Smart Signing?! Daniel James £15mil

comment by Steve Beaglehole (U15867)
posted 31 minutes ago

I think the physical conditioning throughout the squad is quite poor for what we want and expect.

No surprise that after a few games of a higher intensity than usual pretty much all the players that played in front 6 positions picked up muscle injuries.

We performed far more sprints under the first handful of games under OGS than we did all season under Mourinho. Led to muscle fatigue quite quickly.

They've all been conditioned to sit off and hold position when not in possession. OGS changed this and we saw great results initially, but obviously this couldn't be sustained.
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Indeed. The fitness, injuries and incredibly tough run of fixtures all combined to result in a poor run of form, as predicted by many. Also that a number of players know they won't be at the club next season - surely it has some impact.

It's been amusing to see the overreaction to our form, as when measured against the performance of the more sought-after managers like Pochettino, we've kept pace with them despite all of the above and having not made any signings.

I really like this signing but a little surprised at the price tag. Then again the market has simply shifted. Ibe and Burke are just some of the unheralded wingers to have moved for similar money lately.

comment by BerbaKing11 (U6256)
posted 2 hours, 20 minutes ago
I can't say I can see a drastic enough shift in Martial's mentality and behaviour to really see him kicking on to the level his talent could get him to either, frankly.

One of the things that frustrates me isn't even his lack of off the ball running (in or out of possession), but that he doesn't run his FB ragged all game even when he gets the ball. In his first season he would consistently get the ball and start running at people.

I have speculated a few occasions this season that his physical conditioning isn't where it was or needs to be. It might explain why he picks his moments and manages himself through games. But it's also one reason I'd like to see him through the middle more, because it would allow us to play a wider play that will take his man on more often.

Martial has actually done pretty well on the occasions he's played centrally, and I believe it's his preferred position.
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Martial's best season for us remains his first when he played as a CF. He is ice cold in finishing and can hold the ball up and as you say his work rate isn't high but he could get away with it there. The weakest aspect of his CF play is positioning, sometimes found outside of the box when he should be in it.

He played just as many games out wide as he did up front in his first season. He’s always looked at his best out wide.

I’m excited by this signing, love seeing us sign Young exciting wingers.

I look forward to seeing him captain the side as first choice right back in 2034.

comment by Mike (U1170)
posted 24 minutes ago
I’m excited by this signing, love seeing us sign Young exciting wingers.

I look forward to seeing him captain the side as first choice right back in 2034.
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After just being given a new 2 year deal.

comment by Ed The King Woodward (U10026)
posted 1 hour, 3 minutes ago

He played just as many games out wide as he did up front in his first season. He’s always looked at his best out wide.
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He did look better wide in his first season, but to be fair, the way we played didn't exactly help any of our strikers. The ball was moved far too slowly to actually get the striker in behind.

Out wide Martial was easier to find but some of his best performances since his first season have been down the middle. It might simply be that he does a little more because he prefers playing there. We know he's a pretty moody sort of character so it wouldn't surprise me if he tried harder at CF.

He doesn’t do more down the middle, though. He’s more ineffective because he struggles with the lack of space and his back to goal.

I can't agree with that Darren.

I'm struggling to think of many times he's scored a goal like the one against, (I think), Wolfsburg in the CL when he ran onto a through ball, or the one against West Ham where he's held it up on the halfway line, turned and ran with it, popped it off and then carried on running to get on the end of it and finish.

He had another excellent game when he came on at Everton last year I think to replace Lukaku who got injured. He linked well with midfield and got a nice goal.

He needs to do a hell of a lot more wherever he plays though - I think we can agree on that!

But these are moments rather than overall performances, which is why Martial has always looked superior outwide due to how he receives the ball. I’m really not seeing it with him as a cf, he’s arguably got more weaknesses to perform it than Lukaku. Though in his defence he’s not had anywhere near the opportunities to develop or find any rhythm there. But then I suppose maybe we should question exactly why all his coaches rarely play him there also. None of our strikers are actually good enough for where we want to be. They need so much fine tuning of their games. And yet you could argue it’s not even our biggest worry.