Martial as our 9

[Dans]

I think what will happen is that Martial will play mainly on the left wing, but will spell Rooney up front from time to time as he's either injured or dropping back to no 10 role to change things during a game. Based on what I have seen I have confidence in him - he looks mature (as a player) beyond his years, strong too, and he can play these roles for us. As long as Rooney is still around I can't see him Martial displacing him.

 

[AngeloHenriquez]

I think it could be interesting to see Rooney behind him, it may involve VG changing what he wanted from a 10, but in attacking games I'd love to see Rooney as a "2nd striker" with Herrera, Schwein, Depay & Mata supporting and Martial up the top.

Rooney should be instructed to make sure Martial never drops deeper than him so he's constantly focusing on positioning and that last man.

 

[United again!]

Not having that, Rooney doesn't have the capability to hold the ball up anymore and Im flummoxed when I hear he hasn't had any service. He could easily have 4/5 Goals this season but his finishing has been sorely lacking. Hopefully, with a strong focal point like Martial up top, we're going to have the opportunities for our wide men to get beyond our central striker, at the moment it's a bloody miracle if Rooney takes a ball into his feet first time.

That isn't to say we've been creating a lot but Rooney has been a big, big factor in that.

No Rooney agenda in this post, lads. Instead of having an object discussion on the quality of the buildup and how it synergizes with the nine position lets just unload a huge broadside on Rooney. Nice.

 

[ivaldo]

No Rooney agenda in this post, lads. Instead of having an object discussion on the quality of the buildup and how it synergizes with the nine position lets just unload a huge broadside on Rooney. Nice.

Oh hurray the A word. Disagree with something someone has said? Not a problem, just accuse them of having an agenda. Clever hey?

I mean why would I discuss Rooney in a thread about our focal striker? He's only played there whenever he's been fit, his league statistics really back up how well he's been playing there this season too. An impressive 0 goals and 0 assists.

He's been really poor for us this season and if you want to pretend it's everyone else's fault that he's been so woefully lackluster, that's fine by me, it's your 'agenda'.

 

[United again!]

I mean why would I discuss Rooney in a thread about our focal striker? He's only played there whenever he's been fit, his league statistics really back up how well he's been playing there this season too. An impressive 0 goals and 0 assists.

You don't have to, I was. I made a comment that references the same positional inadequacies are present in both of their games which suggests a serious deficiency in the build-up that is not inherent in both of their ability to play the 9. Since Martial has size, pace and power on his side that Rooney doesn't it raises even more questions about what we are trying to achieve in the final third.

Rooney being the other 9 that will probably waltz straight back into the side at 9 unopposed, it's on-topic to try and understand the way the two players interlink while in the role being the two main selections to play it.

He's been really poor for us this season and if you want to pretend it's everyone else's fault that he's been so woefully lackluster, that's fine by me, it's your 'agenda'.

Yeah, that is actually not what I said at all. You've just unleashed another anti-Rooney tongue lashing in the process, so good on you for that.

 

[ivaldo]

You don't have to, I was. I made a comment that references the same positional inadequacies are present in both of their games which suggests a serious deficiency in the build-up that is not inherent in both of their ability to play the 9. Since Martial has size, pace and power on his side that Rooney doesn't it raises even more questions about what we are trying to achieve in the final third.

Rooney being the other 9 that will probably waltz straight back into the side at 9 unopposed, it's on-topic to try and understand the way the two players interlink while in the role being the two main selections to play it.

Yeah, that is actually not what I said at all. You've just unleashed another anti-Rooney tongue lashing in the process, so good on you for that.

It's a discussion forum, be prepared for other people to have an opinion on what you've said, deal with it.

And I was pointing out Rooney is part of the problem when it comes to our build up play. That's irrelevant to the conversation how exactly? When your focal point isn't playing well, the team doesn't play well. Martial held the ball and brought others into play far better than Rooney has done, it's painfully obvious to anyone who's watched Rooney recently. I'm curious to what you think my agenda is exactly?

 

[Will Singh]

I really looking forward to watching Martial Playing for us, his bought that excitement back into the team when he is on the ball. That same excitement we all hoped Memphis would bring us, but both are young and the future is looking good.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

No Rooney agenda in this post, lads. Instead of having an object discussion on the quality of the buildup and how it synergizes with the nine position lets just unload a huge broadside on Rooney. Nice.

You mean "instead of discussing it from my point of view". He doesn't agree with you that our buildup play and "crippling lack of adventure" is the reason/sole reason for Rooney's poor centre forward play. Doesn't automatically turn his view into an agenda. He could just as easily call your pin pointing the problem on our risk averse style as an agenda. And so on and so forth.

 

[United again!]

You mean "instead of discussing it from my point of view". He doesn't agree with you that our buildup play and "crippling lack of adventure" is the reason/sole reason for Rooney's poor centre forward play. Doesn't automatically turn his view into an agenda. He could just as easily call your pin pointing the problem on our risk averse style as an agenda. And so on and so forth.

Yes, but it would be incorrect trying to claim that I have an agenda and it would be obviously so, due to the many other people citing the same problems. I have no idea why you've even tried to argue in that manner as I was succinct in my analysis of the two players and what they have offered so far and there still being some residual effects unrelated to their individual footballing ability. Martial has the added power and pace which gives him more natural affinity to hold up play, despite there still being the oddities that both have suffered in the general buildup. Both have different styles and have equally suffered with the lack of penetration.

Unleashing a torrent of abuse toward Rooney as a retort is completely unnecessary and it makes absolutely no sense to the argument. There is no reason not to compare the two and how they fit with the role as they are both vying for the same position. It is not a conflict of opinion it is an unnecessary overreaction to what little Rooney actually does bring to the team.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Yes, but it would be incorrect trying to claim that I have an agenda and it would be obviously so, due to the many other people citing the same problems. I have no idea why you've even tried to argue in that manner as I was succinct in my analysis of the two players and what they have offered so far and there still being some residual effects unrelated to their individual footballing ability. Martial has the added power and pace which gives him more natural affinity to hold up play, despite there still being the oddities that both have suffered in the general buildup. Both have different styles and have equally suffered with the lack of penetration.

Unleashing a torrent of abuse toward Rooney as a retort is completely unnecessary and it makes absolutely no sense to the argument. There is no reason not to compare the two and how they fit with the role as they are both vying for the same position. It is not a conflict of opinion it is an unnecessary overreaction to what little Rooney actually does bring to the team.

As it would be incorrect to try to claim that anyone else has an agenda unless you have something to back that up. Do you? Does he have a history of constantly bashing Rooney for no rhyme or reason?

The "succinct" nature of your analysis doesn't have anything to do with it. Nor does others having the same opinion, just like many others who consider Rooney to be an issue wouldn't legitimise his either. I don't have an opinion on whether you're biased or not. But not considering the system to be flawed and considering Rooney's centre forward play, so far this season, to be an issue, isn't evidence of bias, but disagreement with your view.

 

[United again!]

Right, this is massively off topic.

 

[Sylar]

So just over a game a week, in most of those games he came on as a sub, he must be fecked.

What? Either you cant read or are trolling me.
Im saying we have a glut of games coming up, and to keep Martial fresh, we need Rooney (and Young for Memphis) so that they dont play 90 minutes every one of those games. Playing that much will take a toll (esp on mind).

 

[Manny]

For those who are calling for Martial up top with Rooney playing number 10, have the last 2-3 years not taught you anything about Rooney's first touch, control and short passing game?

Rooney has been garbage this season and I think he is a big factor in our play falling apart in the final third. He's offering next to nothing up top and he'd kill our possession game if moved back to number 10. If Rooney is not playing up top then he should be on the bench.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Rooney's mystery injury was actually him being dropped.

 

[ivaldo]

For those who are calling for Martial up top with Rooney playing number 10, have the last 2-3 years not taught you anything about Rooney's first touch, control and short passing game?

Rooney has been garbage this season and I think he is a big factor in our play falling apart in the final third. He's offering next to nothing up top and he'd kill our possession game if moved back to number 10. If Rooney is not playing up top then he should be on the bench.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Rooney's mystery injury was actually him being dropped.

Unfortunately he isn't going go be dropped when fit regardless of how poor he's been. He's going to have to be accommodated somewhere so I suppose playing him as a #10 with Martial up top is the lesser of two evils. It would actually be interesting to see how Rooney would cope as a wide forward.

 

[Getsme]

What? Either you cant read or are trolling me.
Im saying we have a glut of games coming up, and to keep Martial fresh, we need Rooney (and Young for Memphis) so that they dont play 90 minutes every one of those games. Playing that much will take a toll (esp on mind).

Yeah read your post wrong, even so 5 games over 25 days isn't that much, let's remember he's not much younger than Shaw.

 

[seaNNN]

For those who are calling for Martial up top with Rooney playing number 10, have the last 2-3 years not taught you anything about Rooney's first touch, control and short passing game?

Rooney has been garbage this season and I think he is a big factor in our play falling apart in the final third. He's offering next to nothing up top and he'd kill our possession game if moved back to number 10. If Rooney is not playing up top then he should be on the bench.

And I wouldn't be surprised if Rooney's mystery injury was actually him being dropped.

A place must be found for Lvg's best ever captain as he has stated before his captain is a guaranteed starter.
No one has really laid claim to the number 10 roll so it's got to be worth a try rather than dropping martial.
As bad as he's been I don't like to write him off as everytime I do he proves me wrong his consistency is lacking big time though.

 

[Turnip]

I think it should be given a shot. I know LVG was hesitant about using him constantly straight away and doesn't expect a load of goals right away. But this looks like an awesome line-up to me;

Martial
Memphis --- Rooney --- Mata​

Our biggest problem is that we've sold/loaned all backup. So soon as we get an injury to Martial / Rooney we're gonna have to stick someone up front just because he's tall. Course Herrera / Mata can cover Rooney well, but still, if we're planning on doing well in a few comps we're gonna need more depth than that. If only we had someone like Hernandez or Welbeck to back-up...

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Not having that because you know who else's form is erratic? Yeah you guessed right, Young and Rooney! Rather than splitting their quad I'd keep them together because Rooney and Young could counter balance the bad decisions Memphis and Martial are bound to make through inexperience. What we need most is for those senior players to step up and be counted otherwise we would better off just playing Rooney with the kids upfront; take the second step towards completely rebuilding our attack.

Point taken, and I hope that's how it'll play out, because I'd love to see Memphis and Martial
starting most games, we could maybe look to start games like:

------------Martial-----------
Memphis---Rooney----Young

And if it's just not happening and the kids are having an off day end like:

----------Rooney---------
Young----Herrera----Mata

 

[Rezyuz]

Well that's not fair is it? And he certainly loses the ball the most from tackles.

If you read my statement i clearly said: - Doesn't know when to not have a go and just pass. This has absolutely nothing to do with first touch/ball control but with his decision making. He chose to try and dribble past multiple defenders a few times when the obvious choice was to hold or pass the ball. This is a matter of experience and often seen in youngsters (Januzaj and Memphis both are prime examples of this).

You can't have an discussion about something and then use irrelevant arguments. I got my girlfriend for that XD

 

[GimmeAKitKat]

At 9 Rooney is just mediocre. His close control and short passing mean the others just dont want to fire the ball in to him and make a run themselves, because its a waste of possession, he hasnt got the acceleration to beat a man, and so your left with him wanting crosses fired across for him to tap in, as he used to get alot from Valencia. However Mata and Memphis arent going to be providing that because it isnt their game, theyre going to be cutting inside and looking for one-two's, throughballs and shots. Some people should really look back at games Rooney has played lately at 9. He barely moves, which just makes defending against us easy. As lone striker his job should be three fold. Either receiving the ball with good control and laying it off for the midfield runners, Running in behind and down the channels chasing passes, or stretching the centre backs to create space for the midfield to create themselves something and have somewhere to run into. As present, he does none of this.

At 10, he also doesnt really fit as his prime desire, and the only thing he's really good at, is dropping deep to get the ball, firing it 30 yards out to a winger and then getting into the box hoping to get on the end of a cross. Thats simply all he wants to do at 10, and his lack of close control, short passing and acceleration mean thats all he can do. As said though, thats not what Mata and Memphis are going to be doing, and its not what we should be doing. I also still see people working on the assumption Rooney can shoot from range when he really cant, in fact its surprising how weak his long shots are.

By comparison, Martial looks more than good at controlling the ball and laying the ball off for midfield runners getting ahead or at least close to him. He has enough pace that even if he weren't making runs himself (which he is) the midfield could force it on him, just punt it down and channel and unless he's up against one of the very few, very fast Centre backs, he's more than likely going to be first to the ball. And he did a good job of stretching the defence the other night too. Quite a few times he dragged people out wide and when given the ball was happy and effective running at the defence.

Martial at 9 seems a no-brainer to me at the moment. Onyl question is whether LvG/United have the balls to drop Rooney completely if he cant play as needed at 10. Because we have at least 2 others in Herrera and Mata who can play that role well.

Would like to see
-------------Martial---------
Memphis - Herrera - Mata

Think we'll get
-------------Martial--------
Memphis - Rooney - Mata

 

[Sam]

All of whom had been playing at their clubs for over a year and already had at least season in the EPL behind them. (more in all but Ronaldo's case) . Not just transferred from a significantly weaker league.

Yeah, that is true. But its not like Martial has no experience of this level. He's played in the CL, reaching the QF's where he played well against Arsenal. He also impressed against Valencia in the play offs and PSG in the league at the start of this season. If anything he actually has more experience of this level then Memphis does.

And anyway, the only way he's going get used to the PL is by playing in it. Obviously he will need to be rested as times, and managed carefully, but I think he'll start a lot more games then people are expecting.

 

[K2K]

Was impressed by his hold up play and I feel that we lack that in our play..He looks decent, but I expect that he will go through patches where he will struggle as he is still so young..Rough diamond that will shine for us in the coming years though..may end up even being the Rooney replacement that we need.

 

[markhrad]

Rooney will start, once fit, everyone should realize that. My concern is having both Rooney and Mata starting along with Martial because the amount of side and back passes along with wing balls will certainly frustrate the youngster.
I may not rate Rooney as much as others do but I have always believed that he performs best when surrounded by skilfull players eg Ronaldo, Tevez, Saha, Nani, Scholes and Giggs. Therefore I would like to see Martial, Memphis and maybe Young along with Rooney ( as a No10 ), I think this attacking quartet would be dynamic, highly creative and extremely dangerous in counterattacks.

 

[soapythecat]

As previously mentioned, this is a pointless discussion as Rooney will come back into the side and take the place of a young lad who, in my opinion, has offered more in 2 appearances than Rooney has for a long time.
I'm not a Rooney fan and don't mind admitting it.

 

[ivaldo]

Everything we have missed from a central striker.

 

[prath92]

Martial scores for fun in the PL, Memphis scores for fun in the CL. Maybe we can play them in those competitions alone

 

[ivaldo]

Ice in his veins.

 

[devilish]

Ice in his veins.

He's no Danny Welbeck though

 

[Member 5225]

wow - just wow

 

[ivaldo]

He's no Danny Welbeck though

Similar to Welbeck except it makes our Danny freeze instead.

 

[Zen]

Sell him for £750m in January when he'll be on 25 goals already.

 

[devilish]

Similar to Welbeck except it makes our Danny freeze instead.

He's similar to Welbeck (ie they both play upfront) but Martial is actually a proper quality striker

 

[Bubz27]

Ooohh Anthony Maaar-tial.

 

[Jinn]

Rooney has done feck all in this game! Been a liability this season really. Hererra would have been a better bet in the second half.

 

[Revan]

Not only that he's an awesome player but he seems a nice guy too. Nice gesture helping the Soton player.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Well this debate has been settled quickly.

 

[We need an rvn]

surely it's a no brainer now. whether he starts every game or rooney "subs" in for him when he needs a rest who knows. but he's a better 9 than Rooney at this point in time.

 

[Red Indian Chief Torn Rubber]

It seems we have aptly replaced RVP.

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

9

 

[thejtrain]

It looks like he's lacking a wee bit of confidence, but every goal he scores/makes him gain a fair bit of it, so it's all good. In front of the goal though, he's icy cool, just as cool as any CF I've seen at United.