JOSE MOURINHO WARNS ANTHONY MARTIAL OVER FORM

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has warned Anthony Martial that if his form does not improve, he will not be able to keep picking him ahead of his team-mates as it would "kill the others."

Per the Guardian's Daniel Taylor, Mourinho said:

I don’t think he lost his focus. I just think he didn’t catch with both hands a big opportunity he had.

...

I cannot give one player chances to play and kill the others. To kill the others, I think I already did that with Memphis [Depay] by considering him the last option and by not giving him any option.

But with the other guys I think you would be asking me why [Juan] Mata is not playing or why Marcus Rashford doesn’t have a chance, or why Jesse Lingard, a national team player, is not playing.

We have Rashford, Lingard, Mata, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan and Martial, and I cannot give the same player chance after chance after chance and not consider the effort of the others.

The Frenchman has not always been a regular for the Special One this season—he's only appeared in back-to-back Premier League games twice since September—and scored six goals thus far.

He netted two of them recently, scoring against Middlesbrough on New Year's Eve and against Reading in the FA Cup third round on January 7.

However, it is his performance against Liverpool in the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford that appears to have upset Mourinho. According to the Daily Mail's Chris Wheeler, the United boss believes Martial did not give Reds teenager Trent Alexander-Arnold a stern enough test.