There’s been a lot of discussion over Anthony Martial this season. We’ve lavished praise upon him down the years but patience wears thin.
Surely now, or very soon, a conclusion has to be reached. It’s a difficult time to buy and sell players but the Frenchman has not become the centre-forward we desperately hoped he would.
Perhaps a bit unfair because Martial doesn’t look like a centre-forward to me. He doesn’t work enough inside the box and there’s a huge difference in that role when Edinson Cavani is on the team sheet.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was asked about Martial’s form, confidence and what he demands from the forward ahead of United’s trip away to Chelsea at the weekend.
Solskjaer said: “Anthony knows what we want. Anthony’s working very hard to do well for the team and that’s pleasing me.
“I see him in training every day. He’s not going to sit there and wait for things to happen, he knows he’ll have to make it happen himself. We encourage him, we coach him [and] we know he’s got this quality and class.
“Everyone goes through a difficult little patch.”
Footage courtesy of UEFA
OGS on Martial 💬 “Everyone goes through a difficult little patch.”
©UEFA2021 pic.twitter.com/X3IX1Efvkt
— StrettyNews.com (@StrettyNews) February 26, 2021
Maybe the problem with Martial being a centre-forward is that he waits for things to happen, so maybe a change of character is in the works and Solskjaer notices it on the training pitch.
There’s no denying Martial has the world at his feet. I wish there was more fire in his belly.
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