A ‘really good’ Anthony Martial cameo was a rare positive for Manchester United during their 4-3 Champions League defeat at Bayern Munich, according to Simon Jordan.
Now, it usually takes something rather special to put a smile on Simon Jordan’s face – as Erik ten Hag’s tailor found out 12 months ago – but Anthony Martial’s impact off the bench at the Allianz Arena did just that.
The much-maligned Frenchman – his body held together by elastic bands and bluetack these days – produced a performance to suggest that rumours of his demise may have been a little exaggerated, Martial one of the few bright sparks during Manchester United’s third defeat in a row in all competitions.
The club’s worst run of form since 2009.
Anthony Martial impresses in Manchester United loss
“I’ll tell you who I thought as really good when he came on; Anthony Martial,” Jordan, the former Crystal Palace chairman, tells talkSPORT (21 September, 10am). “
“He was sharp as a tack. He looked lively.”
Much to Ten Hag’s frustration, you could not say the same about many of Martial’s team-mates; Rasmus Hojlund and Sergio Reguilon aside. The sight of Casemiro – so belligerently brilliant in his debut season – waltzing back as Serge Gnabry thumped Bayern into a 2-0 lead will have had United fans counting down the days until Sofyan Amrabat’s return from injury, while 31-year-old Christian Eriksen looked about as athletic as a man awaiting his free bus pass.
“There doesn’t seem to be the desire,” Jordan muses, sharing Rio Ferdinand’s view that Bayern cut through United far too easily. “The one thing you can do is put your body in the way, make it ugly and make it difficult, and they don’t’ seem able to do that.”
‘The culture of this football club’
Jordan, while still backing United to get out of a group also containing Galatasaray and Copenhagen, believes that Jadon Sancho is becoming an unwitting posterboy of the culture problems at Old Trafford, exiled from the first-team after a very public disagreement with Ten Hag.
“It is still the culture of this football club. The culture is embodied by Sancho feeling he has the right to challenge the manager,” Jordan adds. “All of that culture is indicative of why United continue to struggle
“I don’t expect that United won’t get out of this group or do a decent performance in the league. Now, they are a competitive side but they are not a formidable side. And I don’t know whether Ten Hag (is the man to fix it).
“This side is not getting any closer to regaining the pomp and the ceremony of what United once had.”
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