Manchester United manager José Mourinho has urged young forward Anthony Martial to up his game ahead of their Europa League quarter-final second-leg with Anderlecht on Thursday night.

Give me more of what I like

It has been a contrasting season for the 21-year-old after an excellent start to life at Old Trafford last yer, with just seven goals in 32 appearances compared the 17 he scored in 2015-16.

The Frenchman wasn't even named as a substitute for Sunday's excellent 2-0 victory over Chelsea, and it is unclear if he will even make the squad for Thursday's clash as United look to book their place in the last four against their Belgian counterparts.

It has been shown more than once this season that players that are out of form or favour with Mourinho can make a return to the side in a big way, but the manager admitted that Martial is going need to do a lot more.

"The same way I know the players much better now," Mourinho told his pre-match press conference. "The players should know me much better."

"The same way I know what the players like. The players know what I like. That’s the point. That’s why Marcus Rashford, even without scoring goals, even with being since September without a goal in the Premier League was always a player I trusted, I played, I supported because he was always coming in my direction, in the direction I want from a player," the 54-year-old added.

“Do I think Anthony is a player with great potential? Yes, I think. Do I think he can play successfully for me?," Mourinho explained. "Yes I think. But he needs to give me things that I like.”

Getting him in for his experience

Thursday night will be crucial to United's season as they look to continue their journey for Champions League football, and Mourinho will look to have plenty of firepower with the visit of the Belgian's.

Zlatan Ibrahimović is expected to start having been rested on Sunday until a brief cameo while Wayne Rooney could make a rare appearance having seemingly recovered from injury.

Mourinho stated that the captain's experience could prove crucial.

"His experience, his know-how of this knock-out phase," he added. "I think he's a player that can be useful tomorrow. He can help us."

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.