Erik ten Hag explains decision to start Anthony Martial against Nottingham Forest on landmark appearance for striker
pMANCHESTER UNITED manager Erik ten Hag decided to start Anthony Martial against Nottingham Forest after #8220;building him very carefully#8221;./p
pMartial has been plagued by injury in the last few years and just came back a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/22527267/man-utd-anthony-martial-hamstring-injury-fa-cup-final/from a hamstring issue/a he suffered late last season./p
figure id=attachment_23667261 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 650pximg decoding=async fetchpriority=high src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/manchester-uniteds-anthony-martial-english-840348747.jpg?strip=allamp;w=640 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23667261 width=640 height=960 /figcaption class=wp-caption-textAnthony Martial has started for Manchester United against Nottingham Forest/figcaptionfigcreditAP/figcredit/figure
figure id=attachment_23667097 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async src=https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/fba412cd-4249-45b0-9027-98fee55b6571.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23667097 width=960 height=793 /figcaption class=wp-caption-textManchester United boss Erik ten Hag started Martial after a successful pre-season/figcaptionfigcredittwitter @ManUtd/figcredit/figure
pThe striker seemed certain to play second fiddle to summer signing Rasmus Hojlund, who was left out of the squad due to fitness issues, but it seems like Ten Hag still has faith in him./p
pThus, the Dutch tactician started Martial in the a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23596924/man-utd-vs-nottingham-forest-live-score-premier-league/Premier League match against Forest/a at Old Trafford./p
pAnd the 53-year-old head coach was convinced the 27-year-old is ready for action after a successful pre-season./p
pa href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/erik-ten-hag/Ten Hag/a said: #8220;We built him very carefully throughout the whole pre-season./p
p#8220;So he did a lot of work, individual, the last weeks with the team and he#8217;s ready to play.#8221;/p
pa href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/who/anthony-martial/Martial/a looked destined for the sidelines once the Premier League season kicked off./p
pThe France international was left on the bench during United#8217;s a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23397532/man-utd-wolves-live-score-stream-tv-premier-league/premiere match against Wolves/a earlier this month./p
pBut the ex-Monaco star came on as a a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23556645/tottenham-man-utd-live-score-stream-tv-channel-team-news/second-half substitute at Tottenham/a a few days later./p
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pMartial fell out of favour at Old Trafford last year when he was sent out on loan to Sevilla./p
pHowever, Ten Hag gave him a second chance last season and he amassed a total of nine goals and three assists in 29 appearances./p
pHowever, that wasn#8217;t enough to establish him as Cristiano Ronaldo#8217;s successor in a href=https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/team/1196656/manchester-united/United/a#8216;s No9 position./p