Anthony Martial has not been in the best of form this season for Manchester United and Gary Neville believes the Frenchman has not delivered on the pitch for the Premier League side. The former England and United defender, speaking to Sky Sports prior to the clash against Arsenal, was also surprised as to why Martial has not been criticised more when compared to the other stars at Old Trafford.
“There's someone going under the radar. They (United) signed a player 18 months ago for £55m and to be honest in the last six, seven, eight months he's not delivered and that's Martial.
“He (Martial) now needs to start performing on the pitch because at £55m, you think about the scrutiny the big players come under at this club - Wayne Rooney, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Di Maria in the last 12 to 18 months, they've all been criticised heavily when they've not played well.”
Martial has struggled to perform this season
The former Monaco striker was purchased by Louis van Gaal last season and he ended the campaign as the leading scorer for the side with 17 goals in all competitions. This season, however, Martial hasn’t been able to find the back of the net regularly under Jose Mourinho and only has two goals from 12 games.
Neville also had a pop at the Frenchman by saying his work rate was not good enough and that he has to do much better. The former Manchester United star also believed that Martial has benefited from the current scenario at the club with a lot of eyes on Wayne Rooney and his escapades during the international break and his lack of form.
“He'll be grateful the spotlight is on Rooney. He's got to produce a lot more - he doesn't look happy at times, he needs more energy and dynamism in his game.”
Martial did play in the 1-1 draw against Arsenal on Saturday in place of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and didn’t really perform all that well for Mourinho. The Frenchman did have a decent chance to give United the lead but he shot wide and there certainly will be more eyes watching his every move now than before.
United have struggled to break teams down this season and currently lie sixth in the Premier League. They are eight points behind leaders Liverpool and have only scored 17 times in 12 games this season, which is the lowest in the top six.
A lack of goals from the likes of Martial and company has made things tough for United and once they start clicking, the team should start climbing up the table.
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