Roy Keane dismisses Erik ten Hag’s claim that Anthony Martial did well against Arsenal – Man United News And Transfer News

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Manchester United’s game against Arsenal ended up with a familiar result for anyone who has been following United under Erik ten Hag.

However, despite the loss, the performance was encouraging, something which Bruno Fernandes and Ten Hag alluded to.

While Roy Keane also agreed with the general sentiment, he took issue with the manager praising one player in particular- Anthony Martial.

In his post-match comments, Ten Hag said that “Anthony Martial’s was a good performance” while giving credit to Rasmus Hojlund for his display after coming on.

Keane dismissed those comments out of hand, saying “I don’t think he got a kick”.

He said Martial “didn’t do too much”, something the stats back up as well.

The Frenchman had just 18 touches of the ball in the 67 minutes he was on the pitch. He regularly failed to hold the ball up when it was played to him.

Arsenal’s centre-backs were having a comfortable evening up till that point.

Then Rasmus Hojlund came and gave them a scare. The Dane had 10 touches of the ball despite playing half the minutes under increasing pressure from Arsenal.

He should have arguably won a penalty for his efforts too, as he outpaced Gabriel and then tricked past him in the box, forcing the Arsenal man to bring him down clumsily.

It wasn’t a good look for Martial as the performance stood in direct and immediate contrast to his own.

The Frenchman’s contract expires next season and he is likely to be firmly second-choice in the striker rotation now.

Unless his game improves drastically and he goes on a purple patch of scoring form, it remains difficult to see a future for him at the club.

Erik ten Hag’s public comments mean nothing, something which Harry Maguire, David de Gea, and Marcel Sabitzer can attest to, as all these players have on the positive tune of the manager only to find themselves out of favour in team selections.