Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes Anthony Martial's slow start to the season is largely down to his three-match suspension in the Premier League.
Martial was dismissed for violent conduct in United's 6-1 trouncing by Tottenham on October 4 and missed games against Newcastle, Chelsea and Arsenal but was able to start in the Champions League group stage matches.
The 24-year-old scored an own goal in the 2-1 triumph over Paris Saint-Germain, struck a penalty in the 5-0 thrashing of RB Leipzig and netted his only goal from open play this term in the 2-1 defeat to Istanbul Basaksehir.
Martial was moved to the wing to accommodate striker Edinson Cavani in Saturday's sluggish 1-0 win over West Brom and was guilty of squandering a presentable chance in the first-half. Martial's goalscoring return for France was derided during the international fortnight as he only has one in 25 caps but Solskjaer has backed the Frenchman to improve after a career-best tally of 23 goals last season.
"Anthony last season showed he made big strides, now it's time again to make even bigger strides, to develop more," Solskjaer said. "He scored 23 goals last season, which was a big return.
"Every season is a challenge and you cannot rest on your laurels as a right-back, a left-back or a centre forward at Man United, there are demands in every position. We want Anthony to kick on.
"With France against Portugal, when he showed his qualities as a centre forward, getting into positions, then [Rui] Patricio made a few good saves and that might have affected Anthony's confidence.
"For me, it's him getting the chances, that's the big thing. His conversion rate has always been good. Maybe at the moment the keepers have made a few good saves against him but that will change quickly.
"Anthony really developed last season. I thought he took big strides towards becoming a striker we know he can be. Then again, Anthony is no different from other players in our team in that he's not had a pre-season as normal and is working to get to his peak form.
"He lost almost four games with a three-game suspension (due to the timing of his red card against Tottenham), so he's lost too much football. He scored against Basaksehir last time, good header, so we hope he's just going to continue working hard to get to his best again."
