For a moment it looked like Ole Gunnar Solskjaer had pulled off a transfer coup to match the theft of Dimitar Berbatov from Manchester City on the last day of the window, unleashing Sadio Mane on Southampton’s demoralised back line.
Granted, Manchester United were 4-0 up when Anthony Martial appeared at half-time, yet there was something about his movement and desire to get to the ball first that was most un-Martial like.
The reduced numbers in Southampton’s ranks were irrelevant when Bruno Fernandes pierced the box with his dinked pass, since Martial was one red shirt among five blue. Martial muscled past the rugged Jan Bednarek before bringing the ball to attention and smashing it into the roof of the net.
The goal, United’s fifth, was notable for the aggression as much as the artistry required to fashion the spectacular outcome.
Martial was then tripped by Bednarek for the penalty that led to the seventh goal and dispatched the eighth with another sharp execution, taking up appropriate space between two defenders, before chesting and volleying the ball in the back of the net.
Glimpses of Martial’s brilliance are not enough
Who was this dangerous predator in red, unrecognisable from the timid toiler of old? There was also a sumptuous chip that spun the wrong side of an upright with the goalkeeper a spectator.
Solskjaer has devoted a heap of time trying to coax just this kind of instinctive display from Martial, a highly-skilled individual capable of extravagant things on occasion whilst seemingly imprisoned by doubt and inhibition.
Since his arrival six years ago aged 19, Martial has scored 78 goals in 249 appearances. That’s 0.31 goals a game. The ratio compares favourably with Marcus Rashford, 83 goals in 248 games. The latter has his own issues with output and consistency but they are not associated with temperament in quite the same was as they are with Martial.
And United did not shell out £36 million rising to £58m to bring Rashford to Old Trafford. When Louis van Gaal rolled out Rashford against Midtjylland in 2016, he was an 18-year-old gamble rushed into the front line as replacement for the injured superstar from Monaco.
Martial was billed as the new Thierry Henry and was expected to deliver. Rashford had no such burden to shoulder.
That Martial started on the bench against Southampton was not a strategic deployment by Solskjaer aimed at spreading the load but a measure of his frustration at Martial’s inability to take games by the neck in a way his talent demands.
The degree of personal attention Solskjaer has paid Martial at Carrington to develop an instinct for goal has not met with anything like the response hoped.
Should his contribution against Southampton constitute a sea change in attitude and approach, Martial might yet save his United career, but there will have to be more days like this for him to survive Solskjaer’s evolving cull. By increments Solskjaer is discovering which players have the resilience and mettle to thrive at Old Trafford. Martial cannot be a work in progress for ever.
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