The Frenchman has been at the club since 2015 making him the then most expensive teenager with a fee possible of rising to £58 million.

Jose Mourinho has sought help from others within his squad opting to cut the 22-year-old winger’s playing time in favour of Manchester’s own Marcus Rashford & 29-year-old Chilean Alexis Sanchez despite their poor and inconsistent form.

Despite Martial being out of favour under Mourinho and there being major speculation over his career  rumours state Manchester United’s preference is to keep him at the club and are intent of making it five more seasons at least.

Martial’s season has already gotten off to a poor start; being fined after his pre-season departure to return from America for the birth of his child and not even being selected for the 3-0 humiliation at Old Trafford on Monday by Spurs.

Many fans are in favour of Martial remaining at the club long-term however many are signalling the end of Mourinhos reign if this is the case.

This shows that the club is thinking behind Mourinho and I’m a fan of that. Mourinho isn’t the club.

— masimba (@mmmas8) August 30, 2018

I don't think we have seen the real Martial for 2 years. His development has been stunted completely. Give him a longer chance to fail at least, then I think he will prove & shine!!! Keep the lad – ditch the boss!

— Paul Robinson (@Paul0nBoard) August 30, 2018

 

Back in what some Manchester United supporters would call their ‘Golden Age’ when Sir Alex Ferguson ruled the roost there was a certain process when it came to pre-match press conferences. Usually the day before the game Ferguson would greet the press at Old Trafford with a certain banter, then speak about the coming game, then give his thoughts, take questions and disappear.

It would be remiss of me to say that Ferguson’s press conferences were always an uplifting experience for the journalists. At times Ferguson was the pit bull you crossed the street to avoid and if he took a dislike to a reporter, the reporter could find himself barred from the press briefing for a week, or a month or even longer. Ferguson, like the proverbial elephant, never forgot a wrong or a slight to his team or his character or his family.

Fast forward through the David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal era’s, now it is Jose Mourinho’s turn to command the press conferences and in which, for the moment anyway, he resembles a man who would rather be somewhere else entirely. The pre-season tour for Mourinho had been a summer of sulk and misery which the manager has now seemingly taken into the Premier League.

Without a doubt, It has been a really, really bad week for Manchester United and Mourinho. Since their last game, a shambolic loss at Brighton a week ago, the media has been divided about Mourinho’s future at the club. Most of the celebrity media pundits have pronounced the end for Mourinho sooner rather than later, with only the odd voice eg. Neil Custis of the Sun, expressing a balanced argument in Mourinho’s defence. So with the storm clouds gathering, Manchester United faced their third game of the new Premiership season at Old Trafford on Monday night, 27th August against Tottenham.

Mourinho sprang a surprise by playing Chris Smalling and Phil Jones and Ander Herrara in a back three allowing Luke Shaw and Anthony Valencia to play as wing backs in more advanced positions. For the most part, United had a good first 45 minutes surviving a good penalty shout when Jones brought down Lucas Moura clearly in the box. Spurs however benefited when Romalu Lukaku rounded the goalkeeper at the other end and shot wide of an open net.

In the second half United play resembles the shambolic mess they had produced at Brighton the week before. Once Harry Kane had headed in from a corner to put Spurs 1-0 up the doubts and insecurities came back to the United players. A bad mistake by Herrara allowing Christian Eriksen to be onside was punished when his cross was guided in by Moura.

Shortly after Dele Alli should have put Spurs 3-0 ahead after another defensive mistake by Victor Lindelöf. However, it was not too long before a clumsy tackle by Smalling allowed Moura to once again break free and slot the ball home to make it 3-0. Manchester United have now played 3 matches and lost 2 of them very badly.

In a show of defiance or solidarity depending on your point of view, Mourinho made a point of standing in front of the Stretford End for over a minute clapping them for their support. In the press conference afterwards, Mourinho seemingly was so annoyed with the questions asked that he stormed out demanding more ‘respect’ for the achievements and work he has done, not only at United but in football in general. It may well have been a classic Mourinho gesture to deflect criticism from his underachieving team but I doubt that.

Manchester United’s next match is away at Burnley on Sunday 2nd September. This game now seems to have become the latest one Mourinho cannot afford to lose if he is to keep his job. Mourinho may be helped somewhat in that respect because Burnley play Thursday night in the Europa League and may on Sunday be suffering from fatigue.

On Friday Mourinho faces the press once again to discuss the Burnley match but it might take other directions considering how the last one finished up. There is no doubt that there are serious issues at Manchester United on and off the field of play at the moment, however, whether Mourinho is part of the problem or part of the solution, only time will tell.

Brighton 3 Manchester United 2

Sunday 19th August 2018 was a historic day in the life of Manchester United Football Club. Why? Because at 2 pm Manchester United Women’s Team made their bow into the world that is Women’s Football. In defeating Liverpool Women 1-0 in the Continental Tyres Cup they got off to a perfect start.

At 4 pm Manchester United men took the field at Brighton on the south coast of England. After 90+ minutes they lost 3-2 and the analysis and examination began in earnest.

The irony of these two results will not be lost on anyone who follows the club. Manchester United Women have been put together in the last six weeks from scratch. However, they played as a united unit and fully deserved their reward, a historic opening victory against Liverpool.

Manchester United men, however, have been put together over the last two and a bit years by Jose Mourinho and yet they played at times like they were the ones cobbled together during the summer. In this match the defence could not defend, the midfield was overrun and the attack had very little help from the midfielders.

Speaking later Paul Scholes remarked that the job of a midfield was to get the ball to the forwards, make opportunities for scoring situations. A midfielders job is to win the ball and pass it to a forward, not sideways and backwards.

Scholes added “There’s a lack of leaders in the team. We thought Paul Pogba might be the ideal candidate to be that leader but he wasn’t there today. He had another really poor game. He’s so inconsistent.”

Paul Pogba, who captained United for the second time this season to his credit once again spoke honestly after the match. Saying “his side did not have the right attitude against Brighton.” Which on the face of it is a remarkable admission two games into the new season.

The first half was shambolic with schoolboy defending by Lindelof and Bailly. In a two minute spell, Murray beat Lindelof to flick the ball past De Gea, them Bailly lack of positional sense and mistimed tackle led to Duffy putting Brighton 2-0 up. Young was beaten time and again on United’s right side where the majority of Brighton’s threats came from.

Although Lukaku headed in to make it 2-1, Bailly committed another ill-timed tackle in the penalty box, the resultant penalty was blasted home by Gross giving Brighton a 3-1 halftime lead.

As bad as United were in the first half the expectations were that after a rousing half-time team talk from Mourinho, United would find a way to up their game and perhaps even go on to win it. A pundit on MUTV, the clubs official television channel, said at halftime with United 3-1 down that “if United were to score first in the first half of the second half they (United) would go on to win”. MUTV logic at its best, however, whilst United did score from a very late penalty for a tackle on Fellaini there was no recovery and Pogba’s goal was little more than a consolation.

United now face a must-win game at home to Tottenham next week if the season is to be put back on track. Already football pundits and social media wannabees are predicting the end for Mourinho at Old Trafford. One thing is for sure if there are many more lacklustre performances by his team the end of United’s third manager since Sir Alex Ferguson retired may not be far away.

THE TEAMS
Brighton & Hove Albion:
Ryan (GK); Montoya, Duffy, Dunk (c) (Balogun 20), Bong; Knockaert, Stephens, Propper, March; Gross (Kayal 90); Murray (Locadia 90+3).
Subs not used: Button, Bernardo, Bissouma, Jahanbakhsh
Booked: Murray (66)

Man United: De Gea; Young, Lindelof, Bailly, Shaw; Pogba (c), Fred, A.Pereira (Lingard 46); Mata (Rashford 46), Lukaku, Martial (Fellaini 60).
Subs not used: Grant, Smalling, Herrera, McTominay.
Booked: Martial (45)

Referee: Kevin Friend : Attendance: 30,592

jim mcveney

It was apparently odds on that Manchester United would sign at least one new player as the transfer season came to a close, or to use the more modern phrase “slammed shut”. Jose Mourinho only a few days before had said in his televised interview he had given a list of five players to the CO Ed Woodward some time ago. Now he added he would like two but he would be happy with one. In the end apart from an untried youthful defender, an ageing goalkeeper and a Brazilian midfielder with the unlikely name “Fred”, there were no other major recruits.

Whatever goes on at boardroom level that the fans are not privy to, reading between the lines, it seems Mourinho’s choice of buying ready-made stars has now come to an end. In truth, the idea of buying another centre back when there are five at the club seems a bit odd. So Mourinho has to do the best with what he has in this squad at least till January.

In their opening game against Leicester City, last Friday night United huffed and puffed and just about got over the line against a determined team 2-1.
Awarded a penalty if the early minutes Paul Pogba, who has his own narrative going on at the moment, attacked the ball in the style of a man trying to walk up a down escalator, before placing it firmly in the net putting United 1-0 up.

Luke Shaw who has endured a couple of seasons of personal highs and lows but mainly lows scored his first ever goal in the Premiership in the second half. In the end, his goal won the match as Jamie Vardy headed in for Leicester, from a curling cross which hit the post, in injury time. It must have seemed strange for the travelling Leicester City supporters to see Vardy only on the substitutes bench at the kickoff.

Mourinho in his press conference after the match explained that because of the World Cup and the subsequent lack of training due to late holidays some of his players were not ready. Pogba however, he said, “was a monster” to last as long as he did according to Mourinho at least.

Interestingly David DeGea who had returned from the World Cup showed once again on a couple of occasions why he should be classed as the finest goalkeeper in the world. He left the blunders he sometimes shows when he plays for his national team, Spain, on the field in Russia.

For a brief moment on Friday night Manchester United sat proudly on top of the Premiership table. Of course, it did not last long with rivals Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea all winning over the weekend. The consensus from football pundits is that at the end of the season City and Liverpool will finish ahead of United while some ‘experts’ predict United will finish out of the top four.

Predictions can make fools of us all and after one game nothing is set in stone. However, Mourinho is a serial winner and while he may not have gotten the recruits he craved a few months ago he still has an ocean of talent to pick from. Whether he has the way of it all to win the Premiership after finishing second last season is open to debate. If anyone can do it, he can, whether he will it is too early to call.

jim mcveney