Martial is our most important player

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SteveW said:
Ole is having a fantastic influence on Martial. Instead of shunting him to the wing he's actually playing him in his best role and he has him talking and looking like a proper goal obsessed number 9.
It reminds me of Ronaldos change in mindset.

He's also understood that Rashford is more of a wide forward than the traditional number 9 role that most wanted him to be. Both players returning to the natural positions they grew up playing.

The stunting/wasting of these two under the last 2 managers has been a shame to watch.
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The bolded is the best part of that read for me. I've always felt like Martial wasn't obsessed enough with scoring goals and was always content with minimum contribution. The fact that he's having this mentality now is music to my ears.

I remember Ole mentioning something about wanting to see his strikers to seek more goals rather than just being content with being on the scores sheet. Seems like this mentality of always seeking goals regardless of circumstances and padding up your goals stats as a striker is finally rubbing on Martial.

Hopefully soon we start seeing him obsessively chasing for hat tricks and such.

I especially like that he mentioned that he's looking to pad his scoring stats. That should be the mentality of a top striker. I'll miss his dribbling skills a bit but if they're being sacrificed for goals than its worth it.
 
Santoryo said:
The bolded is the best part of that read for me. I've always felt like Martial wasn't obsessed enough with scoring goals and was always content with minimum contribution. The fact that he's having this mentality now is music to my ears.

I remember Ole mentioning something about wanting to see his strikers to seek more goals rather than just being content with being on the scores sheet. Seems like this mentality of always seeking goals regardless of circumstances and padding up your goals stats as a striker is finally rubbing on Martial.

Hopefully soon we start seeing him obsessively chasing for hat tricks and such.

I especially like that he mentioned that he's looking to pad his scoring stats. That should be the mentality of a top striker. I'll miss his dribbling skills a bit but if they're being sacrificed for goals than its worth it.
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Being an ST/No.9 doesn't mean you cant dribble anymore, as games develop Martial will drift around I'm sure, as seen previously. But even if he remains central he'll still have openings in a game where he can dribble at CDM's and CB's etc.
 
It’s interesting he mentions more focused on goals as it’s one thing I always mentioned in that I wish he’d be a bit more selfish at times. However I think in the last game he showed how much he offers dropping deep and linking play. The pass to James for the penalty and then the pass in to Rashford before the back heel were all great bits of play.
I hope he doesn’t lose that and finds a good balance where he bangs in goals but still has enough about him to be helping construct our attacking moves.

Hopefully plays tonight as against teams that are going to come at us is probably always gonna lead to our best attacking displays.
 
TRUERED89 said:
Being an ST/No.9 doesn't mean you cant dribble anymore, as games develop Martial will drift around I'm sure, as seen previously. But even if he remains central he'll still have openings in a game where he can dribble at CDM's and CB's etc.
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I mean it in the sense that Martial as a player himself won't be focusing on improving his dribbling and will solely and mostly focus on improving his scoring and other things(like he mentioned in that piece).

Sure he'll always dribble whenever he can and he's a natural dribbler but if we go by what's written in that piece it means overtime his dribbling skills will deteriorate because he intent to mold his game as that of a goalscorer mostly with most of his focus on finishing.

Just look at the likes of Ronaldo whom started as a great dribbler but overtime that went away because he focused on being a terrific goalscorer. Sure he can still dribble because it's still natural to him but he isn't the earlier Ronaldo who had far more dribbling skills than his peak version who is predominantly a goalscorer.
 
Santoryo said:
I mean it in the sense that Martial as a player himself won't be focusing on improving his dribbling and will solely and mostly focus on improving his scoring and other things(like he mentioned in that piece).

Sure he'll always dribble whenever he can and he's a natural dribbler but if we go by what's written in that piece it means overtime his dribbling skills will deteriorate because he intent to mold his game as that of a goalscorer mostly with most of his focus on finishing.

Just look at the likes of Ronaldo whom started as a great dribbler but overtime that went away because he focused on being a terrific goalscorer. Sure he can still dribble because it's still natural to him but he isn't the earlier Ronaldo who had far more dribbling skills than his peak version who is predominantly a goalscorer.
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Imo Ronaldo was always a fantastic dribbler even when he became completely obsessed with goals. Just go check out some archives he really didn't lose that until the end (just the pace went) and even then you still see him taking people on from time to time even now at Juve. RVN is another example, obsessed with goals from day 1, but was still a silky dribbler (See his goal against Fulham 02-03; runs from his own half and slots it in)
 
Majima said:
Guessing you was under a rock when he led the line for us in his first season here under LVG in 15/16?

As a 19/20 year old: 18 goals/11 assists in 4663 mins = g/a every 160 mins. Those are very good stats for a young striker in his first season at a new club.
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I think the poster definitely has short memory. Martial was unplayable at times but as young players are most often was inconsistent.

Then the Jose spell where he was never given a fair chance IMO because he is not a Jose player. He prefers a target man upfront.

Ironically, Martial and Rashford both have very good records against better teams? It is against the average teams they struggle?
 
romufc said:
I think the poster definitely has short memory. Martial was unplayable at times but as young players are most often was inconsistent.

Then the Jose spell where he was never given a fair chance IMO because he is not a Jose player. He prefers a target man upfront.

Ironically, Martial and Rashford both have very good records against better teams? It is against the average teams they struggle?
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Looking through their records, they do have really good records vs the better teams and not many matches with multiple goals scored vs the weaker teams. I don't think it's on them though, as it's generally through their own individual quality they score anyway.

I would say it's a service problem. How many years now have we had problems building up and creating chances? We struggle to provide service the most against those average teams with deep defences so it makes it look like they have trouble. If given the proper service, they'll score vs anyone imo.
 
He's starting to really mature and find his purpose. He brings the best out of his #10 and wingers through his brilliant link up play and surprising ability to hold up. Keep him fit and we'll see another Rooney/Ronaldo relationship between Rashford/Martial
 
Majima said:
Looking through their records, they do have really good records vs the better teams and not many matches with multiple goals scored vs the weaker teams. I don't think it's on them though, as it's generally through their own individual quality they score anyway.

I would say it's a service problem. How many years now have we had problems building up and creating chances? We struggle to provide service the most against those average teams with deep defences so it makes it look like they have trouble. If given the proper service, they'll score vs anyone imo.
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Agreed, Jose was very critical of Shaw as well when he should be guiding them, look at how Ole treated Brandon Williams?

When you score against the big teams, the confidence you get will always help when chances come their way in the lesser games.
 
Majima said:
Looking through their records, they do have really good records vs the better teams and not many matches with multiple goals scored vs the weaker teams. I don't think it's on them though, as it's generally through their own individual quality they score anyway.

I would say it's a service problem. How many years now have we had problems building up and creating chances? We struggle to provide service the most against those average teams with deep defences so it makes it look like they have trouble. If given the proper service, they'll score vs anyone imo.
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Jose was the worst thing that could have happened to both Martial and Rashford. I'd say both aren't out and out strikers as they both have period where they prefer going outside and drifting inside during the same game so they are complimentary and difficult to keep out as a pair.

Bring Pogba, James and the fullbacks into the equation and you have the seeds of a great attack.
 
Nice to see the handshake between him and Rashford after the free kick - they both need each other not be against each other.
 
AneRu said:
Jose was the worst thing that could have happened to both Martial and Rashford. I'd say both aren't out and out strikers as they both have period where they prefer going outside and drifting inside during the same game so they are complimentary and difficult to keep out as a pair.

Bring Pogba, James and the fullbacks into the equation and you have the seeds of a great attack.
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Agreed, under LvG they looked far better as he played them in a similar way with lingard on the other side. Martial was awesome under LvG and Jose nearly ruined him, easily hindered his development by a couple of years.
 
joso157 said:
Agreed, under LvG they looked far better as he played them in a similar way with lingard on the other side. Martial was awesome under LvG and Jose nearly ruined him, easily hindered his development by a couple of years.
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Jose brought Sanchez and derailed Martial badly to the point he missed being part of the World Cup winning squad
 
He's back!
 
He is unreal.
 
Unlucky to get a goal but he is amazing! I wish he had the chances that Rashford had, you know he would have scored most of them.
 
People in the media that lump him with our other underperforming/crap players are frankly clueless or just don't watch the games. The same goes for our former players turned pundits.
 
Would like to see him going more out to score himself, but great to see him back.
 
Rightnr said:
People in the media that lump him with our other underperforming/crap players are frankly clueless or just don't watch the games. The same goes for our former players turned pundits.
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Or our fans after games we don't win.
 
kouroux said:
Remember how he was criticized by cnuts when he came on as a sub vs Liverpool and they scored ?
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We have millions of internet fans and the threads and comments on players will be flooded with over emotional comments in the heat of the moment.
 
Trophy Room said:
This lad is brilliant. Van Gaal was right.
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True. Letting him finally play as a center forward will show what he's actually made of. Even back in his first season as a 19 year old he'd already shown good hold up play, clinical finishing and technical skills to make him a proper modern center forward. Shame it took a few years before he got given another crack to play in his natural position.
 
Right now he is by a country mile. We would be royally screwed without his presence leading the line.

I feel his intelligence is underrated. His hold-up and link-up play is what's giving Rashford & James all the space & chances they are currently getting.

If we can start to find Martial inside the box more to utilise his clinical finishing, we would be golden.
 
BlahRules said:
Unlucky to get a goal but he is amazing! I wish he had the chances that Rashford had, you know he would have scored most of them.
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Maybe.. the thing is that Rashford is getting those chances because Martial is playing. If Rashford would play in Martial his position Martial wouldnt be getting those chances.

The goal Rashford scored was because Martial looked up and passed to Rashford. If Rashford would have been in that position he wouldnt have looked up and would have tried to score himself i think.
 
Kag said:
He is. He and Pogba, anyway. We’ve played the full season without them, too.
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Martial yes, Pogba no. We've always played better with Martial in the team. Pogba being in the side doesn't make a lot of difference.
 
BringNaniBack said:
Martial yes, Pogba no. We've always played better with Martial in the team. Pogba being in the side doesn't make a lot of difference.
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When either one of them plays well, the team normally plays well. The two of them normally have a very good combination as well so the two of them regularly play well together, which takes the team up another level again.

Of course the question is always asked with the chicken and the egg scenario. Do the two of them play well because the team is playing well (and play poorly when the team is bad), or does the team play well because they are playing well (and the team perform poorly when the two of them are poor)? It's almost certainly a bit of both to be honest.
 
Stat Man Dave pisses me off. Something about him just comes across like he's a know-it-all. No wonder True Geordie booted him off his show.

He's right here though, Martial is easily our most important player at the moment.
 
Majima said:
Right now he is by a country mile. We would be royally screwed without his presence leading the line.

I feel his intelligence is underrated. His hold-up and link-up play is what's giving Rashford & James all the space & chances they are currently getting.

If we can start to find Martial inside the box more to utilise his clinical finishing, we would be golden.
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There was this consensus last season which declared he isn't intelligent. I remember reading somewhere on here posters trying to insinuate he was "slow". The fact that he likes to keep to himself didnt help with this perception of him. I even remember a twitter post making up stories of how his lyon youth coaches said he was slow. Complete bullshit.

Martial is probably one of the most intelligent players in our squad. If not for his selflessness and one-twos we wouldn't have more than 1 shot on target. Brighton are not the best team but even they had some control of the game yesterday. If not for martial and Fred(who was fantastic yesterday) we wouldnt have had any consolation for Brighton naivety in defense. It helps when you have a forward who makes the best DECISIONS 9/10 times for the benefit of the team. Even at times when martial is in a good position to shoot he still creates the time, composure and intelligence to assess whether passing to a teammate results in a goal other than shooting.
 
KennyBurner said:
There was this consensus last season which declared he isn't intelligent. I remember reading somewhere on here posters trying to insinuate he was "slow". The fact that he likes to keep to himself didnt help with this perception of him. I even remember a twitter post making up stories of how his lyon youth coaches said he was slow. Complete bullshit.

Martial is probably one of the most intelligent players in our squad. If not for his selflessness and one-twos we wouldn't have more than 1 shot on target. Brighton are not the best team but even they had some control of the game yesterday. If not for martial and Fred(who was fantastic yesterday) we wouldnt have had any consolation for Brighton naivety in defense. It helps when you have a forward who makes the best DECISIONS 9/10 times for the benefit of the team. Even at times when martial is in a good position to shoot he still creates the time, composure and intelligence to assess whether passing to a teammate results in a goal other than shooting.
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I remember this, wasn't even the funniest criticism of him either.
 
Raven said:
I remember this, wasn't even the funniest criticism of him either.
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I also got laughed out the door when I suggested his movement wasn't 'non-existent' as some posters liked to say. I even posted videos of him making runs in behind and scoring multiple times but was told I wouldn't be taken seriously. Yesterday he once again demonstrated how intelligent he can be with his movement.

I can't work out why, but certain fans just seem to have a weird agenda against him.
 
Posh Red said:
I also got laughed out the door when I suggested his movement wasn't 'non-existent' as some posters liked to say. I even posted videos of him making runs in behind and scoring multiple times but was told I wouldn't be taken seriously. Yesterday he once again demonstrated how intelligent he can be with his movement.

I can't work out why, but certain fans just seem to have a weird agenda against him.
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He’s not from the academy like lingard and pereira that’s why there’s an agenda.
 
KennyBurner said:
There was this consensus last season which declared he isn't intelligent. I remember reading somewhere on here posters trying to insinuate he was "slow". The fact that he likes to keep to himself didnt help with this perception of him. I even remember a twitter post making up stories of how his lyon youth coaches said he was slow. Complete bullshit.

Martial is probably one of the most intelligent players in our squad. If not for his selflessness and one-twos we wouldn't have more than 1 shot on target. Brighton are not the best team but even they had some control of the game yesterday. If not for martial and Fred(who was fantastic yesterday) we wouldnt have had any consolation for Brighton naivety in defense. It helps when you have a forward who makes the best DECISIONS 9/10 times for the benefit of the team. Even at times when martial is in a good position to shoot he still creates the time, composure and intelligence to assess whether passing to a teammate results in a goal other than shooting.
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I think it was Haram, he is banned now.

Some of the criticism was weird, his movement is far better as CF than as LW though, maybe it wasn't his fault as he wasn't left winger and was moved out of position. As a CF his movement is good, his hold up play is miles better than Rashford and Lukaku and apart from all this, he is a playmaker.
 
Martial, Rashford, James, Fred and Mctominay are our most important players as we have no adequate backup for them; take one out and the standard of our first 11 will suffer dramatically.
 
AkaAkuma said:
Martial, Rashford, James, Fred and Mctominay are our most important players as we have no adequate backup for them; take one out and the standard of our first 11 will suffer dramatically.
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Hopefully we use the January window wisely and sign a couple of relibale and good quality back ups, which is easier said than done. It'll probably be very hard to improve the starting XI in January because clubs usually don't want to let their best players go, signing players who improve our squad depth would do wonders for us moving forward.
 
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