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Anthony Martial has featured less than Wout Weghorst this season, a surprising fact given that the latter arrived at Old Trafford just a month ago. Is the French striker worth it in the Manchester United squad?
The 27-year-old Martial has missed 23 games through injury this season, surpassing his injury-plagued 2020/21 season in which he was ruled out for 17 club games.
Unlucky? Yes of course. She has experienced five separate injuries this season. Unfortunately, in top-level sport there isn’t much time to wait for a player to get back into shape.
As seen with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, a striker who missed almost three full seasons due to injury, there can be little value for a club in retaining these players, aside from obvious moral duties.
Solskjaer scored 11 goals on his return to the team in what was his last season.
But during Martial’s long period on the sidelines, he has given himself time to consider his future.
The Frenchman’s problem throughout his career has been his inconsistency in form. He will score against Manchester City but will be peripheral against Southampton a week later.
At 27, this should no longer be attributed to his developing stage as a young professional. This is Martial’s eighth season at Old Trafford.
Carl Anka of The Athletic recently published an article in which he analyzes the value of Martial and gives a verdict on the current situation of the striker.
Like many fans, Anka has pinned her hopes on Martial’s performances during pre-season. He did score three remarkable goals, after all!
‘A disappointing loan spell at Sevilla last season seemed to have stimulated something within Martial, who embarked on United’s summer tour under Ten Hag with even greater effort and application.
‘He no longer hesitated to make runs and offered more to the collective attacking and defending movements in addition to his impressive repertoire of spikes.
“If that version of Martial can be sustained for most of the season, United may only need to sign a new striker in the summer window.”
The only problem that prohibits Martial, according to Anka, is his physical weakness this season.
Between November and January, separated by the World Cup in Qatar, Martial played six consecutive games, although Erik ten Hag admitted having played him against Manchester City when he was not one hundred percent.
In this period he played 357 minutes against Aston Villa, Fulham, Nottingham Forest, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Bournemouth.
United No.9 scored a goal.
There seems to be a strange disregard for his competitive performances this season with some people’s judgments conveniently framed for his non-competitive games in Australia.
The facts showing the Premier League matches indicate that he is not capable of being a reliable, goalscoring and dynamic striker for Manchester United.
But, let’s say that he does, in fact, show some signs of understanding of Ten Hag’s philosophy and requirements. This is what Anka alludes to, saying that Martial now apparently knows what to do:
“Martial finally understands how to carry out the responsibilities of a United striker.”
Forgetting for a moment his lack of goals in recent years, maybe his overall performance and participation is a positive for the team?
The statistics would suggest otherwise.
There is no metric that Martial ‘understands’ how to be a center forward for United and Ten Hag.
Playing for United, the striker is part of a forward four trusted to create chances for themselves and each other in front of goal.
Martial, however, has averaged 1.77 shot creation actions per 90 minutes this season. Placing him in the 35th percentile among his attacking partners in England, he hardly shouts that he is now passing the ‘responsibility’ test with flying colors.
As for what Ten Hag demands, so far Martial is not living up to the Dutchman’s ideals. He has made zero tackles this season and is averaging 0.98 ball recoveries per 90, putting him in the bottom percentile. He’s not exactly proactive.
Anka continues:
“Now he finds himself in the unfortunate position where he understands Ten Hag’s (mentality) demands above his shoulders and wants to repay his manager’s faith in him, but lacks the (physical) reliability below his shoulders. for this to happen”.
The Athletic writer, for some reason, insists again that Martial’s application has now reached the required level.
Well Julian Lopetegui, José Mourinho, Didier Deschamps, Louis van Gaal and Claudio Ranieri, all of whom have suggested that Martial’s application in game and on the training ground is insufficient, must be wrong then.
You can point to Martial’s lack of minutes this season to suggest he is, but you just can’t prove it; six goals in 14 appearances is a reasonable return, especially for someone who has been playing out of shape.
But as Ten Hag has admitted: “Routines can’t become routines when you’re not always available.” The Dutchman needs fit players to perform automatisms in training.
Anka’s willingness to issue multiple statements insisting that Martial has the mental capacity and more than perfect understanding of Ten Hag’s system to play for United without any supporting evidence or opinion is therefore random and delusional. .
That’s not to say that Martial hasn’t grown mentally since these aforementioned managers made their claims about him, but there’s just no reason to think he’s now developed into a ‘mental monster’ capable of playing up front regularly for United.
United have made a new striker their number one priority this summer, with Dusan Vlahovic, Benjamin Sesko, Victor Osimhen and Harry Kane the main targets.
If Martial stays at the club to ‘pay back the faith’, he would certainly be the second option. A €250,000 a week second striker who is unavailable due to constant injuries and quite ineffective when he plays is not ideal, as much as Anka claims he is.
