INSTANT HERO!
Martial’s a big hit... but United can’t relax
AS a wave of euphoria swept around Old Trafford, i t was tempting to think that Manchester United’s problems had been washed away in an instant by Anthony Martial’s sensational debut goal.
A new hero had arrived and that staggering £58million transfer fee was suddenly starting to look like money well spent as the French teenager lapped up the adulation from the Stretford End.
That may prove to be true in time. And at the end of a very difficult week for manager Louis van Gaal, with talk of rigid tactics and unhappy players, Martial could not have chosen a better time to sprinkle a little stardust over his new club. But it could not mask United’s problems and some of them were evident in a turgid first half against Liverpool in which they laboured without injured captain Wayne Rooney, meaning there was still plenty of cause for concern amid the celebrations. MARTIAL ART AS DREAM debuts go, this was up there with the best of them at United: think Rooney’s hat-trick against Fenerbahce or Federico Macheda’s injury-time strike to beat Aston Villa.
It was even sweeter for Martial and the club because so many questions have been asked of their decision to spend an astronomical f ee on a relative unknown.
‘I have to be totally honest, I didn’t know an awful lot about him, like many, but I do now,’ said midfielder Michael Carrick after seeing Martial bamboozle the Liverpool defence and beat Simon Mignolet with an ice-cool finish. No wonder United fans went home with a sense of genuine optimism. WHO would have thought that a farcical summer in United’s goalkeeping department would end with David de Gea back between the posts after signing a new deal?
The Spaniard was given a rapturous reception before kick-off and there is no underestimating what he will bring to Van Gaal’s defence.
There were a few shaky moments — ‘I have a criticism for him and I am sorry I have to say that,’ admitted the United boss — but of the numerous options open to United, De Gea is the best. LOOKING UP FOR all the criticism of United’s bland football, they are third i n the Premier League with 10 points f r om f i ve games — twice as many as the same stage last season after a shocking 5-3 defeat at Leicester which Van Gaal described as his darkest day at the club. United are also back in the Champions League and fly out to Holland today to face PSV in a far from daunting Group B that also includes Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow. VAN’S MASTERPLAN VAN GAAL has come under fire but there was no faulting the Dutchman’s acumen here. Ashley Young was sent on as a half-time substitute and had an immediate impact for the first goal — note, a training-ground set-piece — and was also involved when Martial, another United replacement, rewarded his manager’s faith with the third. Van Gaal (left) has now won all three of his games against Liverpool. STRIKING OUT ROONEY’S hamstring i njury exposed the chronic lack of attacking options available to Van Gaal since the departures of Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Angel di Maria, Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj.
It’s extraordinary a club of United’s stature should be so light in this area that they have to rely on Marouane Fellaini or a teenage debutant. ‘We bought him for the future, he is for my successor,’ Van Gaal said of Martial, fearing the level of expectation has already risen too high. STAYER DE GEA? THE goalkeeper said all the right things after signing his contract on Friday and was clearly forgiven by supporters 24 hours later.
But has De Gea’s desire to join Real Madrid to be near his girlfriend and family suddenly disappeared? Or is the four-year deal a marriage of convenience that guarantees him a wage rise to £200,000 a week and United a substantial transfer fee if he moves to Spain next summer?
Whatever it says on that contract, the De Gea saga is just on hold for another nine months. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BASE THE drama of stunning late goals f r om Martial and Christian Benteke could not hide the fact that, for 45 minutes, this was one of the most insipid United-Liverpool games in memory.
Nor was it out of character with the majority of United’s performances so far this season. There is very little of the old swagger about them. Van Gaal is building a solid unit that will implement his much- vaunted philosophy. Entertainment is not high on the agenda. LOUIS RULES ANYONE who doubted Van Gaal when he said he could change his approach following a warning from Rooney and Carrick that the dressing-room had gone ‘flat’ would hardly have been encouraged by his post-match comments.
The United boss could not resist calling Daley Blind’s opening goal a ‘consequence of our meetings and our tactical sessions on set-plays’. He added: ‘I have heard the words “boring” and “too rigid”, but it is like that. It means a lot of meetings and a lot of training sessions.’
That squad might get flatter yet.