Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke has come to Anthony Martial’s defence, claiming the 25-year-old has been ‘unfairly treated’ at the club after playing in different positions.
Romelu Lukaku’s exit in 2019 offered the Frenchman the chance to feature regularly in his preferred position, centre-forward – a chance Martial took with both hands.
He scored 23 goals in his first season as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s number nine but has failed to hit the heights of the campaign since, after being credited with just four Premier League goals last season.
Solskjaer’s faith in Martial has, undoubtedly, wained over the last six months but there is a cause for optimism after the striker scored his first goal of the season against Everton last weekend.
Yorke, who spent four years at Manchester United from 1998 to 1992, has now come to Martial’s defence but has almost admitted he must ‘buckle down’ to make a future out of his spell at the Old Trafford club.
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“When you play for this club and you’re not doing the business and your form dips for whatever reason you’re going to be under scrutiny. He’s got to buckle down really if he has a future at this football club,” he told Goal.
“He’s undoubtedly got immense talent and all the attributes we like to see in an attacking player and there’s no question he can be that vital player for us but at the moment he’s not in the squad and he’s got to find a way to get back into the team.
“He’s been a bit of a mixed bag to be fair. He had that one season when he was outstanding and he looked a serious threat but I think he’s been unfairly treated in some way because I think that No.9 role is a specialist role and you have to play that position week in, week out, to get familiarised with it.”
Making that statement is ridiculous, he’s the most inconsistent player I’ve seen on a pitch. His body language and attitude reflects in his performance. They should have sold him 2 seasons prior.
Quick to forget that he scored 23 goals and won our POTY 2 seasons ago you fucking donut. If we sold him 2 seasons prior then we wouldn’t have been in the champions league last season meaning players like Pogba would have left and we would never have been able to sign players like Varane or Sancho.