UNITED SPECIAL Martial back in frame to start clash with Fulham
ANTHONY Martial should be fit enough to face Fulham tomorrow after he limped out of United’s draw with Arsenal.
Martial equalised on his 23rd birthday in the first half but was forced off in the 63rd minute after he committed a foul on Sead Kolasinac and had to be replaced by Romelu Lukaku.
Jose Mourinho dropped Martial to the bench at Southampton at the weekend since the player had suffered a ‘pre-injury’ in the defeat to City on November 11, which prevented him from playing for the France national team.
Mourinho doubted whether Martial could start three successive matches within seven days and selected the Frenchman against Crystal Palace and Young Boys before introducing him as a substitute at St Mary’s.
Mourinho put Martial’s withdrawal against Arsenal down to a ‘pre-injury’ and suggested United’s top scorer would be fit for the visit of Fulham.
“He doesn’t think it is an injury,” Mourinho said. “He thinks it’s a pre-injury, he was feeling tight.”
Martial scored his eighth goal of the campaign as he lined up in a front three with Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford. Lingard also struck in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal and Mourinho felt the trio brought ‘happiness’ to United’s play.
“They played well,” Mourinho said. “They gave good dynamic, good intensity, good movement, and we need that, we needed that happiness.
“Especially in moments where we are not very happy with the result we need happiness on the pitch, all of them quite light, but alive, agile, creative, they were good.” JOSE Mourinho has spent most of this season searching for a formula.
In 15 Premier League games he has made an incredible 46 changes to his starting XI.
Whether he is any closer to finding a favoured system and a preferred side after the chaotic 2-2 draw with Arsenal is debatable, but there were positives among all the madness at Old Trafford on Wednesday night.
Mourinho stuck with a three-man defence after his side shared four goals with Southampton at the weekend, but changed the shape of his midfield, with Jesse Lingard roaming in behind a dangerous front two of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
It was roughly a 3-4-1-2 and if it’s a system Mourinho persists with it might be bad news for Paul Pogba.
The World Cup winner was left out against the Gunners after his disappointing performance at St Mary’s and although he was praised by Mourinho after coming off the bench to replace Lingard, he might find there is no natural position for him in this system, certainly in the bigger games.
Against Arsenal it was Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera who filled the deeper midfield positions, with Mourinho opting for their tactical discipline against a dangerous opponent as United tried to stifle an Arsenal side who had found so much space going forward in their north London derby win at the weekend.
That freed Lingard to be creator-in-chief and as well as getting on the scoresheet, his pace and movement behind a front two did cause Arsenal a few problems.
While Pogba’s introduction helped United regain an element of control, he didn’t provide the same kind of zest that Lingard had, with the latter much more adept at the quick passes that can send Martial and Rashford away on goal, while Pogba has a tendency to take too many touches to properly fill that creative role between the forwards.
The France midfielder also doesn’t Lingard. If United are going to look to pursue a pressing game – and there’s been only limited evidence that that’s the case – then they need a dynamic, energetic presence at the tip of the midfield to back up the work Martial and Rashford can do. There could be a role for Pogba in one of the deeper midfield positions, although it’s unlikely to be the case when United are facing a significant test in the Champions League or another member of the Premier League’s ‘big six.’ If Mourinho was to go to Anfield a week on Sunday with the same formation in mind, it’s unlikely he would risk Pogba in a deeper role when the focus on those positions would be keeping Liverpool’s dangerous attack at bay. That might leave the £89m midfielder marooned on the bench for exactly the type of games he was initially supposed to make the Tyronne Marshall press as effectively as