Manchester United fear a woman is to blame for Anthony Martial’s poor form
Manchester United believe Martial’s split from his partner has affected his performance on the pitch
Anthony Martial certainly hasn’t had the same positive impact on the pitch this season as he did for Manchester United last year. His dip in form has officials at United investigating a number of potential explanations. Chief among their theories, is the idea that his split from partner, Samantha Jacquelinet, might be the source of his troubles.
For those who don’t know, Martial and the mother of his child had a rather acrimonious split earlier this year. Jacquelinet alleged that Martial’s move to Manchester had changed him for the worse. In all honesty, it’s a distinct possibility.
There can be no argument that Martial’s form has dipped significantly since last season. His current Whoscored.com player rating average of 6.59 through six Premier League matches illustrates that fact to perfection. That’s a big step down from the 7.23 score he averaged last year.
It’s also fair to wonder if certain roster and positional changes have cut into Martial’s production. First and foremost, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s arrival has greatly reduced the amount of space available for Martial in front of goal. Don’t forget, Martial thinks of himself as a more natural central striker than most of his manager. He likes to cut in from the wing, but now when he does that, he finds Zlatan occupying valuable real estate.
The move of Wayne Rooney into the number ten role also makes it harder for Martial to cut inside to create scoring chances. The England captain is still an excellent passer of the ball, but he’s not going to spend his time switching positions with the other attacking midfielders. Martial is getting much less time as a number ten this season too.
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The good news for United is that all of these issues are infinite fixable. Martial can adjust to life on the pitch with a striker like Ibrahimovic. He can also learn to play with whatever attacking teammates Jose Mourinho puts with him in the midfield. Those are relatively straight forward propositions.
Learning to live without his partner and his child are going to be much tougher things for Martial to handle. That’s quite a challenge for anyone, but especially a man who’s just 20-years-old. It’s only natural for his job performance to struggle due to the chaos in his personal life.
Anthony Martial has several reasons why he may be suffering to a dip in form. Look for the French attacker to snap out of it sooner, rather than later.