Jose Mourinho warned Anthony Martial that the Frenchman should improve his form to salvage his Manchester United career. According to The Guardian, Mourinho said,
“I don’t think he lost his focus,” “I just think he didn’t catch with both hands a big opportunity he had. When we spoke about Memphis Depay we spoke about it being the only position where we have an over-booking of players.
“We have still five players for this position. I cannot give one player chances to play and kill the others. To kill the others, I think I already did that with Memphis by considering him the last option and by not giving him any option. But with the other guys I think you would be asking me why Mata is not playing or why Marcus Rashford doesn’t have a chance, or why Jesse Lingard, a national team player, is not playing.
“We have Rashford, Lingard, Mata, Mkhitaryan and Martial, and I cannot give the same player chance after chance after chance and not consider the effort of the others.
“Anthony played against Liverpool, a big match for us and a big match for him, too. Then the next game I went to Mata and Mkhitaryan. This is the situation.”
It is a bit surprising that Martial was not even in the squad against Stoke because his performance against Liverpool was on par with the rest of the team. He was constantly being marked by two Liverpool players and received no support from off-colour Pogba or the left back Darmian. Mourinho certainly has his favourites in his squad, but his handling of Martial will concern United fans as the Portuguese has a history of falling out with players. Martial easily United’s best outfield player last season has struggled to replicate the same form this season but still is very young and deserves to be give time and chances. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was in the same boat during the early part of the season but he has worked his way into the squad and looks the part at Old Trafford.
Manchester United face Hull City in the second leg of the EFL Cup tonight, the winner of this tie will face Southampton at Wembley in the final. Southampton beat Liverpool 2-0 in aggregate after a late Shane Long goal gave them an 1-0 win in the second leg.
Recent Comments