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I noticed something about the narrative of Martial struggling with competition. 15/16 Martial introduction: He had a big impact on us from a young age and he played LW and ST equally it seemed like he would be allowed to develop as ST as he got older. That was wrong as we got...
...Zlatan. As promising as Martial was he wasn't going to bench Zlatan especially with Jose in charge. 16/17 He wasn't that great but also didn't play that much and was regularly benched.
Lukaku joined in 17/18 and the 1st half of the season Martial was on fire while competing with with Rashford for the LW. Tony was fine on the left and not playing striker, do you know why? It's bcoz he was now determined to grow himself into a defined LW.
...Jose then broke both the development of AM and MR being acquiring an already declining Sanchez. Initially Sanchez played RW but quickly shifted to LW leaving Martial benched AGAIN with Rashford - this also continued into Jose iconic 3rd season disasterclass.
19/20 Martial plays as a ST for 40+ games while also physically changing to fit into the physical demands of the role Ole wanted. He ends the season with his highest goal tally for the club in both league and all comps.
20/21 Martial has been extremely poor with his finishing - historically one of his best attributes. This has lead Cavani into taking his space upfront and now playing LW again. He can no longer play LW to the standard he once did due to his current physique.
Martial has been disappointing this season but it's not really true that he struggles with competition. Martial didn't struggle to compete bcoz Jose never played him as a ST. He was permanently played at LW therefore he didn't compete with Zlatan nor Lukaku.
You cannot compete with something you were never given the license to compete with. This narrative is only tangible regarding this season and Cavani. Even then, other bigger factors that have affected Martial. Cavani's inclusion is a result not a cause.
