Erik ten Hag defends perennially injured Anthony Martial but his time could be drawing to a close | OneFootball

Erik ten Hag had got Manchester United firing on all cylinders with their great from even reigniting talks of a potential title charge among supporters.

But the disappointing results last week halted those murmurs and now the manager has to try and ensure the chance of winning the Carabao Cup does not go to waste.

Squad depth was one issue that crippled the Dutch manager in the game against Arsenal with their centre-forward Anthony Martial having to miss out yet again.

Martial’s woeful injury record

The Frenchman’s impressive performances in pre-season meant the former Ajax coach stuck to him this season and believed he could bang in the goals.

He has missed 18 games due to a mixture of injuries and Ten Hag can hardly count on him when required. He has started only once against the traditional big six and in that game, he did not last beyond the first-half.

Ten Hag, however, has defended the Frenchman’s injury record.

“He is not constantly injured,” said Ten Hag during the pre-match press conference against Nottingham Forest.

“Martial is playing games. He has to work on that and he has to be more available and he can’t do nothing for it in that sense. It is sometimes also bad luck.

“Sometimes you don’t know the cause or the reason behind, and it can be like that. But when he is there he is really important for us because we play our best football when he is available.

Martial letting himself & ETH down

“He has to be aware of that as well. If you want to be successful, we need him, but the first thing is that he needs to be available.”

Martial has let yet another United manager down. He was selfish when he blamed former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the treatment meted out to him or when he bad-mouthed Jose Mourinho.

But the Frenchman deserves to shoulder some of the responsibility. He is about to reach his peak in terms of age but has never fully lived up to his enormous potential.

The fans have always had his back just like how Ten Hag is supporting him currently. But if this keeps repeating, the club will have no choice but to cut their losses and Martial will have no one to blame but himself.

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