Martial one to monitor as woeful Norwich defence aids United’s cause

Norwich City 1-3 Manchester United

• Goals: Onel Hernandez (£5.3m) | Scott McTominay (£5.0m), Marcus Rashford (£8.4m), Anthony Martial (£7.5m)
• Assists: None | Daniel James (£6.1m), Rashford
• Bonus: Tim Krul (£4.5m) x3, Rashford x2, McTominay x1

Was this the start of a Manchester United renaissance or merely the ‘Norwich factor’ heralding a false dawn?

Time will tell as to whether one of the most underwhelming attacks in the Premier League this season has been transformed into the potent force of the early-Solskjaer reign or if it’s just the latest instance of the Canaries’ kamikaze defending making another opposition team look like the Brazil 1970 side.

The return of Anthony Martial (£7.5m) is an obvious boon to United and an intriguing one for Fantasy managers.

After a brief cameo against Liverpool and a run-out against Partizan Belgrade on Thursday, the Fantasy Premier League midfielder was thrown back into the starting XI for the trip to Carrow Road and lined up ‘out of position’ as the focal point of a 4-2-3-1.

The Frenchman duly excelled, with his movement and combination play with the attacking midfielders behind him pulling the Norwich backline apart.

Half of the ‘big chances’ that arrived in this game fell the way of Martial, with the France international converting the last of those shortly before his withdrawal on 75 minutes.

His remaining owners – including our very own Mark – would have been irked at the bad luck, poor finishing and heroic goalkeeping that preceded that goal, with three gilt-edged opportunities going begging – one of which was a spot-kick that Tim Krul (£4.5m) saved.

Krul also somehow kept out a Martial header from point-blank range in the first half before sticking out a leg to stop the Frenchman’s goalbound shot just after half-time.

The three players behind Martial had plenty of joy, too, with Marcus Rashford (£8.4m) more of a threat despite a move to the left flank.

The Frenchman’s roaming role in attack often created plenty of space for his teammates to exploit and no-one had more attempts on goal or penalty box touches than Rashford at Carrow Road.

The England striker’s backheeled assist for Martial’s goal was as good as the dinked finish itself and he had earlier put United 2-0 up when racing onto a superb Daniel James (£6.1m) pass to slot past Krul.

Solskjaer hailed his side’s attacking display after full-time, saying:

I think it’s going to improve and improve.

It’s fantastic to have Anthony back. He’s been missed for eight weeks and Dan and Marcus have done really well over the last two months, while he’s been away. Loads of attacking play has been through them. They stretch teams so much, it creates space for people like Andreas today, I thought he was excellent today.

The midfield can have more space and it continues and continues, and the performance depends on the forwards. When they play like this, it creates more space for others.

We’re trying to improve that relationship [between Martial and Rashford] more and more. Sometimes, it’s two up front. Sometimes, like today, three up front. I’m very pleased with the whole team.

There are cheaper Fantasy options than Rashford and Martial, of course.

Andreas Pereira (£5.0m) started his seventh successive league match on Sunday, lining up in the hole behind Martial.

No goals and one assist all season pretty much sums his appeal up, although it was interesting to see him replace Ashley Young (£5.4m) as United’s go-to dead-ball expert: all ten of the Red Devils’ corners were taken by Pereira.

James’ Fantasy stock has fallen since the opening four Gameweeks of the season but the young Wales international made it back-to-back assists with an excellent delivery for Rashford’s goal.

Assist potential is perhaps what James will be relying on so long as Martial and Rashford stay fit: the former Swansea player was back on the right flank for this match, which obviously hinders his ability to cut inside and shoot on his favoured right foot.

Despite United having 21 shots, James didn’t register one of them.

Scott McTominay (£5.0m) was on the scoresheet, though, curling in United’s opener to register his third attacking return of the season.

Based on FPL’s admittedly limited points-per-million metric, McTominay is the best-value midfielder of 2019/20.

His place in the centre of the park looks secure for the foreseeable, particularly as Paul Pogba (£8.4m) looks set to remain sidelined until December.

Speaking after full-time, Solskjaer said of Pogba:

I don’t think we’ll see him before December. He’ll be out for a while. He needs time to fully recover. Maybe for Sheffield United after the international break, but probably December before we can see him.

Pogba is one of three players to have taken a penalty for United this season, all of whom have missed at least once.

In a quite incredible opening 45 minutes at Carrow Road on Sunday, Rashford and Martial both saw spot-kicks saved by Krul.

Where that leaves the running order from 12 yards is anyone’s guess, with Solskjaer saying after the game:

I’ll make sure Juan Mata is on the pitch [next]! We’ve got players, you know, who won a few penalty shoot-outs in the Carabao Cup and in pre-season. They all score penalties apart from when it comes to the ones that matter.

How many have we missed? I think we’ll get more and more and more penalties. They are so quick on their feet, especially those three we’re talking about. Anthony, Marcus, even Jesse [Lingard], when he comes on there, Mason [Greenwood] and Dan. They’re so quick, you’ve got to be 100 per cent sure when you make a tackle. We’ll get more but have to practice putting them in the goal.

Both [penalties v Norwich] should be retaken because the keeper is a yard off his line so they should have been retaken.

Krul’s heroics from 12 yards and his six other stops (including that close-range header from Martial) earned him three bonus points and a 16-point haul in FPL.

He was the one member of the Norwich backline who emerged from this encounter with any credit and there-in lies the disclaimer about United’s attacking display.

Following an unexpected shut-out at the Vitality Stadium in Gameweek 9, normal business was resumed at Carrow Road with Daniel Farke’s side leaving huge spaces for the Red Devils to exploit.

Their poor defensive showing was compounded by injuries picked up by Krul and stand-in centre-half Ibrahim Amadou (£4.5m), with Farke saying after full-time:

[Krul] was great but he needs some treatment because he overstretched his knee where he had the ACL injury. I hope it’s not too bad, but we have to wait for the assessment tomorrow morning. He was fantastic and showed great character and experience. That’s exactly what we need in this moment.

Ibrahim isn’t okay because he overstretched his knee and was in a lot of pain. He couldn’t play further on in his central role, so we had to change the system a bit to 4-4-1. That’s why it’s a risk as a coach to make your third change in the game early. I felt we needed to take the risk. It says a lot about his character that he wanted to stay on the pitch and help his teammates.

Jamal Lewis (£4.5m) also had to be withdrawn midway through the second half, with Farke saying:

Jamal felt poorly, and the doctor said he has a high temperature, so it’s just an illness or virus.

There was no joy for Teemu Pukki (£6.9m) or Todd Cantwell‘s (£4.8m) remaining owners either.

Cantwell blazed a presentable early chance over the bar and later forced David de Gea (£5.5m) into a save but was partly culpable for United’s opening goal and was hooked at the break.

The budget midfielder’s starts now look under serious threat, with the eye-catching Onel Hernandez (£5.3m) replacing him at half-time and going on to score the Canaries’ consolation goal late on.

Hernandez was indeed Norwich’s first-choice left-winger in the Championship last season.

Farke, who also brought on Marco Stiepermann (£5.3m) at the interval, explained his half-time changes, sounding some ominous comments:

We needed more physicality. We started pretty well in the game with the first big chance, but it’s important that when you have a shooting position in the 18-yard box without any pressure you have to be focused and convinced that you’ll score, not happy that you just have a chance.

I wasn’t happy with how we defended either goal in the first half. The second one wasn’t nearly good enough. I wanted to bring more experienced players in for the second half, but to turn the game when you’re playing the last 20 minutes with ten lads is difficult.

I was pleased that we tried everything until the end and got a goal and were close to getting a second. The reaction, mentality and character were good, but our young players especially have to learn from the first half.

Pukki blanked for the fifth Gameweek in a row, meanwhile, and the mass exodus is continuing, with the Finnish striker the most-sold FPL asset of Gameweek 11.

There were glimmers of hope, with Pukki missing two opportunities from the edge of the United six-yard box either side of the break.

The penalty box prominence is still there (the most touches in the opposition area of any FPL forward during his barren run) but the quality chances have dwindled and there are obvious comparisons to be drawn with Aleksandar Mitrović from 2018/19, with the Fulham striker scoring five goals in the first six Gameweeks and then drying up thereafter.

Pukki’s unsustainable early-season conversion rate has now regressed to normal levels and even if the goal drought ends soon, the rate with which the attacking returns arrived in the first month of the campaign seems unlikely to be repeated again.

Norwich City XI (4-1-4-1): Krul; Aarons, Godfrey, Amadou, Lewis (Byram 66′); Tettey; Buendia, Leitner (Stiepermann 46′), McLean, Cantwell (Hernandez 46′); Pukki.

Manchester United XI (4-2-3-1): De Gea; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Young; Fred, McTominay; James (Lingard 81′), Pereira (Garner 82′), Rashford; Martial (Greenwood 75′).

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