Man United’s Anthony Martial Needs More Magical Performances This Season
This week saw talismanic striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic succumb to a knee ligament injury that will keep him out for the remainder of the season.
We also saw Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho come out this week and tell forward Anthony Martial that he has to show signs of improvement if he’s going to succeed at Old Trafford:
“Do I think Anthony is a player with great potential? Yes I think. Do I think he can play successfully for me? Yes I think. But he needs to give me things I like very much.”
But on Sunday afternoon, twenty-one year old Martial put on a man of the match performance that helped his side collect three points at Turf Moore.
The Frenchman didn’t just score one and assist in another but he also made intelligent runs, showed good work ethic and his pace troubled the opposition right from the start.
Anthony’s outing against Sean Dyche’s Burnley showed Jose that he’s capable of being a disciplined, yet productive forward. It also allayed most fears that United would crumble up-top without Zlatan leading the line.
Martial and his pace offer United a different route to the direct style Ibra offered and towards the end of the season as teams look more tired and make more mistakes, electric speed can kill teams!
Many were believing that Man Utd were becoming too reliant on Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Now the whole squad has to step up and show that that isn’t actually the case.
Pressure will ultimately fall onto the shoulders of Martial and fellow young hitman Marcus Rashford as the Old Trafford side search for goals in their pursuit of a top four finish in the Premier League and a shot at Europa League glory!
Rashford’s performances in recent months have shown a maturity beyond his years and he works hard for the team and is willing to play wide, these are attributes that Mourinho loves in his frontmen.
Now Anthony Martial needs to learn from Rashford and do the same. As I’ve already stated he made a good impression against Burnley this weekend but he needs to do the same and probably more against Manchester City on Thursday night.
Then he will need to do it again against Celta Vigo in the Europa League semi-final tie.
Earlier in the campaign Anthony Martial was moaning that he didn’t play enough and when he did play he was forced out on wing.
Now the French internationalist has the chance to shine up-front for the Red Devils. He has to seize this opportunity and grab the goals that could send Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United into next seasons Champions League!
Posted on April 23rd, 2017 by scott
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