he rates them or not.
 

Eyepopper

Lowering the tone since 2006
Joined
Sep 1, 2006
Messages
66,894
He's not a 9, never has been. Look at the difference between what he does as in that position and what Cavani does, its night & day.

Like Rashford, he's best played from the left, but I don't know if he's better than Rashford there and he certainly doesn't have the will to contribute to defending that's needed there.

Right now, I'd have Cavani as first choice at 9, followed by Greenwood.

Rotate Rashford & Martial as LFs. Of course the main issue with doing that is that it leaves us with a hole in the RF position... which I'm sure comes as a shock to everyone.
 

AgentSmith

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Like Lingard and a few others that have left under him... They aren’t going to look good under him. Whether he rates them or not.
But how does that explain all the times that Martial has looked good under Ole?

E.g. Project Restart when Martial was probably our best player
 

united_99

Takes pleasure in other people's pain
Joined
Jul 4, 2012
Messages
9,565
He seems to have such a weak mentality, a shame if he can’t sort himself out very soon.
 

Mainoldo

New Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
Messages
22,965
But how does that explain all the times that Martial has looked good under Ole?

E.g. Project Restart when Martial was probably our best player
He was outperforming his xG like Greenwood was. It was always unsustainable unless he had Messi level of ability. Clearly he doesn’t.

He’s not good enough to be world class but he is good enough to be a very good striker for us. We are not going to have 11 worldie players so we have to look at improving our style of play. Not just keep changing our style of players.

We’ll never get to this league title doing it that way under this ownership.
 

AgentSmith

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He was outperforming his xG like Greenwood was. It was always unsustainable unless he had Messi level of ability. Clearly he doesn’t.

He’s not good enough to be world class but he is good enough to be a very good striker for us. We are not going to have 11 worldie players so we have to look at improving our style of play. Not just keep changing our style of players.

We’ll never get to this league title doing it that way under this ownership.
I think there’s a lot of valid criticisms you can have of Ole but the form of Martial is not one. It’s a really odd link to draw given how self-inflicted Martial’s problems are.

Martial has the ability to be one of the best players in the world. He has every tangible you could ask for as a forward; strength, size, pace, height, ball control, dribbling, two footedness etc.

He just, conversely, has none of the intangibles to match these.

His negative attributes - laziness, moodiness, general disinterest, a lack of goal scoring appetite - are worse now than at any point in his time at the club which shows it’s not a maturity issue. He’s 25. This is Martial as a player now.

He doesn’t possess the mentality to convert his talent into a reality. Incorrectly labelling that fact as a reason why Ole needs to go is way off the mark imo.
 
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united for life

Full Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2014
Messages
2,226
Being the main striker isn’t working. Last year he had some good run of form, but he’s not consistent enough, he doesn’t dominate in the box and actually drifts off a lot.

For sure he is better than the player we’ve seen this season so far; his dip in form is scary! But still, can’t see him playing this role next year. He is too lazy. He often seems not interested, he doesn’t run much. His movement without the ball is very bad. Thought he’d learn from Cavani - he hasn’t so far...

I’m afraid he’s a rotation player at best, shouldn’t be more than that. He is not a striker and Marcus has made the left wing position his. Martial is not more than a back cup player - if he stays that is.
 

The Purley King

Full Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2014
Messages
4,227
Dogshit yet again, combined with minimal physical effort.
Offload at any cost in the summer please Ole and we’ll start with Haaland and Cavani off the bench.
 

Foxbatt

New Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2013
Messages
14,297
But how does that explain all the times that Martial has looked good under Ole?

E.g. Project Restart when Martial was probably our best player
Agree with you. He played his best football under Ole. There is something wrong with him. Why is he not busting to get into the box? It's one thing for not scoring if you are out of form or the keeper making saves. But lack of making an effort is unacceptable. This is what Martial is doing now.
 

Njord

Full Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2017
Messages
428
He's been struggling to score goals, has been moved to the wing, or benched, because of a 33 year old new signing, and gets a golden opportunity to play as a striker against one of the bottom teams in the league.

And then you see the lack of effort to get into the box in the clip where James is running with the ball down the right. A striker with the right mentality would do everything to get into a goal scoring position there. Think it's time we get rid of this player.
 

Djemba-Djemba

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Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
21,157
Location
Manchester
Just feels like a bit of a witch-hunt which I think will make Ole even more determined to play him which is utterly nuts
It's not a witch hunt though is it.

He's rightly being criticised for his appalling performances this season, what are they saying that's unfair? That he doesn't work hard enough? that he doesn't score enough goals? that he goes missing too much? That's all true.
 

croadyman

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
34,337
It's not a witch hunt though is it.

He's rightly being criticised for his appalling performances this season, what are they saying that's unfair? That he doesn't work hard enough? that he doesn't score enough goals? that he goes missing too much? That's all true.
I think some people feel that certain other players in the team are getting off scot free from the media criticism due to their nationality and a general bias towards that
 

ghaliboy

Snitches on Tom Hagen
Joined
Apr 29, 2009
Messages
11,290
Location
Sydchester
He has no place starting football matches at the moment
If we weren't playing a dead rubber vs RSoc I would say the same. But start him up front against them and see if we can get a jump start out of him.

To me, he is still the same player as he was pre-lockdown. Now he can hold up the ball a little better in a static sense and shout out somebody above saying he looks heavier, he does look a lot heavier to me. Maybe to work on his holdup play he's henched up and it has taken the focus off his ability to move and dribble.

Honestly, to me this is still the same player. With another string added to his bow a level of "okay he's improved that" with regards to his hold up play. The movement part really needs to be fixed now ASAP if he stays beyond the next transfer window. I don't think he's as malleable a player as it is being suggested with playing him in left sided, up front, right sided roles. I think it is actually doing him harm (also Rashford).

The wage he is on is completely and utterly ludicrous as well. This also makes another huge expectation point on how he needs to be managed as a player in the squad. There would be no issue if he missed 4 or 5 games here as a freshener to give his head a wobble, but he's already being paid like he's given the level of Bruno's output over a period of time. He simply has zero credit in the bank and it feels like its doing damage over time to him with every game he doesn't make contributions.

Taking into account his lacklustre performances this has turned into a pretty big bomb to defuse not just at performance level.
 

Hawks2008

Full Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
Messages
4,912
Location
Melbz
Of course the agenda posters are out in force... yes he has 4 league goals in 20 games and is often a passenger but he is leading the team in xTAP (expected touches and passes)!!

Only Thiago 'Idea Ball' Alcantara rivals him in this which shows the elite company he is in as a player!
 

croadyman

Full Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
34,337
Maguire gets loads of criticism and rightly so. He's been pretty rubbish.

He's not been as bad as Martial though, nobody in the entire squad has been as bad as Martial this season.
He has from the fanbase but not the media in my opinion and yeah totally agree that nobody in the squad has been as bad as Tony but Ole just cannot see it clearly enough
 

RedCurry

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Apr 25, 2016
Messages
4,686
He hasn’t looked physically in shape all season. Still looks like he’s playing in pre-season.
 

croadyman

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Mar 9, 2018
Messages
34,337
Would certainly have been benched today if Eddy hadn't picked up the injury against WBA
 

DOTA

wants Amber Rudd to call him a naughty boy
Joined
Jul 3, 2012
Messages
24,504
LvG said he bought him for when Giggs was in charge. I think this is the answer. Martial needs to become Welsh.
 
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