30 November 2023 , 07:30
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Anthony Martial has been hammered for "not doing anything" after coming on as a substitute in Manchester United's draw at Galatasaray.
The Premier League side, who knew they needed a win in Turkey, started fast and were 2-0 up within 20 minutes. A Scott McTominay strike also put them 3-1 ahead in the second-half, but they spurned their lead to eventually draw a six-goal thriller in Istanbul.
Erik ten Hag rang the changes during the match but his replacements failed to make much of an impression. Martial was given over half an hour to make an impact, failing to register have a shot, having just two touches in the Galatasaray box and 16 touches in the entire game.
Peter Schmeichel cited the drop off in work rate when Martial was bought on to replace Rasmus Hojlund as a major issue as United were left to lick their wounds with a do-or-die clash to come against Bayern Munich.
He told CBS Sports : "When you’re 2-0 up – and it’s not the first time we’re 2-0 up in this tournament – you kill the game. You make sure the other team can’t get into it. You keep the ball, you make sure you don’t make mistakes – and a lot of mistakes were made today.
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"And of course you also have to look at players like when Hojlund came off, a lot of the pressure from the very, very front disappeared. The guy (Martial) he (Ten Hag) put in doesn’t do anything, where you had before someone who works really, really hard for the team up front all of a sudden you don’t have that pressure.
Anthony Martial was underwhelming after coming on as a sub"And that gives the other team a lot of opportunities to pass the ball around. So there are many, many things you can look at, but, again, if you score this amount of goals you expect to have more than one point."
Facundo Pellistri was also bought on in the latter stages to replace goalscorer Alejandro Garnacho. The young Uruguayan spurned several opportunities as United sought a winner with Ten Hag shouldering the blame for their collapse in Turkey.
He told TNT Sports : "I am responsible for this. We know we are in a project. We are making improvements, so that's very hopeful. We are going in the right direction so I know we will be successful in the long-term, but if you want to stay in the Champions League you need to win these games. We were winning and then we're losing it. We should have taken three points, that's clear."