Has Martial done enough to be backed as our long-term #9?

[Dirty Schwein]

Martial scored a good amount last season but there are strikers who have a season where they score big, doesn't make them natural goalscorers.

He also scored quite a few after the restart, which was a time every team was connecting for fun.

I think there's a place for him in our team but that place isn't too lead the line.

Try Cavani up front and Martial on the left with Rashy given a rest and let's see how we do.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

I've seen it with Ighalo and seeing it with Cavani. Our game changes when a natural no. 9 is on the pitch. We are more direct. With Martial it gets a bit more complex.

 

[Volumiza]

Fergie used to say goals win games, and he sometimes prioritised signing a new striker over anything else.

I reckon he was onto something you know.

 

[golden_blunder]

I reckon he was onto something you know.

We create enough chances to score more than we are

 

[jem]

Starting to lose patience, I must admit. He's a wonderful player in full flow, but the inconsistency is infuriating. That being said, I think Rashford is in even greater need of a break, so Martial on the left will do.

 

[Volumiza]

We create enough chances to score more than we are

I’ll put my hard hat on to prepare for rocks thrown at me but I like our current squad, I think it’s largely a very good group with the potential to kick on and achieve things. I’m pretty happy with our defence, I’m not totally unhappy with our midfielders either but our attacking line just doesn’t produce the goods on more than a sporadic basis.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Starting to lose patience, I must admit. He's a wonderful player in full flow, but the inconsistency is infuriating. That being said, I think Rashford is in even greater need of a break, so Martial on the left will do.

I dont think Rashford needs a break. He's just inconsistent.

 

[noodlehair]

Raiola was adamant that there was a release clause put into Haaland's contract.
That's one of the reasons we stopped the deal and also one of the reasons Haaland will be on the market in a years time for a cheap deal.

I don't see how this is a reason not to sign him. I don't think Dortmund are sitting there regretting signing him because he might leave in a year or two for twice what they paid for him. Instead we have Cavani who will either leave in a year or two for free or end up playing for us despite being about 40, which is much less beneficial and also much less profitable.

THere's also no release clause in Fernandes's contract but it wont stop him fecking off to Barcelona or Real in a year or two if he has to keep carrying us through every game.

 

[noodlehair]

I dont think Rashford needs a break. He's just inconsistent.

He doesn't look right to me. He's definitely inconsistent but yesterday he wasn't even making the runs or getting into the positions he usually does. Although it's hard to tell with us as you can tell right from the start of the game whether we're in the mood or not, and when we're not all our players barring Fernandes just seem to do everything half arsed.

 

[golden_blunder]

I’ll put my hard hat on to prepare for rocks thrown at me but I like our current squad, I think it’s largely a very good group with the potential to kick on and achieve things. I’m pretty happy with our defence, I’m not totally unhappy with our midfielders either but our attacking line just doesn’t produce the goods on more than a sporadic basis.

I agree, though we could upgrade Lindelöf

 

[Bwuk]

If we’ve got a chance at Halaand in the summer we need to do it.

Martial is a great footballer but not a great striker.

 

[Volumiza]

I agree, though we could upgrade Lindelöf

I’m not saying our defence or midfield couldn’t be upgraded, far from it, just that our attack for me is by far and away the biggest problem for us now. We spent years crying for a decent midfield and the Pogba problem aside, we’ve got one, same for our defence. Decent CB pairing and proper fullbacks. It’s a good start anyhow.

I just find it exhausting willing our attackers to step up and it’s really disappointing because we all want to love Marcus, and we do in terms of that fact that he’s ‘one of ours’ and sometimes he can produce a moment of brilliance but waiting for him to arrive, or turn into something more productive is becoming pointless and frustrating.

I’ve never been on board the Martial fan train. Amazingly talented but for me there’s just something missing and I doubt that missing part will ever be found. Obviously it would be lovely to be proven wrong and I’ll be the first to admit it should the day come.

We need some proper firepower. Left, right and down the middle.

 

[golden_blunder]

I’m not saying our defence or midfield couldn’t be upgraded, far from it, just that our attack for me is by far and away the biggest problem for us now. We spent years crying for a decent midfield and the Pogba problem aside, we’ve got one, same for our defence. Decent CB pairing and proper fullbacks. It’s a good start anyhow.

I just find it exhausting willing our attackers to step up and it’s really disappointing because we all want to love Marcus, and we do in terms of that fact that he’s ‘one of ours’ and sometimes he can produce a moment of brilliance but waiting for him to arrive, or turn into something more productive is becoming pointless and frustrating.

I’ve never been on board the Martial fan train. Amazingly talented but for me there’s just something missing and I doubt that missing part will ever be found. Obviously it would be lovely to be proven wrong and I’ll be the first to admit it should the day come.

We need some proper firepower. Left, right and down the middle.

Sounds like we’re on the same page

 

[Chipper]

We create enough chances to score more than we are

Hate to be that xg guy, but we really don't. We're only on 10.83 on that so have been quite clinical to have scored 13. 11th in chance creation using that metric.

 

[Volumiza]

Sounds like we’re on the same page

Super!

 

[Freak]

I’m honestly tired of Rashford and Martial being 2 of our front 3. They are both inconsistent and not natural strikers. If anything they should both be competing for one spot on the left. Cavani as our main striker with Greenwood on the right.

 

[HowieC]

I’m honestly tired of Rashford and Martial being 2 of our front 3. They are both inconsistent and not natural strikers. If anything they should both be competing for one spot on the left. Cavani as our main striker with Greenwood on the right.

Agreed. Rashy is inconsistent because of his poor technique. Martial is inconsistent because of... hard to pin down - lack of willingness to make runs, willingness to shoot, patchy finishing at times. Sigh. We aren’t going anywhere with these two.

 

[jem]

I dont think Rashford needs a break. He's just inconsistent.

I don’t think he’s completely healthy.

 

[Isotope]

You don’t know who’s on his shortlist. What we do know for fact is that ole has tried to sign at least 2 other number 9s who no doubt would be starters

Well. Can't disagree with that, boss.

 

[sokol11]

Agreed. Rashy is inconsistent because of his poor technique. Martial is inconsistent because of... hard to pin down - lack of willingness to make runs, willingness to shoot, patchy finishing at times. Sigh. We aren’t going anywhere with these two.

Martial is lazy cnut. A talented one. But he will never be a solution.

 

[VeevaVee]

I think Rashford lacks focus. I don’t mean that he has other things going on outside football. I just mean that seems to come and go with how focussed he is in games. Problem is how long it is in between.

 

[Red_toad]

Starting to lose patience, I must admit. He's a wonderful player in full flow, but the inconsistency is infuriating. That being said, I think Rashford is in even greater need of a break, so Martial on the left will do.

Martial does not wish to play on the left. I'm still of the opinion he's a better player there, but he wants to be the main man and Ole has allowed this. I suspect we'll not get a positive reaction if he's moved out there.

 

[RkkMan]

I don't see how this is a reason not to sign him. I don't think Dortmund are sitting there regretting signing him because he might leave in a year or two for twice what they paid for him. Instead we have Cavani who will either leave in a year or two for free or end up playing for us despite being about 40, which is much less beneficial and also much less profitable.

THere's also no release clause in Fernandes's contract but it wont stop him fecking off to Barcelona or Real in a year or two if he has to keep carrying us through every game.

Its Dortmund though they are a natural stepping stone so they`ll happily accept short term glory from a player if it guarantees a profitable sale its their business model. Fact that no other big club agreed to it(Juve also wanted Haaland) needs to tell you Utd didn`t make a wrong decision here despite his world class performances even Fergie would never agree to such a deal it simply doesn`t paint a good picture on the club no matter what anyone says. As for Bruno even if he does feck off at least we`re in a position to demand a deal that suits us and the player rather than agree to a deal that gives full leverage to the player and his agency that only gives us a measley profit of 40-50m(Haaland`s clause is just 60m)

 

[amolbhatia50k]

We create enough chances to score more than we are

This is a bad patch. We generally tend to be more clinical than other teams. Our biggest issue now for 8 years is chance creation.

 

[Bebestation]

I don't see how this is a reason not to sign him. I don't think Dortmund are sitting there regretting signing him because he might leave in a year or two for twice what they paid for him. Instead we have Cavani who will either leave in a year or two for free or end up playing for us despite being about 40, which is much less beneficial and also much less profitable.

THere's also no release clause in Fernandes's contract but it wont stop him fecking off to Barcelona or Real in a year or two if he has to keep carrying us through every game.

I never thought of this before but I'm starting to think about this too.

The whole " we are too big of a club to loan Reguilon ", we wont buy Haaland because we dont want him to leave us - like we are already at the top of the elite and the players are consistently joining our rivals or enemies.

The fact is we buy shit. We literally buy Ighalo and an ageing Cavani for our strikers instead of who and for what purpose? Waiting for the right player to join and let everyone else suffer during that time? Maybe in woodwards mind.

 

[TheRedHearted]

I never thought of this before but I'm starting to think about this too.

The whole " we are too big of a club to loan Reguilon ", we wont buy Haaland because we dont want him to leave us - like we are already at the top of the elite and the players are consistently joining our rivals or enemies.

The fact is we buy shit. We literally buy Ighalo and an ageing Cavani for our strikers instead of who and for what purpose? Waiting for the right player to join and let everyone else suffer during that time? Maybe in woodwards mind.

but what if the move is to get Haaland when he is available?

 

[kafta]

It really is a conundrum. I love watching Tony play. Sometime he looks like the glue that holds our whole team together. But i guess strikers like that, who are excellent at drifting wide and coming short area great when you have wide players that score tons. Like Firminho does at pool, and like Benzema did when playing with Ronaldo.

In a team like ours, when we have creators behind the striker, we just need someone who is primarily a goalscorer. Neither tony nor marcus do that consistently. They do so in patches, but its not enough. Maybe Mason can develop into that player, but if have a chance at someone like Haaland, we should be all in.

 

[tenpoless]

Martial could very well be a player that has the best conversion rate at the club but if he doesn't get into enough scoring position then it's pointless. The easiest way is to play Cavani and compare the results. Only then can we talk about replacing Martial since I don't see Halaand leaving anytime soon.

 

[jem]

Martial does not wish to play on the left. I'm still of the opinion he's a better player there, but he wants to be the main man and Ole has allowed this. I suspect we'll not get a positive reaction if he's moved out there.

Honestly, what Martial wishes for and what's best for the team are two separate things. I expect a positive reaction wherever Ole decides to play him; if not, he's welcome to join Pogba on the way out, as far as I"m concerned.

 

[jem]

He doesn't look right to me. He's definitely inconsistent but yesterday he wasn't even making the runs or getting into the positions he usually does. Although it's hard to tell with us as you can tell right from the start of the game whether we're in the mood or not, and when we're not all our players barring Fernandes just seem to do everything half arsed.

It's just so infuriating to me that this group of players ever does anything half-assed. I'd somewhat understand if they'd ever won anything with us, but none of them barring De Gea and Jones has. It's honestly why I have so much more time for a player like McTominay than I do for Pogba. Clearly Pogba is the better player, but what good is that to us if he drifts through the majority of games and then does his usual international break- Real flirtation thing? Fred, McTominay, Bruno, and (usually) Rashford represent the template of the kind of player I'd like to see for us.

 

[Statue of Limitations]

I don't think so, I like Tony but if I'm being honest he just isn't banging them in consistently enough for me, I don't know if it's a confidence issue because on his day he is unreal.

Still fondly remember his debut goal v Liverpool, leapt right out of my seat.

He needs a consistent run and maybe some better service to hit the heights we know he can.

 

[Ali Dia]

He’s making an absolute mess of this season with rashford not too far behind him. Still time to turn it around but it’s not looking good. Everything is breaking down when it gets to them. Right wing is still totally impotent so the supply is easily blocked off.... It’s so weird that we rarely address what we really need to succeed.another season battling for top 4 with one of the most overpaid squads in the game. Sigh.

 

[JG3001]

The more I watch Tony the more I see the resemblance between himself and Dimitar Berbatov. He plays the game at a similar pace to him which imo is way too slow required for a striker at Man Utd. The way we open games under Ole we allow the opposition much more possession sometimes requiring more press and he just isn't this type of player.

Just looking at Dimitar's premier league goal stats between 09-12 - 9,12,20,7 compared to Martial 16-20 - 11,4,9,10,17.

He isn't consistent enough to be a Man Utd #9. His goals come in periods of confidence but he will dud the rest of the time. No doubt maybe xmas time we will see him score in 4/5 games and a selection of fans will call him class and what not but for me he's never going to be the striker that we desperately need.

If I'm honest we haven't had a world class striker since RVP.

How dare you forget the Zlat-man!

 

[Barney Bubbles]

Let me ask you all a question.
Is Martial the center forward you want next year?

 

[Neo_Mufc]

How dare you forget the Zlat-man!

Haven't forgotten!

Just making the case for someone that lasted longer than him and was more in their prime than of old age (not that it affected him much offcourse)

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Remember when people were saying we shouldn’t get Haaland because “we have Martial”

Granted, Haaland wouldn’t score as many goals in England as he’d have to play against parked buses rather than high lines every week in Germany but he’s clearly a far more natural finisher than Martial though.

 

[r0663664]

Martial is not Henry, I think he perform better without 2 CBs tracking his run. Martial needs space to run at defender so being no.9 doesn't cut out for him. Put Cavani at the top, Martial to assist or score. Hopefully, our right wing gets address in January.

 

[Sky1981]

Martial is lazy cnut. A talented one. But he will never be a solution.

This pretty much. Too much excuse being made for him. The guy's just too fecking lazy to make off the ball movement.

I can forgive a player missing a sitter, but making that run should be bare minimum. He got paid 150k per week to play football.

 

[archiebald]

I would love for us to get Haaland to shore up the CF position for the next 4-5 years at least, but realistically don't see us competing with the likes of Real, City, Barca and maybe Bayern for his signature.

We should stop piling our eggs in this basket and look hard for reasonable alternatives who we actually have a chance at acquiring to avoid last minute panic buys that turn out to be crap.

 

[Member 113277]

I don't think so, I like Tony but if I'm being honest he just isn't banging them in consistently enough for me, I don't know if it's a confidence issue because on his day he is unreal.

Still fondly remember his debut goal v Liverpool, leapt right out of my seat.

He needs a consistent run and maybe some better service to hit the heights we know he can.

Can't add anything to this summary - spot on, IMO. I love watching his top moments, too - but there are not enough.