Thierry Henry, the one-time ace forward who presently is a Sky Sports pundit has hit out at Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal for wasting the talent and abilities of the 20-year-old striker Anthony Martial.
Henry has criticized Van Gaal’s use of Martial on the flanks as opposed to his natural role as the main striker.
In Van Gaal’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation Martial was initially employed wide on the right with Wayne Rooney playing as the centre-forward. Playing on the right, Martial failed to make use of the ball to make scoring opportunities for his team and himself. This is evidenced by his failure to be among the goals ever since he burst onto the scene at the club.
It was only after his position was changed and he was brought up-front that he scored his seventh goal of the season to salvage a consolation goal for United against Norwich last weekend. They now find themselves fifth in the league table behind Tottenham Hotspur on goal difference.
Martial was bought from Monaco on a staggering £36 million deal to solve United’s goal scoring problems. Henry has questioned Van Gaal’s decision to start him as a winger and not as a striker and in the process, according to Henry, wasting him. Henry seemed utterly bewildered.
“What is he doing there? I actually do not know what he is doing there,” he exclaimed.
“He should be in the penalty area, having a one versus one, scoring and celebrating. Is it fear? Is it because they have been brainwashed a bit too much? I just don’t get it.”
“They wanted a guy who scored goals. They wanted a guy to run in behind fast. He came in and did that. Suddenly now he finds himself out there, almost not touching the ball.”
“I think if I had a player like that, he would be my No. 9 and the rest are around him.”
Martial has struggled for goals after a bright start
Anthony Martial had burst onto the scene with his excellent goal against Liverpool where he showed a good presence of mind and great technical ability to score. Ashley Young fed the ball to Martial who dribbled past three Liverpool defenders, nutmegged Skrtel and then curled the ball past Mignolet and in at the far post.
Incidentally, Henry had scored quite a similar first goal for Arsenal. Martial has also been compared to Henry in recent times because of his playing style and movement on the pitch.
The young Frenchman had started life in Old Trafford with a bang but has seen his form wane somewhat as the season has progressed. Martial has scored four goals so far in 11 Premier League appearances so far.
Manager Van Gaal has time and again said how one should not judge a 20-year-old so soon and how it is a little unjust to expect consistency from a player at such a young age. Nonetheless, his bad form might as well be because of his changed position of play as claimed by the legendary Arsenal forward.
