So...what happened last season then? 23 goals, 10 assists all from the center-forward position. Was it a fluke? Considering the previous season he only got something like 2/3 goals in that position (albeit he didn't play THAT many games as a center-forward in that season) his progression was very encouraging.
But the drop-off this season has been substantial, to say the least. I guess it is looking more likely that last season was the anomaly, as it was the only season (i think) that he got over 20 goals. I have never necessarily been the biggest fan of his, to be honest, but I certainly expected more than this.
Think about it his last season like this.
All time played at CF in just the league (he only scored 2 goals in the cups according to Transfermarkt).
2 goals and 1 assist in 3 games before getting a thigh injury and missing time.
After coming back he scored 1 goal with 3 assists in 6 games before getting a knock and missing the Spurs game.
In the next 14 games before lockdown he scored 8 with 0 assists.
The 14 games before lockdown was probably his most promising stretch in that little pre-lockdwon period and he played every game up front. This also coincides with the form of Rashford, Bruno and Pogba.
But you can't look at that little period as the complete package, he still had plenty of issues in his game that were obvious and needed ironing out.
After lockdown he came out as a much different player from before in terms of the technicality at a footballing level. The goal record spoke for itself. The hold up play had transformed into something workable and the poacher aspect was at a level that gave the team something to work with.
I think that most people have mistaken his form last season as a complete unveiling of the player that Martial is, but at the back end of last season there were still huge question marks in the technical and mental aspect of his game.
If you were thinking last season going into this season was going to be Martial coming out as the complete package I would have said "you might be disappointed, he needs to still buy in to continue developing", actually I think I did say that somewhere on here.
I'm more sympathetic to him in that he kind-of got dicked around with the Cavani signing. I'm not going to cry with him about it because at his age and where his career is at and his (lets be honest, absolutely fecking ridiculous) wage, but I think it is a genuine aspect of why he hasn't had a good season. Football moves at breakneck speed today and there should be no time to cry about it if you want to play for a club like United.
But at this point in his career, after last season he didn't have "I've made it, this is me as a striker" season. He needed to be at a level of "I need to continue to work on this, this and then this for the next two seasons and honing these aspects is my goal" and it just hasn't happened. The hold up play has moved to a solid and continue to build-on level, the movement is still the same awful that it has always been and the link up play is something for him that has started to corrode in the absence of goals and confidence. (Which is understandable.) The worst aspect that condemns where he is at in his career as the obvious inability to accept that there are huge holes in his game he needs to work on. Last season there was a genuine flag in the sand moment where he made a big leap in his development and instead of continuing that he seems to have stalled like he did in the past.
I don't see last season as a fluke, more a representation of the level he can play at in his comfort zone. If he accepts this bad season and then continues to work his balls off on his game in the absence of form and goals then I am happy to see him continue to get starts either on the left or up front. But him as an asset now is in a pretty scary position. It either needs the bin or it needs backing and patience is probably at a minimum.