Another week, another crisis (or two) for Manchester United.
The Premier League's favourite pantomime, United had surprisingly put together a solid enough run of form in recent weeks coming into their crunch tie with Galatasaray in the Champions League last Wednesday.
It is remarkable that a solid month of November was completely torn apart in the space of a few days, with a disastrous draw in Istanbul followed by perhaps their worst performance yet of the season on Saturday night, in a game which miraculously finished only 1-0 to Newcastle.
In truth, there were but two or three Manchester United players who played in any way respectably at St. James's Park, and the five consecutive wins the team put in before that defeat have now been forgotten, with inquests into the abject performance coming left, right, and centre.
One would be forgiven for examining the United defence, given Newcastle's 22 shots in the game - but, with their attack only generating 0.48 xG from eight total shots, it is the Manchester United attack which has come under more scrutiny in the aftermath of Saturday's game.
Club legend Paul Scholes ripped into Marcus Rashford for his attitude on Saturday evening, and now Roy Keane has given his two cents.
The Irishman and former Manchester United captain tore into Anthony Martial on Sunday, aiming a jab at his dismal goalscoring record before questioning the workrate of the Frenchman up front.
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Roy Keane rips into Anthony Martial after latest Manchester United defeat
Roy Keane appeared as part of Sky Sports' punditry team for Manchester City's thrilling draw against Spurs on Sunday afternoon and, in the hours after the game, he dissected the weekend's action.
With his former club having put in a dire performance on Saturday night, Keane came out firing - and Anthony Martial, in particular, drew the ire of the seven-time Premier League winning captain.
"We forgive Martial for the fact that he scores a goal every 14 years!"
Roy Keane gets heated discussing Manchester United's problems this season... 😤 pic.twitter.com/eEoALVR489— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 3, 2023
Keane first poked fun at Martial's absurd goalscoring record up front (he has just 12 goals in the last four seasons of Premier League football), before questioning his effort:
We've mentioned Martial, I know he's an easy target.
We forgive Martial the fact he scores a goal every 14 years, I'll actually forgive a player for that. But let me tell you, when we're up at Newcastle and we're under pressure, and we put the ball into you - you'd better keep hold of that ball, just to get us up the pitch, get a bit of breathing space, maybe win a free-kick.
He's touching balls off him and just giving it away cheaply. You're thinking, you might as well go down the leagues. Man United were trying to get rid of him a few years ago!
You're judged at Man United on what you do in the big matches...if you can't deal with all them demands of playing against the other top teams, then maybe you're not a Man United player. That's what you're judged on.
I don't know if he [Ten Hag] has to pick Martial. There is other strikers at the club.
It is now over three years since Anthony Martial completed a full 90 minutes of Premier League football, and he has scored just one league goal thus far this season.
Manager Erik Ten Hag's big summer signing of striker Rasmus Hojlund has impressed in the Champions League, but is yet to score in the Premier League this season. Between them, Hojlund, Martial, and their fellow attackers of Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, and Antony, have just four league goals between them this season.
Keane is not the first ex-Manchester United player to rip into Anthony Martial in recent weeks, with Andy Cole another to point out his poor form in front of goal.
Somehow now in his ninth season with the club, Martial is yet to come anywhere close to matching the purple patches he showed in his first season and in the 2019-20 campaign, and fans and punters alike are growing more and more frustrated with the lack of any meaningful output from the French striker.
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