Magical Martial carries United and Rooney to redemption

Talking about the big money arrival of Anthony Martial, Louis van Gaal said: “Yes I spend a lot of money on Martial - but I buy him for my successor, Ryan Giggs.” Well, the young Frenchman is doing a fine job for you, Louis.

Manchester United registered more than 3 shots on target in a Premier League home game for the first time since September 26^th and Martial deserves a lot of credit. A goal, an assist, four shots and seven take-ons in the game shows his involvement and it was his most effective performance in a while.

After shining so brightly at the start of the season, it was inevitable that there would be a regression in form for a teenager new to the country and the league. Promisingly though, even in the games where he hasn’t scored or assisted, Martial has still looked lively for the most part.

This led to Alan Pardew stating last November that if you stop Martial, you stop “the creative angle” of United. Pardew took great pleasure in giving “not an inch” of space to him that game and he went on to deliver a warning to Van Gaal:

“With such a young player, he’ll have to be very, very careful, the Manchester United manager, to keep his exuberance there. Because we’re all looking to stop him.”

It seems Van Gaal has heeded Pardew’s advice as the precocious talent certainly still had his exuberance today. Managerless Swansea didn’t appear to have devised a game-plan to stop Martial in quite the same way Crystal Palace did, with Angel Rangel being run ragged as a result.

Martial’s ability to dribble with the ball at speed means he can ghost past players and it was refreshing to see him at full throttle today. While Memphis Depay has looked timid so far in his debut season, showing a reluctance to run at players and commit them, Martial showed no such restraint.

Wayne Rooney was a major benefactor today as Martial darted to the touchline to tee up the misfiring striker for the winning goal. To Rooney’s credit, it was a deft back-heeled finish but it must be said that this did not look like a statement of intent from Wayne.

He seems to have a knack for scoring just as criticism of his performances is reaching a crescendo – this was his first goal for two months. In October, he scored at Everton after a lengthy goal drought and many pundits thought Rooney was back.

He went on to produce a series of lacklustre performances showing that the display at Goodison Park was very much an exception to the rule. There didn’t seem to be anything on show today to suggest that this wouldn’t be a blip just like that turned out to be, particularly since Martial put in all the hard yards to create the opportunity.

However, Rooney has shown in the past that a goal can light his touchpaper and if Martial continues to put chances on a plate for him then he may just start to score with regularity again. He had no idea who Martial was in August but he is now Wayne’s major supply-chain.