03 Nov 2020 08:07:45
I've been thinking about the difference between PSG/ Leipzig and Chelsea/ Arsenal and wondered whether the absence of Martial contributed. He is a constant threat and works hard off the ball, which means he's created space for the likes of Bruno/ Pogba/ Rashford/ Greenwood to exploit. We've had 6 penalties this season, and I believe Martial earned 4 of them. He is also often involved in little one touch moves with the likes of Shaw and Rashford, which creates movement and unpredictability. He's also one of the few players we have who can dribble into the box and cross across goal. I also appreciate that he is capable of coming deep to collect the ball and move it forward. Just something I thought and wondered about the impact of his absence in those two home games.


1.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 09:58:09
Surely he does, Martial has been excellent for a while now, he brings others in to play, he might miss some simple chances but more often than not later he scores a worldie after he misses one.


2.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 10:15:33
I agree it has contributed, but i think the overwhelming, huge difference is that psg/ leipzig gave us so much space to counter attack where as arsenal/ chelsea did not.

Interesting article in the telegraph linked on the discussion page which goes over our poor record at home when we have majority of the ball posession.

Clearly we have not developed the ability and wherewithal to play with the football in oles 2/ 3 years here and are still way too heavily reliant on counter attacks or opposition mistakes to score goals.


3.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 10:40:00
I also thought back to last year and how our prolonged bad run of form coincided with his injury and reintroduction (he does take time to get back into the flow) .

Although the reaction has been warranted, it must be stated that we were not dominated neither by Chelsea nor Arsenal, and although we did dominated PSG, we didn't dominate Leipzig until they fell apart, it was purely that extra creativity that gave us the edge, a creativity seriously lacking in both the Chelsea and Arsenal games.


4.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 11:11:31
Looks to me like deflection, trying to make out Ole is not the issue, it is in fact Martial absence that is the problem after all. Sorry nonsense. Martial is phlegmatic, can disappear in games. DSG post makes more sense.

Ludwig appreciate your efforts to defend Ole but it is more than the absence of Martial and in honesty, it’s a poor deflection effort.


5.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 13:33:29
Martial has started 12 games for United and France this season. He has scored 1 goal from the penalty rashford game him v rbl
Did he play against Newcastle our biggest league win?


6.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 13:40:43
I think Martial being absent in both domestic games has had an impact. How can missing a vital first choice player not have an impact.

Is it the only thing that effected the result? Of course not. The tactics and quality of the opposition, the expectation, the tactics chosen by our manager, momentum, the fact that domestic rivals have a far better understanding of your players and how you play compared to European teams that might play you once every few years at most.

Its far to simplistic to just blame one player being out injured/ suspended, or to just blame the managers tactics, or to just blame the players form etc. The reality is that it is everything.


7.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 13:45:10
Who's defending Ole here or trying to deflect, I appreciate your efforts in terms of attempting to read into things, but like a lot of the time, you are off the mark again.


8.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 13:59:27
Ken, goals aren't everything, he stretches defences, and runs at them. He provides movement that allows others to create chances, as well as creating chances himself. He may have one goal, but he's got 3 assists, and forced 4 penalties, he also got at least one assist for France.

Shappy, what 'quality of the opposition' are we talking about? It's not exactly like Chelsea or Arsenal played particularly well against us. Either game could have gone either way. So although it was a bad loss, it wasn't like we were played of the park.


9.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 16:41:07
LLV, I was talking in general. There are many many factors that play into how a team performs and the results.

You can play a team off the pitch and hit the post 4 times and lose to the only attack the other team had all game. I've seen a team lose with the opposition not having a single shot on target, they lost due to an own goal.

I think that while Martial being out will have impacted the game, I don't think it's as simple as that being the reason we lost. There are too many other factors at play.

Also limiting an opposing team and nullifying them is also a "quality". The art of defending, disruption, hard work etc. Sometimes you don't play well because the opposition do a great job of disrupting your play and limiting your ability to play well.

{Ed047's Note - Jesus you are truly scraping the barrel now, it’s getting beyond embarrassing.


10.) 03 Nov 2020
03 Nov 2020 18:23:16
Martial will never be a world class striker he just doesn't get in the goalscoring positions a poacher does😁😁.


11.) 04 Nov 2020
04 Nov 2020 00:51:20
shappy we lost because the pe teacher set up with jose tactics not to loose. he got schooled by arteta who has been a manager how long. jose with spurs came with one purpose to embarrase the pe teacher.