Manchester United star Martial credits Solskjaer faith and increased game time for stellar form

Manchester, August 23: Manchester United star Anthony Martial said the trust of manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and increased game time was behind his stellar 2019-20 season.

Martial ended the campaign as United's leading scorer with 23 goals in all competitions, one ahead of team-mate Marcus Rashford.

The 24-year-old French forward netted 17 goals in the Premier League to help United finish third and qualify for the Champions League, while he managed four during the club's run to the Europa League semi-finals.

It was Martial's best goalscoring tally for United since arriving from Ligue 1 outfit Monaco in 2015 and he explained the reasons for his stellar form at Old Trafford.

"I think it's down to the fact that I've enjoyed more game time. I've played in practically every game and so I think it's all about consistency," Martial, who was in and out of the team under former boss Jose Mourinho, told Inside United magazine.

"In previous seasons I haven't been able to feature as regularly; I'd be on the bench quite a bit and other times I'd be starting, which was quite difficult.

"Whereas right now I know that the coach has faith in me and I'm confident of starting the next match. So, I'm giving everything I can in order to pay back that trust he has shown.

"[I'm hungry for all goals] because for me, a goal is a goal. So simply by managing to score more of a simple kind of goal, I know that I'll score a lot more in total.

"It's something that we work on a lot in training and I then try and reproduce that in a match situation."

United's Martial and England international Rashford also finished joint-top for assists in 2019-20.

"With Marcus, I think that we've been playing together for five seasons now and so, yes, we have that good understanding. It's a real positive for us that we have this great connection," added Martial.

"We just try to help each other out. For example, there are some games where maybe a shot is on and then I decide to wait and see, and I give him the ball because I want him to score. And he does the same thing for me, so you see, we're not just focused on scoring all the time.

"We're always going to do everything we can for the team to win which means that, if he is better placed than me or I'm in a better position than him, we'll always give each other the ball in order to score.

"There is healthy competition, but the biggest thing is the positive rapport that we have with one another."