Erik ten Hag’s Manchester United rebuild will continue in the summer and he can’t afford to carry any passengers.
Erik ten Hag has forged a fierce reputation by making ruthless decisions at Manchester United, and this summer he has another one to make.
United have made signing a new striker their priority for the end of the season, and while there is excitement over who might arrive at Old Trafford, it could spell the end for one already at the club.
Ten Hag believes his side plays its best football when Anthony Martial is on the pitch, but the problem is that he simply hasn’t been on it enough this season.
The 27-year-old was absent again over the weekend, as he missed the home win over Crystal Palace due to a fresh injury setback after scoring in the midweek win over Forest.
Speaking to MUTV before the game, Ten Hag said: “He had a setback from the game when he returned. He thought he could build up, but he dropped a little bit back. We have to wait, we have to be patient not to force it.”
Ten Hag’s request for patience after another injury setback is understandable, but it’s not something supporters can afford as the forward enters his eighth year with the club.
Martial has played just 772 minutes out of a possible 3,060 so far this campaign due to injury, has missed twenty matches in total, and last played 90 minutes in the Premier League over two years ago.
There can be no ignoring the immense talent Martial possesses, and Ten Hag is right that his side has played their best football with him in the side, but the former Monaco man is almost a contradiction of everything they are trying to do.
United’s goal is to assert their dominance over matches and win games with complete control, rather than relying on individual brilliance or errors to secure victory.
That entire ethos relies upon consistency, and that is something they cannot achieve while they are reliant on an injury-prone striker such as Martial.
“I am not irreproachable,” said Martial in a France Football interview last September. “When people say that I lack consistency, it’s true. When I have my place, it often goes well, but when I’ve been used less, it is true that my performance has not been the same.
“It’s a vicious circle: I’m less efficient because I play less, and therefore I play even less. When it’s like that, I can sometimes drop out a bit. A player like Cavani, he’s at 3,000 per cent even when given few minutes.”
The French forward certainly deserves sympathy given his rotten injury luck, but there is no place for sentiment when the aim is returning to the top of English football.
What is interesting, though, is that while Martial might not be the centre-forward who will eventually fire United back to where they want to be, he offers them the blueprint for getting there.
Ten Hag views it as crucial to have an intelligent striker who makes runs into space, not only to receive the ball himself but also to free up room for other players to exploit.
With the creativity of Bruno Fernandes behind, as well as Casemiro and Christian Eriksen from deep, it is essential that United have forwards who are always switched on to passes and fit enough to repeat short sprints throughout a match.
Martial has done just that in the glimpses we’ve seen of him so far this season, and now the focus must be on signing a more reliable option in a similar mould to the fluctuating Frenchman.
United might play their best football with Martial, but it could get even better without him.
