Did Anthony Martial end Manchester United’s title charge?

Manchester United succumbed to a defeat in the English Premier League at Old Trafford in the 20th game of the season.

Before the game, the Red Devils were in second place and a win would have taken them back to pole position. The Blades are rock bottom and desperately needed a victory to rejuvenate their season.

Sheffield United were all over the hosts in the initial minutes of the game despite conceding majority of the position to Man United. Though the Red Devils equalized through Maguire’s header in the 63rd minute, a series of errors led to the second goal (74th minute) and, in turn, the defeat.

Due to the loss, social media has been filled with a lot of frustration with respect to Anthony Martial’s performance in the midweek clash.

Anthony Martial’s poor showing leaves Manchester United fans furious

Anthony Martial returned to the first XI after he was rested against Liverpool in the FA Cup tie. The Frenchman started on a great note by pressing the opposition but his energy levels dropped once his goal was disallowed in the first half. His first half was marred with poor runs and bad passing in the middle of the park.

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Correcting his previous mistakes, the player troubled Sheffield in the first ten minutes of the second half.

The pressing started to yield positive results as he and Rashford began to draw a lot more fouls in the visitors’ half. Subsequently, they were able to score in the 63rd minute and level the score.

Once Edinson Cavani was introduced, Martial was moved to the left flank from the central role and all trouble broke loose.

Over the years, we have seen that the French international is ineffective from the left flank and lacks crossing ability.

Moreover, passes were either wayward or a backpass. His inability to win a header resulted in the counter-attack which cost all three points and pole position for the Red Devils. The player had only two progressive passes for the whole 90 minutes he featured on the pitch.

Barring defenders and Martial, every player had at least one pass into the penalty area. Add zero interceptions to his stats for the game and it would pretty much sum up the whole Martial story.

Throughout the ongoing edition of the Premier League, we have seen that Anthony Martial never trackbacks, almost never helping in defense.

Once dispossessed, Martial looks disinterested in winning the ball back and takes a lot of time to get back and defend. In Wednesday’s loss to Sheffield, the same happened. After losing the ball, the player didn’t get back in time to defend.

It would be unfair to single out Martial for the loss. Axel Tuanzebe and Harry Maguire must be equally blamed for the Blades’ second goal.

Rather than clearing the ball, they tried to pass the ball in their own 18-yard box, something Sheffiled punished through Burke who slotted it past David de Gea easily.

One defeat doesn’t put any team out of the title race in a league as competitive as the English Premier League. Despite the loss, Manchester United are very much in the title race. It remains interesting to see how far Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men will go in the title race.

What is your opinion on the title race? Let us know in the comment section below.