Player Season Review: Anthony Martial

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It is time for reviewing the season Anthony Martial has had. This was the season where he had opportunities to shine and he did during certain parts of the season. The Frenchman did not have it easy at all, fighting for his spot in the starting XI with several other players, but he did manage to put some good numbers.

What Do The Numbers Say?

Anthony Martial had only 18 Premier League starts this season, but he managed to score nine goals. He also added another two in other competitions, while recording seven assists in the league and European competitions. For someone who played only 1927 minutes in those two competitions, having a hand in 17 goals is good enough. That is 0.79 goals and assists per 90 minutes, which would usually be enough for a player to get a regular place in the starting XI.

What Martial has to improve next season – if he stays at the club – are the positions from where he is shooting. He made 2.89 shots per 90 overall in the league, which is just okay, nothing more than that. But what the bigger problem is is that he made far too many shots from long distance. He shot 38.78 percent of all of his shots from outside of the box, which is around the average for the top five European leagues. Yet Martial is a winger and he must be getting into better positions when choosing to shoot.

After all, all of his goals came either from the heart of the box or inside of the arc at the edge of it. He averaged 2.00 key passes per 90 in Premier League and Champions League, which is a good outcome.

Was He An Important Player For The Club?

Yes, he was. There is no denying that as Martial was the second best goalscorer of this side in the league. Only Romelu Lukaku scored more and Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford stayed behind the Frenchman with eight and seven goals respectively. Add to that five assists in the league and you get a player with good attacking outcomes even though he had his poor moments this season.

Early into the season he was the player scoring late goals after coming off the bench and that is what earned him more playing time afterwards. It is true, though, that Martial made only 18 starts and added another 12 appearances after coming on and Mourinho’s tinkering did not do him good. As well, the arrival of Alexis Sanchez made things even more difficult.

Projection For The 2018-19 Season

Well that is a really tough thing to predict. For all we know, Anthony Martial might not be at the club next season. My personal feeling is that he will stay in Manchester and will not be joining any other clubs. Martial is still just 22 and there is plenty of time for him to reach his maximum potential. Mourinho has to be careful with him, not to harm his confidence too much and I believe we will watch an even better Martial in 2018-19.

1 Comment on Player Season Review: Anthony Martial

  1. God we poNish moriho if it let mathia live man united bicause it better than sanchex by 100%

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