Anthony Martial: Manchester United’s Player of the Month September
By Jake Knox
Fans recently voted Anthony Martial Manchester United’s Player of the Month after a successful September.
As normal, four United players were nominated for September’s award, Martial, Marouane Fellaini, Marcus Rashford and Romelu Lukaku.
A record number of voters found Martial to be the clear winner, as the Frenchman took 41% of the votes.
A fixture-packed September meant that United played a whopping seven games and scored 22 goals.
Martial himself was directly involved with seven goals in six games, scoring 3 and assisting four. He also added two Man of the Match Awards during this time, while only playing for 287 minutes.
These stats mean that Martial was involved in a United goal every 41 minutes during the month of September.
Notable Performances
Martial’s stand out performances came against Burton Albion in the Carabao Cup and CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. He managed to find the net in both games as well as taking home the Man of the Match award on both occasions.
Martial’s willingness to carry the ball and explosive pace have been a real asset for United so far this season. Leading to some to question who is better Martial or Hazard. While the stats are very similar so far this season the impact on team results is arguably very different with Martial providing more of a creative spark.
The Frenchman is looking happier
Martial was an unknown entity when he was signed by Louis Van Gaal in 2015 from French side Monaco. He very quickly became a fan favourite with his debut goal against Liverpool.
He later went on to be the club’s top goal scorer that season with 17 goals.
His form led to inclusion in France’s squad for Euro 2016 where he was expected to shine. However, this wasn’t the case as he barely played.
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This combined with his public split from partner and mother of his daughter, Samantha Jacquelinet to have a very negative effect no the player.
He wasn’t the same player in his second season, first under Mourinho. which led to many fans and pundits questioning whether he was a one season wonder.
Martial is clearly happier this season and credit for that have to go to the player and Mourinho.
Martial’s explosive start to the season is rumoured to have alerted Spanish giants Barcelona according to Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish).
Next: Manchester United’s Rashford dazzles in win for England
One thing is for sure, if he can stay injury free then 20 goals in all competitions is not an unreasonable target.