Anthony Martial Manchester United 2018-19Getty Images

Martial explains how he got back in Mourinho's good books

Anthony Martial has buried the hatchet with Jose Mourinho - resulting in his best form under the Manchester United manager.

The Frenchman's recent performances have been among precious few bright spots in a troubled season for the Old Trafford giants.

And after stating - via his agent - he wanted to leave the club in the summer, Martial has arguably been United's best player in the last few months. 

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The 22-year-old has scored six goals in his last six domestic appearances and started 11 of the Reds' last 12 matches, after previously being forced out of his left-wing berth by Alexis Sanchez.

He puts his reversal of fortunes down to upping his work rate - and doing what Mourinho has demanded of him tactically.

"I think that [my improvement] is more on a tactical level," he told United's club programme. 

"I try and take up good positions so I can best help out my team. 

"I have been trying to work harder defensively too, and to really try and help out the side when we aren't in possession of the ball.

"We work a lot on tactics and I try and do my best. I listen carefully to the advice of all the coaching staff we have here and I find that this helps me a lot."

It hasn't all been plain sailing, with Martial's form not exactly electric in Tuesday's Champions League win over Young Boys.

But, while there has been relentless focus on Mourinho's criticism of his players and his relationship with stars such as Paul Pogba, Martial is in a positive frame of mind, adding: "The key to it is playing games.

"For me, when you play in a game, that's when you get back your enjoyment and you start to pick up your form once again.

"If you don't feature regularly and you only take part in training sessions, you might still be in decent form but it's not the same as when you are playing in matches.

"I hope I can continue to put together a good run of games and perform well in them."

United return to Premier League action at Southampton on Saturday evening looking to make up ground on their rivals. They sit in seventh place in the table, 14 points behind leaders Manchester City.

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