Martinez is the Worst Man Utd Player to Launch Wilcox Attack

· GiveMeSport

Lisandro Martinez has taken aim at Man Utd chief Jason Wilcox, but he is in no position to do so.

Manchester United star Lisandro Martinez has taken aim at the club's sporting director over the club's summer transfer activity. The Red Devils continued their poor start to the season on Tuesday night when they lost 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League .

There wasn't a great deal between the two sides, but United conceded in less than a minute after being caught out trying to press, and after a couple of decent United chances, the game was taken away from them when Leny Yoro was sent off and Atletico Madrid put the game to bed with a second shortly after.

After the game, United defender Martinez decided to take the opportunity to attack the club's director of football, Jason Wilcox, over the club's summer transfer activity.

> "We did a fantastic season last season, and now we expect more from the top, from above, you know, to bring more players to compete, because many, many teams bring many players in as well, and today also, Atletico have an amazing team, and they deserved to win today," said the defender.

> "I expected more, honestly. I expected more."

> "Yeah, 100 per cent. I expected more from our technical director. I have to be honest, you know? And also, as players, we have to do more, but it's also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for these kinds of nights."

Now, on one hand, we can give Martinez a little praise for speaking his mind when others don't tend to. These interviews are usually carefully managed by communications professionals, and we rarely get any value from them. Martinez has given us some, given some insight into what the players may be feeling, and fans will respect that to a degree.

Should he keep his criticism within the club? That's a question many will now be asking, but the comments are certainly a defence of Carrick, who has come under serious pressure amid a disappointing start to the season.

But the greater issue here is that Martinez has been way off it this season. United addressed their midfield with three new signings, and we can debate the quality of those signings another time, but they did address that area. The one area almost every fan felt they should have addressed was the back-line, and we are already seeing why this season.

Martinez has been poor for the entire season so far, scoring an own goal at Fulham then getting bullied into conceding a goal to Dominic Solanke in the final moment of the weekend's clash with Tottenham, swapping three points for one.

That led Paul Scholes to say on TNT Sports: > "And you look at the centre-halves again. Now this is an area the pitch that hasn’t been addressed for a few years. We’ve had the same centre-halves now since probably Leny Yoro and young Ayden Heaven, and we know you’re not going to be successful with them. > > “We’ve said you’re never ever going to win a Premier League with them, and the goal on Saturday was a prime example. We know Martinez is a good footballer on the ball, he’s got a nice left foot, but for your centre-half to be bullied by Solanke…That was purely physical. As a centre-half, you cannot be bullied. Now, if it was Maguire on the other hand, he’d have probably dealt with it. Martinez can’t. > > “It is criminal how we let them score. That goal is just beyond belief from a centre-back point of view.”

The defence is a giant weakness, and Martinez is a central part of that. So, from that standpoint, he has no business criticising other people within the club when he has not been going a good job himself. You can stand there all day and say you expected more from the sporting director, but it's brave to do it when the sporting director could quite comfortably stand there and say he expected more from you.

Martinez is one of the players currently letting Carrick and United down, and until he changes that fact, he ought to keep quiet for his own sake.

This isn't like we have seen elsewhere, when, for example, Cristian Romero, who was comfortably one of Tottenham's best players, called out the board repeatedly for their lack of investment. But you have to have the command and the reputation to get away with that.

Martinez doesn't, he has never earned it, and until he can become a standout player, these types of comments are not going to help him or the club as they look to turn things around.

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