Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville urges forward Josef Martinez to step up

Inter Miami head coach Phil Neville called out star forward Josef Martinez to “play better” after losing their fifth straight game of the season 1-0 to FC Dallas as a Jesus Ferreira goal in the 27th minute sealed the Herons’ fate. 

In six starts this season, Martinez has failed to get off the mark in any of them – much to the frustration of his head coach. After the loss, a solemn Neville spoke to the media about the loss and bemoaned the lack of goals from the Venezuela international.

“He needs to play better. It’s the first time today we played with two strikers. Gotta say, I don’t think in the first half either had a shot on goal. Did we get him the service? Probably not. … We need more from Josef, that’s without a shadow of a doubt.”

Though Miami intended to be a more attack-minded team, in reality, they haven’t created that many chances for their strikers to score. Through seven matches this season, Miami ranks last in big chances created, meaning that while Martinez’s lack of goals is concerning, the Herons haven’t created nearly enough chances for him to get a goal. 

Still, Neville insists that the former MLS MVP winner needs to do better. 

We’ve played seven games and our center forwards haven’t scored a goal apart from Shanyder [Borgelin],” he said. “That’s a concern.”

Neville went on to say that changes will be made to the starting eleven in Miami’s next game because certain players have gotten “comfortable” with their role within the team.

“I think what we’ve got in the team, we’ve got some players that are comfortable and from now on those players won’t be comfortable anymore because they’re not playing to the levels I expect. We’ve got players that have not had opportunities that I think now deserve an opportunity. So in two weeks’ time, I think we’ll see that.”

Players like the aforementioned Borgelin, Leo Campana, Jake LaCava, or Ariel Lassiter could be in contention to start next time the Herons take the pitch, should Neville stick to his word.

Inter Miami will hope to see some goals when they return to MLS action on April 22nd as they take on the Houston Dynamo.