Anthony Martial: Jose Mourinho tells Manchester United striker to shape up or be shipped out
France international has likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan breathing down his neck now after Armenian's fine Europa League display against Feyenoord on Thursday
ANTHONY MARTIAL has been warned he is drinking in last-chance saloon at Old Trafford.
The French forward was axed by Jose Mourinho as Manchester United put in their best display of the season to beat Feyenoord on Thursday.
It came after Martial drew stinging criticism from Gary Neville for his performance against Arsenal last weekend, having scored just once in the Premier League this season.
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He is believed to be upset over Zlatan Ibrahimovic being handed the number 9 shirt, at a time when he was drawing up plans to trademark 'Martial 9'.
Boss Mourinho has told him to pull his finger out and start showing why United moved to net him in a £57million deal at the beginning of last season.
Mour warned: "You have one opportunity, you have two, you have three - if you don’t bite then somebody comes and takes the bait.
"Anthony was OK for Feyenoord. I cannot play with 12 players.
"The players have to win their positions. They are friends, they are colleagues who work together every day but in the end they compete between themselves to have more chance to play.
"Anthony played against Arsenal. Thursday was a moment to give (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan a chance to start.
"The way the team played last season - I’m not saying better or worse, just different - was probably more adaptive to Anthony.
"He was probably more comfortable playing that way, at that intensity, that rate of ball possession and ball circulation.
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"Probably he also needs some time but in our squad, especially in these positions, we have Mkhitaryan, (Jesse) Lingard, (Memphis) Depay, (Juan) Mata, (Marcus) Rashford. These are probably the positions where we have more options."
Mkhitaryan was the man to impress against Feyenoord in Martial's absence.
And Zlatan Ibrahimovic reckons he is finally starting to see his Armenian team-mate's confidence flourish.
The Swedish striker said: "I know who Mkhi is, I see it every day in training, so hopefully he has showed everybody who he is and he now has the confidence to keep on doing that.
"He’s a quality player, like every player in the team, but it’s up to the coach who plays in the team.
"He’s been training very hard. You just have to wait for your chance and, when you get your chance, you need to take it.
"At the top level you need to deliver. If you don’t deliver, someone will come in and take your place."