Martial must show he’s up for the fight
ANTHONY Martial has rarely had it easy at United.
It’s as if the dream start he enjoyed to life at Old Trafford, scoring that famous goal against Liverpool on his debut, made the road that followed more rocky.
Martial has had some memorable moments since then at United, including a sensational FA Cup semi-final performance against Everton and scoring some scintillating goals, but things have rarely been straightforward.
That appeared to change in the summer, however, when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer moved to throw his weight behind Martial, making the Frenchman his No.9 both in terms of shirt number and position following the sale of Romelu Lukaku.
It was the ultimate show of faith, a message from manager to player that the United staff believed in Martial.
A few months earlier he had been caught on video, before a game against Chelsea in April, going through an extraordinarily lacklustre warm-up, which prompted rumours that he could be sold.
Solskjaer knew Martial could offer more though, and spoke warmly about the Frenchman’s talents in the summer.
With Martial dovetailing with Marcus Rashford and others getting involved, the Norwegian had high hopes for his new-look strike force.
“Of course Rom has a good record and good stats,” Solskjaer said on the departed Lukaku. “He’s one of the top number nines around when you want to play with that kind of striker, and he is that target man.
“For me I’m very confident that we’ll get goals from Martial, Rashford. Dan James will come in and create, Jesse Lingard will get more, I’m sure. We do have a different attacking set up this season.”
Solskjaer was wrong about Lingard, but his words signified a change in tactic – that United wouldn’t be using a traditional centre-forward, despite Martial’s change in number.
And while the 24-year-old has justified the faith, scoring 16 goals in all competitions so far this season – one short of his previous best tally, 17 in 2015/16 – he continues to attract criticism.
Roy Keane led the doubters in January, calling Martial out after he missed a golden chance to level for United in their Anfield showdown with Liverpool. “Martial, you come to Manchester United you have to go ‘bang’ in the big moment,” said Keane. “For me, that sums up his career in a nutshell at Man United. Excellent build-up play but you hit that target, no excuses. You hit that target, the big strikers at Man United who are remembered by the supporters, they certainly hit the target and hit the back of the net.
“That’s why that guy is not quite good enough for Man United. That moment summed them up.” And although Martial then seemed determined to prove Keane wrong, scoring five goals and laying on one assist in his nine appearances following the loss at Anfield, there remains talk that United want to sign a striker in the summer. Harry Kane has been
Big clubs, you’ve got to fight, that’s it. That’s all it boils down to
Rio Ferdinand on Anthony Martial