Are you sure this is actually as close as you think it is? Martin has him covered in a lot of important areas from a 42% greater sample size. Across the board that would translate to quite a meaningful difference. Those numbers are comparable but Martin was clearly better
Martin's are better in some areas (typically in disposal numbers) but worse in others and mainly the differences are marginal.
I get what you are saying in that Martin had to maintain it for another 8 games but he also had things that benefited his numbers like more midfield time and also uninterrupted preseason so not starting behind the 8 ball.

