Manchester United Captain Defends Anthony Martial

DBasia.news – Anthony Martial is said to be the cause of Manchester United’s defeat to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) with a score of 1-3 on the fifth matchday of the 2020-2021 Champions League group phase. The French forward is considered to have wasted too many opportunities.

Martial appeared as a starter in the match which took place at Old Trafford, Thursday (3/12) am. He was played as a left winger in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has put a sizeable hope on Martial. He is the most fit player on the front lines as he was rested in the 2020-2021 Premier League, last weekend.

Yet Martial failed to fully answer that responsibility. He wasted two golden opportunities that should have resulted into goals.

Martial’s first golden opportunity was created at the beginning of the second half to be precise in the 49th minute when the score was still at 1-1. Receiving a low pass from Rashford in the penalty box, the former AS Monaco player’s shot soared even though he was not guarded.

Less than ten minutes later, Martial failed to complete another chance in front of PSG’s goal. Receiving a pass from Bruno Fernandes, Martial seemed too eager to finish it which made his shot be blocked by Marquinhos.

Not long after, PSG was actually able to score a goal through Marquinhos. The situation got worse for Manchester United after Fred received a second yellow card.

The course of the match immediately changed since then. With ten players, Manchester United had a hard time attacking PSG’s defense.

Martial was then pulled off in the 79th minute and replaced by Mason Greenwood. But the changes didn’t really matter.

The story might have been different had Martial been able to complete his two golden opportunities. No wonder his performance has drawn criticism.

However Martial still received advocacy from a number of parties. One of the people who defended him was Manchester United captain, Harry Maguire.

“Martial scored a lot of goals in the last season, so I’m sure he is now beaten and disappointed.

However, he will come back and believe he will make up for it at the weekend,” said Maguire after the match.

Not much different was conveyed by Manchester United legend, Paul Scholes. He considered the mental factor to be the cause of Martial failing to complete the two golden opportunities.

Martial did go through tough times at the start of this season. In addition to a decreasing productivity, he also underwent a three-match ban for elbowing Erik Lamela.

“Martial is a lacking in confidence now, and he hasn’t scored many goals. But he doesn’t need to be told because he already understands that he should score goals,” said Scholes.