Martial savours breakfast club
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC says his breakfast chats with Anthony Martial have helped the forward rediscover his appetite for success.
Martial has had a difficult season at Old Trafford attempting to convince manager Jose Mourinho of his worth to the team.
This after the striker scored 17 goals in his debut season following his £36million switch from Monaco.
But he has struggled to scale the same heights this time round and, several times already this season, Mourinho has made it clear how frustrated he has been with the forward.
But, on Saturday, the Frenchman, 21, produced one of his best games of the campaign.
He set up the opener for Juan Mata before scoring the second and Ibrahimovic has revealed how the duo have struck up a rapport in the canteen every morning before training. “When we eat breakfast, he sits beside me and we talk,” said Ibrahimovic.
“It’s not like you go to one and try to cheer him up. It’s a good atmosphere, the guys are very professional, positive vibes.
“It’s not like we go around to everybody and talk. It’s about the moment, when the situation is there.
“He’s training well. He’s not a guy who speaks a lot, he’s pretty quiet. He has been very professional and training hard.
“It depends on every individual person, what kind of person they are. It depends on his approach and how open they are.
“He seems to do OK. He’s not going around with his head down. He’s positive and has a lot of energy. He did well and scored a nice goal. It’ll be good for his confidence and good for the team as well.”
United are just a point behind fourth-placed Liverpool after stretching their unbeaten league run to 16 games.
“We know we need to keep winning to start climbing the table,” said Ibrahimovic. “You take the three points and hope the others lose points.
“Only one team will be champions and the rest don’t MATCH STAT get a trophy. But we are in the EFL Cup final and we’re still in theAcEcurmopzazerLreitagacuiep.is Inf onysoeu’vrel notutcehvaemldpditoqnusy oeyf isthibelaPoreimniiaemr
dto commy num zzrit lu dsfsm League, at least there’s two or three different trophies to go for.” As for Watford, they were told by their goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes that they paid the price for failing to perform in the opening 45 minutes.
“We didn’t show up in the first half,” he said. “Second half was much better, we competed with them – but by then it was too late.”