Anthony Martial Has Brought Coutinho-Esque Verve to Manchester United

Louis van Gaal’s reign over Manchester United has been typified by ground-out victories and game management. Barring a four-week purple patch at the tail end of last season—in which the club beat Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester City in convincing fashion—watching them has hardly been the most sensational experience.

It has been a trade-off United fans were willing to make in order to return to the summit of the English game, and in his first season, Van Gaal dragged the club back into the UEFA Champions League via a top-four finish. The football wasn’t pretty, but it was damn effective in eking out results.

This grinding mantra continued into 2015-16 too and, with United kicking the new Premier League season off against Tottenham Hotspur at home on August 8, proceeded to bore the socks off of everyone watching as a Kyle Walker own goal settled matters.

Slow and uninspiring in midfield and downright ponderous up front, United looked no different to the team that tackled the lion’s share of 2014-15. Matteo Darmian, Luke Shaw and Morgan Schneiderlin emerged as real plus points in the opening few games, but fans were mostly just breathing sighs of relief after another game in which a hulking target man inexplicably failed to take advantage of the fact United were playing Daley Blind at centre-back.

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Fans were battening down the hatches in anticipation of another fairly boring season. Yes, European football has returned and the cash flow would no longer suffer (would it anyway, given the partnership deals being landed all over the world?) but glaring holes in the squad meant, on paper, the Red Devils were extremely unlikely to catch Chelsea and Manchester City in the strength stakes.

With Robin van Persie departing in the summer and Javier Hernandez highly touted to leave permanently, fans were slowly coming to grips with the idea of Rooney leading the line for the first time in four years. Writing for uMAXit Football in July, Scott Patterson analysed the situation:

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Rooney was 26 the last time he scored at least 20 goals in a season, partly due to the positions he has played in since or due to injuries, and so there are rightly questions about whether Rooney, who turns 30 in October, still has it in him to bang them in for United consistently.

Looking at United’s rivals, City have Sergio Aguero up front, who scored 32 goals in 40 games last season, while Chelsea have Diego Costa, whose season was spoiled by a lengthy injury toward the end but still managed 20 league goals in 26 appearances. Can United rely on Rooney to be prolific as that?

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Early evidence suggested a no. So damaging was Rooney’s opening performance against Spurs to fan confidence that concerns immediately rose to the fore. Hindsight is a wonderful tool, but looking back on pre-season and the feel-good stories of Shaw’s return to form, Andreas Pereira’s dynamite cameos and Schneiderlin’s commanding performances only served to distract from the fact Rooney looked downright cumbersome up front.

He made good runs in the International Champions Cup, but his touch, control and finishing were well wide of the mark even at that point.

But then transfer deadline day happened, and a 19-year-old French striker named Anthony Martial joined for an astronomical fee. “Panic buy,” they said, but Ligue 1 experts quickly revealed the boy was a box of potential just waiting to be tapped by a clever manager. The player himself set about proving that true quickly.

It is extremely important not to get too wrapped up by the quick start Martial has made—though his four goals inside the first month, one of which was against Liverpool, have only fuelled the hype train—but instead the intangible footballing strengths he brings and the effect he clearly has on this United team, which are a far cry from what we’ve become used to seeing under Van Gaal. And that’s a very good thing.

Edging 6’ tall and possessing a strong frame, some dedicated gym work and careful physique work could turn the Frenchman into a monster. He boasts a similarly developed frame to that of compatriot Paul Pogba minus three years.

Despite playing just 115 Premier League minutes thus far, the shape of Martial gliding toward goal has already shaken two defensive lines to the very core. We’re not talking about Younes Kaboul’s Sunderland or Fabricio Coloccini’s Newcastle United, either: We’re talking about Liverpool—over £40 million worth of talent—and Southampton—second-best defensive record in the league last season.

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Martial has been heavily compared to Thierry Henry in his home country and there’s merit in that claim. The way he starts wider to pick the ball up then slinks inside, gliding across the turf and between failed challenges, is at times reminiscent of the Arsenal legend. He also has the potential to be an overbearing physical presence as well as a dribbling machine.

Best of all, he’s a stone-cold killer in the box. It’s one thing boasting a good goalscoring record at youth level, but to display the calmness in front of goal Martial already has in the Premier League is something else. Contrast his ruthless finishes against Liverpool and Southampton to Rooney’s dithering on the opening day against Spurs, and it’s clear to see why United fans have fallen in love with their new acquisition so quickly.

But individual eulogies aside—we’ve seen enough of those stuffed onto the Internet over the last three weeks—it’s the impact and influence he’s had on the team as a whole that intrigues the most. Pre-Martial United managed three Premier League goals in four games; with Martial, they’ve mustered six in two.

As the scorer of three of those six, it’s fair to say he’s pulling his weight and doing some damage, but his team-mates are responding to his methods.

Van Persie (in 2014-15) and Rooney (this season) both played flat football from the central striking position, and the knock-on effect throughout the rest of the team was sizable. The catalyst for that famed four-week span of total football appeared to be Ander Herrera, whose energy and verve has for some reason been locked out of the XI once again. Now Martial is providing that, and United are clicking through the gears in positive fashion.

It’s somewhat reminiscent, in a strange way, of what Liverpool went through under Brendan Rodgers in the Ulsterman’s opening two seasons: First, he created a possession machine—at times ponderous but very efficient in what it did—and then later he added the risk, securing the services of Philippe Coutinho from Internazionale and freed him to break between the lines and carry the ball. He was the yin to the team’s yang; he was Rodgers’ X-factor.

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Martial’s style and way of playing is entirely atypical of what we’ve come to expect from United under Van Gaal. In 2014-15, they were nothing short of mechanical, and that approach continued into this season. The 1-0 win over Aston Villa in August was an absolute case in point: Adnan Januzaj netted to give the Red Devils the lead, and they then proceeded to squeeze the life out of the game to safeguard the advantage rather than go for another against a significantly weaker outfit.

Martial is now making a difference, fulfilling the same purpose as Coutinho once did for a dormant Liverpool side. This is not to herald him as the saviour of Old Trafford after just 115 Premier League minutes, but stylistically, he provides flavour and coaxes it out of others.

The knock-on effect is actually quite galling: With Martial establishing himself as United’s in-form No. 9 and ousting Rooney from the position, what does the latter’s future look like? He’s the captain of the football club, but he doesn’t appear to fit in United’s best XI—be it set up in a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1.

Fans will be eager to see Memphis Depay continue to grow on the left. And if the team continue to play with a No. 10, Juan Mata and Ander Herrera have to be considered ahead of Rooney for the role as the Englishman is too slow in possession and too slow to turn to effectively play the role.

The 3-2 win over Southampton on Sunday painted two starkly contrasting pictures: One of Martial inspiring this United side, and the other of Rooney’s grasp over it slipping.

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