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A thread on Anthony Martial's strengths and weaknesses:
Anthony Martial has been a hotly debated Premier League player for half a decade now. It was only this season, however, that he settled into his favored centre forward role for the first time in his career. The results were encouraging
However, when we delve closer into Martial's goalscoring exploits, we begin to see some concerning trends. He's significantly exceeding his expected goals
In some ways, this is concerning: Martial's npxG overperformance per shot this season sits at almost 9% according to @StatsBomb and @fbref, a value well above what has proven sustainable historically. However, he may not regress as much as that value may indicate:
So, perhaps Martial getting on the end of fewer chances isn't the end of the world. Still, why is it happening?
Part of the reason for Martial's low shot quality is that he rarely runs in behind, preferring to receive the ball in front of the defense.
As you can see here, though Tony has begun to attack the six yard box more frequently than last year, there is still an overwhelming skew toward low quality shots in the left halfspace
Outside of his goalscoring exploits, Martial is an extremely involved all around number 9. In terms of creativity, Tony is arguably the league's most productive centre forward.
Not only that, but Martial is more specifically perhaps the league's best creative dribbler currently playing centre forward. Evaluating dribbling for pure strikers is difficult, but last season from the left wing Martial was hyper effective in creating chances from take ons
This isn't the only capacity in which Martial is useful on the ball, however. This season he's been able to translate his technical prowess and close control to efficiency in ball reception, a hallmark aspect of holdup play.
(It's worth noting that Martial drops deep for the ball with great frequency, which may boost his numbers in this regard. Regardless, his ball retention this campaign with his back to goal has been excellent)
In a role as a target man, however, Martial is perhaps not best used. His ability in the air leaves plenty to be desired...
This isn't the Frenchman's only deficiency, either. When compared to other centre forwards around the league, his pressing performance is amongst the least intense
Context is required here, though. When compared to Manchester United's typical front three, Martial is actually the most active in the press of the group. His relative inactivity appears, then, to be a tactical choice in some respects.
A final note on Martial: there are some questions with regard to what the forward's best position is. Though he's been excellent this campaign in his natural number 9 spot, he was actually one of the Premier League's most productive attackers from left wing just two years ago
Going forward, this is worth consideration as United begin to ascertain whether Martial is their long term solution at centre forward. Much will ride on whether the Frenchman can maintain his strike rate next season in the face of less robust underlying metrics.
Tacking this on because it's one of my favorite vizes out there on twitter and so informative: Martial's left halfspace skew shows very clearly on this excellent shotmap from @MishraAbhiA
