Manchester United: Paul Scholes highlights key weakness holding Anthony Martial back
Paul Scholes has criticised Anthony Martial for lacking the desire to get into the box as a striker for Manchester United.
The Frenchman has been utilised predominantly in his preferred position through the middle under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer compared to his usual wide role under Jose Mourinho.
Martial scored the opener in the 2-0 win at Chelsea on Monday with a glancing header inside the box.
But Scholes remains unimpressed by that side of his game, insisting he must show more initiative to make himself available in the penalty area.
“With Anthony Martial, it’s interesting, I don’t know if he’s a wide player, I don’t know if he’s a centre forward,” Scholes told Goal.
“Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] clearly thinks there’s a centre forward in there and he’s telling him to get in the box as often as he can.
“[On Monday] he laboured at times to get in the box, he didn’t really bust a gut. You shouldn’t need to [tell a striker to get into the penalty box], but if you’re Anthony Martial he looks like he needs telling.
“He looks like he doesn’t take that much information in. Some players are like that, sometimes you tell them once and they’ll do it all the time. He looks like you need to tell him every two minutes, what you want him to do.”
The 24-year-old has nine goals in the Premier League, with 13 in all competitions in what has been his first full season at Old Trafford as a centre-forward.
Martial is two goals shy of his previous best in the league, 11 in 2015/16, and four short of his best in all competitions (17) from the same season.
