Journalist Dean Jones has labeled Manchester United striker Anthony Martial “unreliable” due to his inability to play regularly.
What is the latest with Manchester United and Anthony Martial?
The Red Devils may have a difficult final stretch of the season due to a string of unfortunate injury setbacks.
Lisandro Martinez has been ruled out for the remainder of the season after breaking a metatarsal bone in his foot, and Raphael Varane is also expected to miss a few weeks.
In addition, Marcus Rashford is out with a muscle injury. This has, however, provided an opportunity for Martial to shine. And the Frenchman made the most of his opportunity, putting on a show against Sevilla last week.
Nonetheless, Jones explained on the latest episode of the Chasing Green Arrows podcast that he simply isn’t able to play enough for the club to ever truly be a reliable option.
“He’s so untrustworthy, isn’t he?” he said. He’s so untrustworthy.
“Not in terms of playing well when he is on the field – the issue is getting him on the field.”
Will Anthony Martial start and finish for Manchester United against Nottingham Forest?
Midweek, Martial delivered for Manchester United. For example, journalist Samuel Luckhurst gave him an 8/10 in the Manchester Evening News player ratings and wrote, “His assist for Sabitzer’s second goal was one of his best pieces of play in a United shirt.” His first start in nearly three months, and he didn’t let us down.”
Within that praise, however, you can see why Jones is skeptical of the player. Indeed, this was Martial’s first start in three months, after a string of injuries limited him to just six Premier League appearances this season.
Despite his limited playing time, the £250k-per-week star has managed to score seven goals and provide three assists in all competitions, demonstrating his talent.
Nonetheless, he has just nine goals in 32 Premier League appearances over the last three seasons, so he hasn’t done enough to earn a spot in the starting lineup.
Even with Rashford out, it appears that manager Erik ten Hag does not believe he can rely on Martial to play the full 90 minutes in games.
He told the press ahead of this weekend’s match against Nottingham Forest (via Manchester Evening News): “Maybe he can, but it’s a risk and we can’t take that risk at the moment,” the manager said of Martial starting and finishing a game.
“Because we don’t have many options in the frontline with Rashford out and [Alejandro] Garnacho out, we don’t have many options.”
“We have to be cautious, and we also know that when there is a lot of load, the individual prospect gets injured.” So we have to build it, especially when the games are close together and the recovery time is short; we have to keep that in mind and manage it [well] and carefully.”
As a result, it’s easy to understand why Martial continues to irritate at Old Trafford.
