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2021-22 Performances


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Oranges038

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I don't think it matter who was brought in in the last couple of years. Aside from the odd flash here and there, he's never really shown enough. Too many games where he just looks disinterested.

And given the level of his performances over the last couple of years, I can't see why he should be given another chance to play for the club.

Should have been sold off in the summer along with Lingard, Pogba, Perreira and a couple more.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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People were moaning for him to be dropped, now he's dropped and people are still moaning
Yeah it's strange, especially considering he scored a good goal and played well in his last match. He didn't play well last season, but played very well the season before and would still have worth in the squad. But since it's already so top heavy, a move somewhere else might be best for him. Martial has overall been good for United though if he does move on. I don't get the sense of bitterness from some people.
 

Raven

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I think he could work very well with Ronaldo if he could find his best form again, it seems very unlikely at this stage but far stranger things have happened.
 
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Though I don’t think Martial merits a spot in the starting XI (obviously), him being dropped from squads entirely is baffling to me.

He’s always seemed like a favourite of Ole’s, arguably being given too many chances to perform last year and then at the start of this one.

So why show all that patience and surprisingly start him ahead of Ronaldo against Everton, see him score his first goal in ages and generally have a decent game, then suddenly run out of patience and leave him out of squads entirely?? I know he got injured but he’s been fit for at least a couple of weeks now.

I can only come up with 2 possible explanations:

1. Rashford and Cavani are now back. However, he wasn’t even on the bench against Atlanta when we had 11 substitute options. Also, if he was so far from Ole’s plans then even bringing him in for a resting Ronaldo seems peculiar.

2. I’m actually leaning towards this one - when Ole said he came back from International duty not fully fit, he was implying that this was Tony’s fault (perhaps meaning he didn’t work hard enough to get fit while away with France).

It’s a shame how it’s all panned out. I’d like to see him get another chance, simply to see if he can build on his Everton goal, but who knows whether he’ll get that. He may have been Lingabeeked.
 

ElBarto

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Martial will thrive in a Spurs or Dortmund. Not to belittle his talent level but he needs to have the managers faith and be a guaranteed starter for a consecutive run of games. Absolutely a confidence player which doesn't suit our squad imbalances
 

Dans

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Martial will thrive in a Spurs or Dortmund. Not to belittle his talent level but he needs to have the managers faith and be a guaranteed starter for a consecutive run of games. Absolutely a confidence player which doesn't suit our squad imbalances
He needs to play somewhere other than the EPL. Then he might look much better than he does here, but he needs to pull those fingers out.
 

RedDevilCanuck

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I wonder if he gets another shot. At least he can hold the ball and not shit his pants when a player gets close.
 

Foxbatt

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I wonder if he gets another shot. At least he can hold the ball and not shit his pants when a player gets close.
I feel the same. He is the only one who can hold the ball and yesterday he should have played. Not saying we would have won but he is the best option when we need to hold the ball.
 

KeanoMagicHat

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We miss his ability to get a penalty.
I was just thinking that. One penalty all season, as soon as Martial gets dropped. He was the only one who would dribble directly and consistently at defenders into the box. It was worth 5 or 6 goals a season.
 

VanDeBank

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I feel the same. He is the only one who can hold the ball and yesterday he should have played. Not saying we would have won but he is the best option when we need to hold the ball.
Not his biggest fan, but he carried us at the Etihad last season.

We were constantly hoofing it into him and he'd be able to shield to ball with both his body and technique to buy as 5 seconds each time to get out there. At least that's how I recall it.
 

Andersons Dietician

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I feel the same. He is the only one who can hold the ball and yesterday he should have played. Not saying we would have won but he is the best option when we need to hold the ball.
Problem with him is you never know what version is going to turn up. I mean I agree on the idea that he probably has the best hold up play and link up out of what we have as forward options but would anyone seriously drop Ronaldo for him. Maybe the two of them up top might have done something but then you’re probably not going to get the workrate out of the two you’d want or need.

Personally I feel like his time here is now done and he’s probably only ahead of Amad in the pecking order. In part by his own doing and loss of form.
 

bond19821982

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Would have preferred him to start than Mason. But then it's Ole and he has his preference.
 

Foxbatt

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Problem with him is you never know what version is going to turn up. I mean I agree on the idea that he probably has the best hold up play and link up out of what we have as forward options but would anyone seriously drop Ronaldo for him. Maybe the two of them up top might have done something but then you’re probably not going to get the workrate out of the two you’d want or need.

Personally I feel like his time here is now done and he’s probably only ahead of Amad in the pecking order. In part by his own doing and loss of form.
I would have played him instead of Greenwood. Yes we don't know what Martial would turn up but unless we get the ball into the box, Greenwood won't do anything. Martial tracks back and defend a lot more than Greenwood. He dribbles better and heads better. Against a team like city we need a player like Martial.
 

Sparky_Hughes

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Just what we need, effectively start the match a man down as well as waiting to go a goal down before we start to play.
 

Revaulx

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Problem with him is you never know what version is going to turn up. I mean I agree on the idea that he probably has the best hold up play and link up out of what we have as forward options but would anyone seriously drop Ronaldo for him. Maybe the two of them up top might have done something but then you’re probably not going to get the workrate out of the two you’d want or need.

Personally I feel like his time here is now done and he’s probably only ahead of Amad in the pecking order. In part by his own doing and loss of form.
A balanced and objective post in the Player Performance Forum? What is this sorcery?
 

UncleBob

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Problem with him is you never know what version is going to turn up. I mean I agree on the idea that he probably has the best hold up play and link up out of what we have as forward options but would anyone seriously drop Ronaldo for him. Maybe the two of them up top might have done something but then you’re probably not going to get the workrate out of the two you’d want or need.

Personally I feel like his time here is now done and he’s probably only ahead of Amad in the pecking order. In part by his own doing and loss of form.
As opposed to Rashford and Greenwood?

Doesn't really matter anyway, his career at United is pretty much dead, best for all parties to ship him out on loan in january to sort out a deal for the summer
 

Adisa

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I am a fan to Toto but what are we bringing him on to do. The team is totally broken? Martial won't fix jack.
 

VanDeBank

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I am a fan to Toto but what are we bringing him on to do. The team is totally broken? Martial won't fix jack.
We could employ hoofball with Martial. One of the few solutions to one of our issues Ole can implement.

We're not playing out the back with DDG, McFred and these defenders. That's for sure. Granted, it's only of our issues on the pitch.
 

Chairman Steve

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A better manager and coaching team could get something out of him, but due to him not taking his dozens of chances and now he’s outside of the Solskjaer 13-14 player circle of trust means he’s screwed here and probably wants to leave anyway.
 

Ayoba

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I just don't understand what Ole is doing with him. He starts him in a game (against Everton I think?). He scores but since then he's nowhere to be seen. What was the point of keeping him around if he had no intention of using him, same with Mata. I mean at this point it seems this is just another stick to beat Ole with but the man has absolutely no clue on how to utilise a squad properly does he?
 

AndySmith1990

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I just don't understand what Ole is doing with him. He starts him in a game (against Everton I think?). He scores but since then he's nowhere to be seen. What was the point of keeping him around if he had no intention of using him, same with Mata. I mean at this point it seems this is just another stick to beat Ole with but the man has absolutely no clue on how to utilise a squad properly does he?
Solskjaer seems to want to hoard players to ensure we have a huge squad, and yet he has his favourites, to the point he even rushes them back from injury. It's another part of his management that is bizarre.

It's even more baffling as there are players who are clearly dispensable and could've been sold to fund a midfielder. Add it to the fact we spent £73m on a winger who rarely plays, and Donny of course, and its all just really poor planning and decision making throughout the club.
 

Irwin99

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I just don't understand what Ole is doing with him. He starts him in a game (against Everton I think?). He scores but since then he's nowhere to be seen. What was the point of keeping him around if he had no intention of using him, same with Mata. I mean at this point it seems this is just another stick to beat Ole with but the man has absolutely no clue on how to utilise a squad properly does he?
I think it's more to do with a failure of offloading him than anything else, especially with Ronaldo's signing. Greenwood, Rashford, Cavani and Ronaldo just offer more and now we also have Sancho who we bought for 70 million and Lingard. We're ridiculously stocked for talent in the wide and centre forward areas.

Like people said he does 'win' penalties quite a lot, something we've missed although make of that what you will.

Martial's on pretty big wages which means we better hope Newcastle are looking at him closely. Either that or he takes a big wage cut on his next move.
 

MadDogg

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He showed some good signs when he first came on. Played a nice pass in the lead-up to our goal, played a chip over the top of the defence to put somebody (Bruno?) in a fairly good goal-scoring position, made a good run and played a cut-back to give somebody a decent chance on the edge of the box. But he completely disappeared after 20 minutes or so.
 

Idxomer

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He did okay when he came on and played through the middle but right after the goal, he was moved to the left and it all went to shit very quickly.
 

kouroux

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He showed some good signs when he first came on. Played a nice pass in the lead-up to our goal, played a chip over the top of the defence to put somebody (Bruno?) in a fairly good goal-scoring position, made a good run and played a cut-back to give somebody a decent chance on the edge of the box. But he completely disappeared after 20 minutes or so.
Ronaldo
 

TMDaines

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Square root of feck all yet again. Martial’s a great presence to remind why the grass is never greener away from Rashford. That was a dumb substitution.
 

Oranges038

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He did okay when he came on and played through the middle but right after the goal, he was moved to the left and it all went to shit very quickly.
That's him in a nutshell only wants to play in there. As soon as he's put anywhere else he just strops and stops playing.
 

Bebestation

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He did okay when he came on and played through the middle but right after the goal, he was moved to the left and it all went to shit very quickly.
Exactly this, but no one will clock on to this.

Every time Martial started going central we looked better as a team. When he moved back to the left - everything turned back to how it was.
 

RooneyLegend

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Exactly this, but no one will clock on to this.

Every time Martial started going central we looked better as a team. When he moved back to the left - everything turned back to how it was.
Thats because he's the only one that can keep the ball. Everyone else loses the ball for fun up there.
 

JPRouve

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Thats because he's the only one that can keep the ball. Everyone else loses the ball for fun up there.
He also likes to link up and for better or worse seem to absolutely refuse to play like a traditional number 9 which suits the likes of Bruno and Ronaldo, they have someone else happy to drop and distribute.
 

Rawls

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He also likes to link up and for better or worse seem to absolutely refuse to play like a traditional number 9 which suits the likes of Bruno and Ronaldo, they have someone else happy to drop and distribute.
He's always been like that, a very strange player in that he's weirdly well-rounded. Has always had the ability to cut in from the left and shoot, play with his back to goal, drop deep and link-up. The one thing he has never been though is a penalty-box predator, which makes me think he would always have been best suited to playing as a Second Striker in a front-two. Alternatively, we could have used him more like an outright False 9 and played Greenwood and Rashford narrower (Like Firmino dropping off, with Salah and Mané in between), although playing a False 9 is not to everybody's tastes.
 

Andycoleno9

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What the feck was that cameo?

I mostly blame his idiotic manager for having the stupidity to bring him on in those circumstances but man I’ve never seen such a gutless player.
I think that he decided to not do anything which can save Ole.
Not defending him, to be clear. If that is the case, rather say ; "i will not play"
 
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