I saw this week that Anthony Martial has joined AEK Athens in Greece. Maybe that is his level, even at 28.
In his nine seasons at Manchester United, no player has better encapsulated the club’s malaise. He is the best example of where they have gone wrong.
I said about four years ago, when we went into a new season, that it had to be Martial’s last chance saloon. I can’t believe he only left the club this summer.
Martial is one of those players who, when you’re in training, you think: ‘What a player.’
But talk to a professional, we’ve all been in clubs with great players from Monday to Friday. On Saturday they disappear. He was the epitome of that. He didn’t have the eye of the tiger, that wasn’t in him. He flattered to deceive.
Anthony Martial signing for AEK Athens at 28 is the best example of where Man United went wrong
I said four years ago that he should have left – he spent nine seasons at the club in total
No player symbolises the decline of Erik ten Hag’s team more than the French striker
It was as clear as the nose on the tip of your face that he was not a Manchester United player and that was clear after a few seasons. He just couldn’t cope with playing for a big club like United where every game is a must-win.
There was no doubt about his ability. He had everything to be a top player, but in the end he just became a burden. You go from thinking, on his first day, ‘What a player he could be’, to now, ‘What a player he could have been’.
But Manchester United can do that to players — it takes a certain type of mental toughness to succeed. It goes back to when I was a player. We were the top team at Liverpool but we could never understand why they got so much publicity. They are supposedly the biggest club in the world. Success is exaggerated and criticism is magnified and that is the price of playing there. You are put on a pedestal.
Some players never reach their full potential because they get so much so quickly. They start believing what people say about them. When I was a player there was always a new George Best, Bobby Charlton or Denis Law, and a lot of those guys never achieved much.
Martial got a lot of those plaudits early on, he just never had it in him to make the most of his talent.
Martial received a lot of praise early in his career at United, but he never had the potential to make the most of his talent
Manchester United can do that to players – it takes a certain kind of mental toughness to succeed
Where is the sense of opportunity?
I sat down to watch the Champions League this week and within 20 minutes I was flipping the channel. I thought, ‘Does this really matter? Is it even worth watching the early games?’
Where is the danger? Where is the sense of opportunity?
Liverpool played Milan at San Siro, and Arsenal played Europa League winners Atalanta in Italy. Did it really matter whether they won, drew or lost, given the forgiving nature of the new format? No. If you don’t win, you get another chance, and then another.
I have serious reservations about this version of the competition. For me it is a complete money-making scheme. It is UEFA — and clubs — who are greedy. More games, less quality.
I love watching Arsenal but I couldn’t get into their game. I couldn’t shake the subconscious feeling that the result wouldn’t matter. Because we all know what happens when it counts, the big teams will turn up and go through. How can they not when only 12 out of 36 teams are eliminated in the league stage?
When I played in the European Cup it was champions against champions. The margins were so small from the start, a knockout with two legs. Every kick counted. It was also the best against the best. Now it’s the number two of the number two of the number two who get in. It’s a watered down version and it’s why the Champions League was created in the first place, so that the big clubs wouldn’t get knocked out by one bad night.
I won the European Cup three times with Liverpool, but we also went out in the first round twice. Once against Nottingham Forest — who gave us a good beating — and the following year against Dinamo Tbilisi, a good team but a team we should have beaten. There were no second chances.
You simply can’t have games — in the competition that’s supposed to be the pinnacle of club play — that don’t really matter. At the end of the season I think UEFA will have to take a good look at that. They’ll undoubtedly try to twist it and say it’s all been a great success. But you can only fool people for so long.
I don’t feel like playing the new format of the Champions League. Where is the danger and the sense of excitement?
Liverpool played in Milan and Arsenal took on the winner of the Europa League, but it didn’t matter whether they won
I can imagine that the public has an opinion that can be decisive, if they vote with their feet. You are not going to pay a high price for tickets if you are in the stadium and you feel that there is nothing at stake. I remember once going to see a match in the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin and there was nothing at stake. There were 12,000 people in a stadium with a capacity of 70,000. That is the great danger.
You can dress these games up as much as you want, but if they are meaningless, people will stop showing up. And that’s before we get to the players. They’re already complaining about too many games, and it’s only going to get worse as the season progresses.
Manchester City’s Rodri won’t be the only one thinking about players going on strike, as he revealed this week. Whether others will be prepared to speak their minds as he did remains to be seen. But if you follow the trail, it’s clubs trying to monetize every bit of their business at the expense of players and fans.
Now the debate about whether players should complain about playing too many games is a different story. Did I ever feel tired? No. A lot of it is psychological. When you have a bad run of results you start to feel sorry for yourself. When you have managers who talk about playing too many games it also exacerbates the problem. I have played 60 games a season a few times in my career but that means you have been successful. I was motivated and energized by the hunt for trophies.
I can perhaps understand that all our games mattered. And that brings me back to the feeling I had this week, which was that I was a little disappointed when I saw the Champions League in its new, expanded form.
There will be games I want to see when the next set of games comes around, but I can’t tell you what they are yet. There is no anticipation, no excitement. And finally, think about the name… the Champions League. It’s not the Champions League! Just call it the Midweek European Super League! That said, what I saw this week wasn’t all that great.
It remains to be seen whether other players will be willing to voice their thoughts on the idea of a strike.
Arne Slot meanwhile hopes to recover from the defeat against Nottingham Forest on Saturday
Don’t worry about Liverpool yet, they showed in Milan that they can perform
Don’t worry about Reds
Liverpool lost at home to Nottingham Forest last week, but I wouldn’t worry about that.
It was a bad day and a fantastic goal from Callum Hudson-Odoi would have won it and losing after such a great performance at Manchester United would have been painful.
But they did what good teams do: they parked it and won in Milan on Tuesday. I still believe they have a very good season ahead of them.
I called on Arsenal to show us what they are made of for the North London derby and they certainly did that. They were extremely well organised, very aggressive and looked a difficult team to play against. Their mental attitude is what will please manager Mikel Arteta more than anything.
They play Manchester City tomorrow and will enjoy it. If any defence can handle Erling Haaland, it is Arsenal’s.
It was brave to replace Aaron Ramsdale with David Raya but there is no doubt he is a level above. You don’t win big trophies unless you have a top goalkeeper.