Whisper it quietly but he’s starting to look mobile again…
9
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 19
- Goals
- 2
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 0
I think he almost break into a sprint for the first time in about 3 years.
Played well, took his goal nicely, can't ask for much more.
More of that Tony.
He’s lost some weight
I was shocked when he turn and took on the entire defense on his own in the first half. It’s so clear the difference in him when he’s fit and when he isn’t.
Yeah, this. We'll keep the expectations low but he looks a lot fitter and sharper. Competition is a wonderful thing.
I was working and reading the match day thread when I could. Saw people saying is Martial even on the pitch after 15 minutes. Watching the game now and it’s clear and obvious Martial hate because what I’m watching right now 24 minutes in he is pressing everytime since the start of the game and is trying to get involved. What I’m trying to say is the bias against him and the name calling of him being lazy and invisible is just clear hatred and agenda against the guy.
Such a lovely pass and composed finish. He’ll be a very useful player to us this season if he can somehow stay fit.
100% true. A lot of people dislike and some people think its cool to slate him.
A lot more have read that people slate Martial and based their opinion on the opinion of someone else. He is just an easy target when you want to moan about a player.
When they see Martial they see a lazy player that wont smile (somehow that matters?) and sulks (someone made up that he 'downs tools' when he faces competition and it stuck) eventhough evidence against all those things is playing live right infront of their eyes.
He can make a run 99 out of a 100 times but that one time he doesnt run it will confirm the bias. Even if he didnt make that run for a good reason.
Martial the striker has two problems for me. He lacks that real killer instinct. He can finish just fine but he misses the talent to always be where the ball will fall. He isnt that fox in the box type of striker but more of a 'footballing' striker that makes the team play better.
His major issue is obviously his fitness. The Ole era wrecked him as a player although he did look more mobile, faster and more agile today and during the Bayern game than before.
He's back! We needed a proper Hojlund backup and if he can stay, fit he can be really important. Glad for him that he found fitness and motivation because his talent has been always there.
Whilst I have no expectations for him anymore, I still hope he proves to be useful and contribute more goals like that this season. But no matter how well he plays I pray he isn't handed a new 5 year contract
This is true. He’s our lowest rated player yesterday as well which only goes to show the bias especially considering the quality of the finish.
I feel slowly people are beginning to understand that a striker can not do anything when others are not willing to pass the ball to him. There is a reason Ronaldo, Martial heck even Weghorst could not score goals for large parts of the season.
With Hoijland, who is a likeable player struggling for service - it has helped people understand that football is a team game. The primary job of the winger is to create for the striker. The job of #10 is also to create.
When you have players doing their own thing, you can’t get the best out of your CF. Especially Martial and Hoijland who like the ball to feet and are very good in one twos/holding the ball with their backs to the goal.
The interchange Martial had with Garnacho in the box (stopped by a last ditch tackle) is not something I remember him having with Rashford.
The link up Hoijland had with Pellistri is also something Bruno should be doing often.
Ofcourse all of this is possible if he doesn’t get injured this time.
I think so too. Looked much leaner and more mobile.
Held it up well, linked play well, even tracked back and pressed. Made a difficult finish look straightforward.
Time for the inevitable injury then!
Ran more than in his previous 5 games together. Hopefully he starts performing again
Definitely looks like he’s shed a bit of muscle. He’s looked very immobile in the last year or so, at least compared to previous.
Looked like a footballer again yesterday, zero expectations from him at this point but at the very least he might offer some sort of backup to Hojlund. His goals only seem to come when we're winning comfortably though.
Really nice finish yesterday. Has a role in the squad and should be pushing Hojlund for that starting spot.
Really nice finish yesterday. Half volley, weaker foot and a tight angle....... still just don't trust him to stay fit though and think he's lazy.
Talented player but the Martial ship should have sailed years ago.
Talented player but the Martial ship should have sailed years ago.
He shouldn’t and he won’t. He only scores goals when we’re 2 or 3 goals to the good and the opposition have given up trying to defend a result. He’s great to come on and give Hojlund a rest but we can’t rely on him to actually get us a goal when we need it.
Looked much less sluggish than his first outings this season. We need him to stay the feck fit this season. Don't think Höjlund is completely ready to be relied upon just yet.
I know that's not true without even looking because what you describe has barely been the case for the last year.
Why do you keep saying this when it’s so obviously not true?
Looked better than he has for a long time yesterday. Let's hope he's finally back physically because he's clearly a better player than Højlund right now.
Has looked useful against Bayern and again last night. Hopefully not needing to be our firs choice number 9 will give him the time to maintain his fitness.
Expect him to be ruled out this weekend
Expect him to be ruled out this weekend
Just last season:
Goal when score was 1-1 against Omonia away in EL
Assist when score was 1-0 against Liverpool at home
Assist for equalizer against Everton away
Goal to make it 2-0 against Forest at home
Goal to make it 2-0 against Everton at home
Opening goal against Wolves at home
Goal to make it 2-0 against Chelsea at home.
Key pass and assist for the 2 goals against Sevilla at home.
So besides his 2 goals against City away where the game was already done, every single goal contribution of his last season didn’t happen when ‘we are 2 or 3goals up and opposition stopped trying’. It’s enough to be disappointed with his fitness record but I’ll never understand the need to invent blatant bullshit about him from his detractors.
The key with him is to not have expectations.
Enjoy the upturn in form as he puts himself in the window with his contract expiring but don't make the mistake of being the club to offer that new contract.
Martial has played over 300 games for Man Utd. So let's keep it real. He scored against Palace reserves, who even their manager said they were poor.
If this is what some of us expect (or are happy with) as a man Utd centre-forward fine. But Martial would not even make the bench for most clubs in the top half of the Premiership, and I doubt that he would start at any club in the Premiership. And that's acceptable for Manchester United FC?
Where in my comment did I mention Martial being a world beater? Even in the bolded part, my point is that our CFs will always struggle because people are not doing their jobs properly. (As Rooney mentioned about Nani once after a defeat)
Unless Rasfhford and Bruno change their style drastically, our striker will always be feeding off scraps. The biggest problem with us is that we’re not a team and their is no cohesion with the ball in the final third.
He scored the same number of goals as Chelsea top scorer last season that's despite being crooked all year. A fit martial no matter how crap you think he is starts for most teams in the league. Richarlison couldn't buy a goal last season.
Why do you feel the need to lie?
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/anthony-martial/alletore/spieler/182877
There is a list of every goal he's scored in his career along with the score when he scored. It's extremely rare that he scored meaningless goals when his side was already 2 goals to the good. Like a genuienly miniscule amount.
It's so silly to just make things up because you don't like a player.
I've concluded after significant research that Martial is really good but gets injured a lot. I have facts data and analysis to prove all of this.
Probably the most clearcut definition of him you can give.
If he stopped getting injured so much that'd be fun but unlikely.
He'll push too hard and soon enough will end up on the operating table for the umpteenth time.
I love him as a player but he's too injury prone
One goal one ok game. All is forgiven.
He has a high ceiling you know...
He has a high ceiling you know...
Thus the moniker, Marmite Martial.
I think Martial is a victim of the phenomenon of when going through a negative phase, more negative stories about you are likely to be made. No one challenges their basis in fact so eventually, it becomes accepted as fact. For Martial, it's that he's "injury prone", he's only had "1 good season" at the club and apparently now, he only scores when we are already winning.
Martial has made 200 league appearances (using the Premier League as a selective sample). Of those 200 games he's played, he's scored 62 goals across 54 matches, winning 42 of them. That's a win rate of 77% and a win/draw rate of 90.7% when scoring. In other words, we only lose 1 in every 10 games that Martial scores in the Premier League. That's how important his goal contributions are to the team. To put it into context, Messi across his La Liga career had an 86% win rate when scoring and a 96% win/draw rate while playing for arguably the greatest assembled squads of all time. Martial meanwhile plays for post-Fergie United. So if there's anything to lament over, it's his minimum 1 goal in every 4 games ratio. If he even had a 1 in every 3 game ratio as he did during the Covid season, then we'd practically be unbeaten in games where he scored, à la Messi for Barca.
There's a reason why ETH rates him highly even though he's been barely available for selection. If Martial's able to get through even 60% of the season injury-free, don't be surprised to see the 1-year contract extension activated.
So I'm glad you went out to pull the facts to debunk the latter myth. I had a feeling the statement was bull as I seem to remember him scoring a lot of important goals. I decided to do a follow-up out of curiosity and found he scored 105 goals across 95 matches in his career. That's 1.1 goals per game scored, so we can discount any stat padding allegations.
Martial has made 200 league appearances (using the Premier League as a selective sample). Of those 200 games he's played, he's scored 62 goals across 54 matches, winning 42 of them. That's a win rate of 77% and a win/draw rate of 90.7% when scoring. In other words, we only lose 1 in every 10 games that Martial scores in the Premier League. That's how important his goal contributions are to the team. To put it into context, Messi across his La Liga career had an 86% win rate when scoring and a 96% win/draw rate while playing for arguably the greatest assembled squads of all time. Martial meanwhile plays for post-Fergie United. So if there's anything to lament over, it's his minimum 1 goal in every 4 games ratio. If he even had a 1 in every 3 game ratio as he did during the Covid season, then we'd practically be unbeaten in games where he scored, à la Messi for Barca.
There's a reason why ETH rates him highly even though he's been barely available for selection. If Martial's able to get through even 60% of the season injury-free, don't be surprised to see the 1-year contract extension activated.
He played decent the other night but I wouldn’t get to carried away. He’s done this before where he’s had 1 decent game and then gone back to being crap. Let’s hope he can have a run of decent games wether starting or cameos of the bench.
I have learnt over 8 years he is unreliable. One good game after so many, doesn't make you a first team player.
There are so many myths about his game its crazy. You will even get people speaking with authority that he is a bad finisher, or is one dimensional. Meanwhile you look at his repertoire of goals and it's filled with sumptous goals and a bunch of highly technically demanding goals that flies into the face of the said myths. But people simply decide to keep spewing the nonsense because they dislike the player.
His last goal is another one of the many he has made look easy when they are anything but. The only reasonable gripe I can understand with Martial is his fitness record, and only for the post Ole era.