Did Manchester United’s late capitulation begin when Erik ten Hag took off Anthony Martial on 62 minutes? This may be a simplification, particularly as Bruno Fernandes also accompanied him, but until then those in red were coasting at 2-0 up with the forward providing a star turn.
Twelve minutes in and United were given a glimmer of what they have missed from an enigmatic Frenchman bedevilled by injury: the sight of him dropping deep and bursting past defenders, a dazzling dribble splaying Sevilla and creating an opening for Antony.
This was Martial: remember him? Or, rather, remember the last time he started and ended a match? If the answer is no, that is understandable: before tonight you had to scroll back through 19 months and four (permanent and temporary) managers – Ten Hag, Ralf Rangnick, Michael Carrick and Ole Gunnar Solskjær – to Wednesday 22 September 2021 to find the last time Martial completed 90 minutes for the club, when he played all of a Carabao Cup defeat to West Ham.
Even if the second half of last season can be scrubbed out of that sequence given that Martial was on loan at Sevilla, it is still a dire record; the consequence of a fragile physique that has caused him five separate problems alone since pre-season.
Here he lined up under the midweek lights for only an eighth appearance of 2023 and a first start since the derby victory over Manchester City in mid-January. If ill fortune is the true factor, there are those who ponder whether a questionable mentality that leaves him open to regular sicknotes is actually at play.
The absence of Marcus Rashford through injury made Sevilla’s visit the apt time for a brave new Martial world in which he could prove a robust force who could be relied on to replace United’s top scorer.
This was the script he wrote until being replaced, as he had key roles in each of Marcel Sabitzer’s goals. For the first there was a drift to the left touchline, some balletic feet to fool his marker and a pass infield in a move that ended with the Austrian beating Yassine Bounou. It was evidence of why Ten Hag values the Frenchman despite him being a regular in Carrington’s treatment room. “We play better” with Martial is, in essence, the manager’s position, and further proof came via the second goal.
Martial skated into Sevilla’s half, turned infield and delivered a slide-rule ball that Sabitzer smashed home. Cue delight from the Stretford End, who regaled the 27-year-old with the ditty: “£50m down the drain, as Tony Martial scores again.” He hadn’t, of course, but the song (which derides a headline that greeted his signing for the club in 2015) being sung showed the level of affection for the player.
A favourite Ten Hag mantra is that “you must still win” whoever is ruled out. He said it last month when Casemiro was given a four-game suspension and again on Wednesday after news emerged about Rashford, United’s 28-goal man, going down. Step forward Martial, to fill the void, and whose seven strikes in 17 previous appearances came at one every 114 minutes, a ratio (by 41 minutes) that rated his finest since joining.
This display was among his best of the campaign. Each time the ball came to him it stuck; then, in that almost careless, elegant style of his, he would beat a man or three and cause problems for Sevilla.
He did it again in another phase of play that ended with Antony crashing the ball against Bounou’s upright, after Martial’s dead-eyed control enabled him to swivel and ping a pass into the Brazilian. It was the closing act of his evening: up went Martial’s number and, alongside Fernandes and the ineffective Jadon Sancho, he wandered off. This was the fourth run-out of his latest comeback and the substitution appeared to be pre-planned. So, yet again, Ten Hag’s sole elite centre-forward failed to last from start to finish. It could be chalked up as smart management as he looks to keep Martial available for Sunday’s trip to Nottingham Forest and Thursday’s return at Sevilla.
That was until a finish that featured two hapless own goals from Tyrell Malacia and Harry Maguire, and the more rudimentary Wout Weghorst operating where Martial had.
In the summer, a bigger-picture question relates to Ten Hag’s main transfer target being a high-grade No 9. The reason is obvious – Martial’s infirmity – so where his future lies depends on how his manager views it, plus the player’s own willingness and physical ability to fight for his first-team jersey. And, too, what funds may need raising in order to bring in the top-class midfielder Ten Hag also desires.
Another source of finance could hinge on who owns the club by the close season. Sheikh Jassim, a Qatari banker, and one of Britain’s richest people, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, each wish to buy United and are through to the third stage of the bidding process.
Yet before any takeover is completed, Martial has the chance to have an impact on United’s run-in. If, of course, he does not do what Ten Hag’s team did here: break down – again.
