Manchester United forward Anthony Martial ‘barely broke into a sprint’ during the Premier League game vs Manchester City this afternoon, according to journalist Samuel Luckhurst.
The Red Devils hosted the Sky Blues at Old Trafford for the derby where Erik Ten Hag’s side secured a 2-1 victory thanks to goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford, with Jack Grealish the scorer for the visitors.
The Frenchman was named in the starting XI having returned from a leg problem, but was substituted at the break after looking off the pace, especially when he drifted majorly offside to make the run onto a ball over the top in the first half.
Taking to Twitter, Luckhurst reacted to Martial’s poor passage of play and suggested that he lacked any kind of energy to chase the ball down and beat his man. He wrote:
“Not great from Martial. Barely broke into a sprint there and then [went] well offside. City have quickly established their authority and Haaland is dropping very deep, which is causing a bit of confusion at the back for #mufc.”
TIF thoughts on Martial…
United more than gave an impressive performance and were deserving of all three points, but Martial looks like a player who would benefit from being moved on.
The 27-year-old might have returned from injury too soon because he didn’t look fully fit at all, and didn’t have the impact he would’ve wanted.
Martial’s contract is set to expire next summer, and today’s display definitely didn’t do him any favours should he want the club to extend his stay.