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EPL: You are going backwards at Man United - Rio Ferdinand tells Martial

 

Manchester United legend, Rio Ferdinand, has insisted that the club’s forward, Anthony Martial, is going backward at Old Trafford.

Ferdinand said it is frustrating that Martial will not live up to his full potential at Old Trafford, despite former United team-mate, Michael Carrick predicting the France international could be one of the world’s best players.

Martial started for Man United in their disappointing 1-1 draw against Southampton last weekend but was hauled off by manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, before the hour mark after another lacklustre performance.

“I think the most frustrating thing about him [Anthony Martial] is that he’s actually gone backwards from when he first signed,” Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel.

“If you’re a player and you look at when he hit the scene with the two goals against Liverpool and you think to yourself, “Wow what have we signed here?”. He’s not really hit those heights since.

“As a player I would love to be able to get inside his head and spend time with him. Everything thinks they can affect someone with a conversation.

“You would be saying to him, “Are you actually happy with what you are doing, are you happy with your trajectory of how it’s going?”. It’s gone here “rose up” and it’s slowly like this [going down].

“Talent wise, from what I am told from people, I remember Michael Carrick first went in and saw him and said, “Rio, this kid could be one of the best players on the planet easily, some of the stuff he does in training takes your breath away.

“But sometimes there are players who are great in training but don’t replicate enough in games. I hope he’s not going down [that route].

“He’s still young enough to change it by the way but I don’t know what he needs, a rocket, or he needs someone in the changing room to be getting hold of him and demanding standards every single day and every single game.

“That is what the big players do. There’s players in that changing room who don’t accept below-par performances on a regular basis, or something short of what your standard is.

“We have seen his standard, he’s not playing to it, someone gets after him, that’s what’s needed.”

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