Manchester United Update: Solskjaer Raves About Transfer-Linked Striker's Performance Against Man City

A Manchester United striker left a lasting impression against Manchester City despite not managing to score a goal.

Luke Shaw and Bruno Fernandes both scored sensational goals to hand Manchester United an important derby win against Manchester City on Sunday. However, Solskjaer also credited the resurgent performance of Anthony Martial, the striker who has been struggling to find his rhythm this season.

After the game, the Red Devils boss heaped praise on Martial. For the Norwegian, he wasn’t sure about how capable the player was heading into the match, but he was surprised with the English striker resurgence.

"I thought Anthony [Martial] was absolutely superb today," Solskjaer told Sky Sports. "He was more of the Anthony of old. He turns, gets hold of it. And to think he was a doubt this morning, until two hours after the warm-up I wasn't sure if he was going to be playing or not.”

"Today, he rediscovered himself I feel,” he continued. “He was really strong on the ball, positive and that's what it's about. We have to be positive and play at a high-tempo, of course we do."

Prior to his notable display against Manchester City, Martial was linked to a potential move away from Old Trafford. Previous reports state that the Manchester United top brass is considering dealing the 25-year-old in the next transfer window.

Even more interesting, the Red Devils were said to be planning to use Martial’s exit to leverage a deal for Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho.

The 2-0 victory was essential to Manchester United’s title chase this season. However, the Red Devils are still second in the English Premier League standings with 54 points, 11 markers behind Manchester City.

With only 10 games to play in the current campaign, Solskjaer boasts that his squad has become a “better” unit but will continue to work on consistency.

“We suffered a lot, the players worked their nuts off,” the manager admitted to The Guardian. “The experience of having gone through that [can] help us of course [in future]. They’re 11 points ahead with 10 games to go. They are so far ahead you can’t really think about anything but making sure we win our games and be better than last year.”

“We’re a better Man United than we were 12, 13, 16 months ago,” he added. “We have improved massively – we are more robust and resilient and there’s more personality in the team: that’s what I like. We want to improve [more], I want the players to improve, we want to learn from this experience. We need to improve on so many things to get our consistency better.”