Manchester United’s defeat to Manchester City was a desperately poor result which will have left Erik ten Hag shellshocked.
It’s a case of ‘back to the drawing board’ for the manager who saw his side fold at The Etihad.
There quite obviously were few positives for United to cling onto. But thankfully Anthony Martial was able to provide one.
The Frenchman came off the bench in the second half to score two goals and add a modicum of respectability to the scoreline.
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Martial a crucial player for the month ahead
Erik ten Hag showed in pre-season that Anthony Martial was his first choice centre-forward. Injuries have delayed his start to the season.
He was a second half substitute against City on Sunday and he seized his opportunity to impress despite United’s woeful display.
Martial scored twice, the first from a header and the second was a late penalty kick, following up a consolation strike from Antony.
Ten Hag preferred to call on Martial than Cristiano Ronaldo, which said a lot about the pecking order among his forwards, with Marcus Rashford starting the game.
Martial’s display was enough to put him in position to start one of United’s next two games, away at Omonia and then Everton.
The Frenchman will be a vital player for the upcoming month in which United have eight more matches to play.
Martial has now already matched his paltry goal tally from 2021/22 for United and Sevilla, in which he scored one goal for each team.
He has been accused in his career of not putting in the effort to match his talent, but against City, he was one player who did not give in.
Martial is integral to Ten Hag’s plans, and seeing him get amongst the goals was real reason to be positive despite United’s embarrassing defeat.
Ten Hag told the club website after the game: “He [Anthony Martial] had a really good pre-season and I’m happy for him that he scored the goals.”
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