Underperforming or Unfairly Hated? Anthony Martial’s 2019-2020 Season So Far
Some sections of the United fans have come guns blazing for Anthony Martial. Some are saying he doesn't put in the work and is lazy.
Let's dive into his stats and see if that is the case.
Martial has played as a forward this season. He has amassed 9 goals and 3 assists in 19 Premier League appearances. A modest total playing in a very dysfunctional team which lacks a solid midfield.
He was injured for about one and a half month this season, he suffered a hamstring injury from the start of September to Mid October, therefore, he has fewer goals, compared to his partner Marcus Rashford who was having a great season until a back injury ruled him out.
Rashford has 14 goals and has provided 4 assists this season, a much better total than Martial, however, these 14 goals include 5 penalties(not discrediting it as a goal but the stats would look completely different had Martial Taken Pens).
This coupled with the fact that Martial was injured for 2 months makes interesting viewing. Rashford no doubt is having a great season but Martial isn't far behind him however the fanbase recently makes it seem like he's been hot trash.
Now let's talk about some attacking statistics, Aguero, for example, is a forward at Man City, he has great support there and he has 16 goals this season in similar minutes to Martial however Martial has created 12 chances to his 7 and has provided 9 key passes to his 4.
In addition to that Martial has provided 31 passes into the final 3rd compared to 15 for Aguero. This shows that Martial may be our forward but he's been playing quite deep.
Now let's talk about Martials defensive stats compared to one of the best defensive strikers in the world i.e Roberto Firmino.
Firmino has played 500 minutes more than Martial and has a total of 45 tackles compared to Martials 32. He also beats Martial in aerial duels 23 to 15, however, there isn't a big gap between both of their numbers.
Martial has made 3 fewer tackles and won 1 less aerial duel than Rashford in 300 fewer minutes. Rashford is someone who is widely known as a very hardworking player and Martial is known as a “lazy bum”. No doubt Martial hasn't performed as per our expectations however some of the criticism he's getting is highly undeserved
He's playing in a new role under a manager who can't get things to work and a non-existent midfield(except Fred). He's silently having a pretty decent season. His numbers in other competitions 2 goals and 2 assists in 6 EFL + FA cup games 2 goals in 3 Europa League games.
Just over a month ago he was part of the highest-scoring front 3 in Europe along with Rashford and Greenwood, a few bad games shouldn't mean we should turn on him.
What are your thoughts on this? Do you agree with our analysis? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
