Anthony Martial has been hailed for changing his game against Watford at the weekend by Manchester United podcast United We Stand (February 23, 6:41).
What’s he said?
Martial scored an excellent goal as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side ran out 3-0 winners at Old Trafford.
The result catapulted United into fifth in the Premier League and they are now three points behind Chelsea.
£36m man Martial has now scored two goals in two games, having also found the net against Chelsea the week prior, and Anthony Shawcross believes that the France international is reaping the rewards of altering his playing style.
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He said: “Another player as well, I guess who has been criticised is Martial. You know, you can tell that he's trying to work on his game to suit the team rather than the other way around, and you know this today he was putting his back into the defenders and making runs in behind them.
“He was really stretching them at times and I think that that was great to see because you know it’s not really his game at times to hold the ball up.”
An important cog
Martial needs to keep this form up.
He has scored 10 league goals in 2019/20, but he has struggled to string runs of goals together.
Indeed, before his recent burst of goalscoring activity, he went three without hitting the net. United didn’t win any of those games, drawing with Wolves and losing to Liverpool and Burnley.
Amazingly, United have won just one game in which he has played and failed to score, a 3-0 triumph over Brighton & Hove Albion in which he actually provided two assists.
In the nine games that he has scored, United are unbeaten, winning eight and drawing one.
He is a vital piece of the Red Devils' puzzle; if he can keep this form up, their results will surely improve too.