Forward Anthony Martial got his Manchester United career off to an amazing start, making an instant impact soon after he arrived on summer transfer window deadline day 2015. He enjoyed a solid first season at Old Trafford, making a mark in an attack that wasn’t all too impressive under Louis van Gaal.
In year two at Old Trafford though, the former Monaco man struggled. His playing time and then naturally his production both substantially dropped. There was seemingly persistent chatter about the Frenchman potentially moving on, but first year manager Jose Mourinho insisted his attacker was not for sale.
This despite the fact that Mourinho called out Martial’s dedication and consistency on at least a couple occasions. Club legend Gary Neville just called him out a few weeks ago.
Year one under Mourinho was an adjustment for Martial, but he kept the faith and his manager kept believing in him. This year has seen Anthony Martial scoring goals again, and often doing so in crunch time. We’ve seen the Martial plan enacted late in matches, with the youngster sometimes coming off the bench to score late game winning goals.
So if year one was great and year three is going well so far, what exactly happened in year two? Martial admits he lost focus somewhat, as he opened up a little bit about the issues that he had away from the game, and how those problems affected his mindset, and thus, his performance. He’s discussed the difference between this season and last season.
“I had some problems off the pitch [last season] that played in my head,” Martial said in a very revealing interview with teleFoot (transcript Manchester Evening News)
“I wasn’t really focused. But now when I go out onto the pitch, I want to tear it up,” the 21-year-old continued.
“Some people forget my age. Given my talent, they expected me to explode earlier. But everyone has their own pace. With my club I want to win as many trophies as possible, and with the national team I hope to establish myself in the first team and win the World Cup.”
Thus far this campaign, Anthony Martial has seven goals and five assists.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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