Cavani is a great goal scorer but there are a lot of things that Cavani can not do what Martial does.
So much of our play is based on Bruno and Rashford playing balls into Martials feet and having fast one two inter play between each other. It’s heavily reliant on trusting Martials ability to not only control the ball under pressure but also having a great first touch and being able to use his strength and close control to turn when receiving the ball, holding his man off and feeding in others. So often he takes the ball under extreme pressure and dribbles his way out of trouble which is incredibly hard as a striker as it’s the one position on the pitch where the player is under the most pressure.
Everyone calling for Cavani to play instead of Martial is a lazy argument by simplifying it by just looking at Martials missed chances. It’s easy to just show Cavani’s movement and goal scoring but that doesn’t work all the time for our style of play. If we don’t have Telles playing to cross it in to Cavani, who else is likely to cross it to him. That’s not even our style of football.
Our front 3 is very similar to how Liverpool like to play with constant interchanges and lots of give and go’s. Cavani is not as good as Martial in this style of football.
While the team is winning and scoring plenty of goals, we can carry Martials goal scoring problem for now. Because he is so involved in so many of our goals when he does play.
Firmino was scoring 1 goal a year yet everyone could see what he offers the team. It’s not just about how many goals does a forward have anymore. If they offer other threats to their game and play in a way which suits what you are trying to do then you work with it. Martials goal scoring will return in due time.
I cite Cavani as an example of a predatory number 9, which isn't how Martial plays the position.
I have posted before on why I don't see him in the number nine shirt and here's how I explained it.
I've always seen the role of a 9 as being the focal point of a team from an attacking perspective, mostly operating in the box. This needs a certain sort of character. Consider a cross-section of the most successful number 9s in their prime - Benzema, Falcao, Ibra, Toni, Cavani, Lewandowski, Suarez, Shearer, Cole, Hugo Sanchez, Batistuta, Gerd Muller and pre-fat Ronaldo.
All of these guys put fear into defenders and generated confidence in their team mates, which encouraged them to get the ball to them in goal-scoring situations. They were reliable, strong, aggressive, hungry, they bullied the opposition and above all, they wanted the ball in the net. They were also predators with a skill set to match including the ability to head a ball into the opposition's net.
After watching Martial since he joined us, I have concluded he doesn't match up to this specification. That's not to say he isn't talented or a good footballer. I agree he's talented and he can have some very good games (but not often enough).
He's not got the predator mindset, he won't bully a defence, he won't put himself in dangerous positions to score goals and he isn't hungry enough for them. In this position, he's definitely style over substance, as I see it and we don't need luxury players, we need effective ones, in every position.
I don't dispute Martial's strengths as you describe them, but you omit his obvious weaknesses in the box and I don't believe I'm alone in seeing these missing traits as a key weakness in the team.
you could have went with Tostào but too lazy