"Furious backpedaling!" - Where does Lisandro go from here? | Football Weekly

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Football Weekly on the Lisandro Martinez fallout, Man United at Leeds, Ipswich and Man City sanctions

The panel discusses Lisandro Martinez's Instagram statement and whether it is PR damage control, then looks ahead to Man United's trip to Leeds. They also praise Ipswich, debate the uncertainty around Man City's sanctions and Arsenal's title race, and criticise Arsenal's staff layoffs. The show ends with a quick weekend fixture preview.

Michael Carrick will be hoping Lisandro Martinez has less to say after this weekend's trip to Leeds, but if it doesn't go to plan will it be his last game in the job? Max Rushden is joined by Nicky Bandini, Nick Ames and Barry Glendenning to mull over all of the Premier League talking points. Watch the full podcast episode ► https://youtu.be/jwhlUo488VI Subscribe to Guardian Football ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianfootball?subconfirmation=1 We want your feedback! If you had any thoughts on our coverage of the World Cup, please let us know here ► www.theguardian.com/YTWorldCupSurvey The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► https://support.theguardian.com/ Guardian Football Weekly: https://www.tiktok.com/@guardianfootballweekly https://www.instagram.com/guardianfootballweekly/ Website ► https://www.theguardian.com Facebook ► https://www.facebook.com/theguardian Bluesky ► https://bsky.app/profile/sport.theguardian.com Instagram ► https://www.instagram.com/guardiansport/ The Guardian on YouTube: The Guardian ► https://www.youtube.com/@theguardian Football Weekly podcast ► https://www.youtube.com/@footballweeklypodcast Guardian News ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardiannews Guardian Australia ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardianaustralia Guardian Sport ► https://www.youtube.com/@guardiansport

Transcript

So, a long old statement posted on Instagram by Lisandro Martinez last night. Following everything that has been said about my comments yesterday, I want to share some thoughts on what I said and how I feel. After the match, I spoke out of anger and frustration of not getting the result we all wanted. Those who know me know how I live football with passion, commitment, and a huge desire to win. And when things don't go our way, it hurts, especially when representing a club with the history and stature of Manchester United. My words reflect how I feel and how much I want to see the club competing for the biggest honors. Those high standards are part of how I see football and the responsibility that comes with wearing this shirt. I mean, please put some piano music behind it. That's what I think. When I talk about wanting more, I'm talking about the ambition we must all have as part of this club to keep growing, to become stronger, and have everything we need to compete at the highest level. These are the standards we must all hold ourselves to, starting with me. I know that first and foremost, it's us, the players, who have to deliver. And I put myself at the front of that responsibility. We need to demand even more of ourselves and work together to take Manchester United back to the top. I believe in my teammates, our manager, and everyone working to help this club move forward. I'm convinced that the way forward [music] is to keep working together with ambition and commitment. My goal has been the same since day one, to win, to compete at the highest level, and to give everything [music] I have for this badge. >> Our club life. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. And and I hate Jason Wilcox, but that was on page two. Uh so, that's some PR work there. >> Yeah, someone's had a word, haven't they? Yeah, in the media department or or possibly higher up. So, it's furious backpedaling, but he said what he said. I think I spoke about this yesterday, but but I didn't mention the most ludicrous part of his post-match interview. Um was him saying that they'd a great season last season. They agreed did really well last season. They They had a terrible season last season. Just sort of did the bare minimum at the end under Carrick when they were only had one game a week to worry about. Yeah, it's it's out there now what he said on Tuesday. Can't put it in the back back the genie back in the bottle. No matter how much furious backpedaling he does on on social media. I I It'll be interesting to see what happens. I presume he'll probably get fined two weeks' wages. Will he play in United's next game? Uh who are they It's got Leeds away on >> Leeds, yeah. >> Uh Sunday. That's a biggie. That's a really biggie. I I actually think Leeds will probably beat them, but um it would be interesting to see if he's selected to play. >> Yeah. Uh what do you make of it, Nicky? And how do you see this game? Because I mean, everyone is predicting a Leeds win, and football being football means Man United might go there. They have the They have the ability to win, but Leeds look really good. They look really good against Arsenal as well, didn't they? >> Yeah, I think I think Leeds are a good team. I think at home at As you say, football's football. Max, there may be surprises, but I would back Leeds on on paper in this game. What do I make of it? I make very similar to what Bas just said. I think he's been told off, and he's come back with his uh uh maybe even had a conversation with his agent as well about what's the smart thing to do in this situation. But yeah, I I think he's he's been told off, and he's trying to backpedal a little bit. >> Yeah. Um uh Ipswich your Ipswich and they go to uh the Etihad. Um So, I don't know if this will feel as weird as the Liverpool game. It'll probably all settle down a bit while we wait now. We understand it'll be early in the new year when the sanctions are uh are given out. Um Three wins and three losses. You've got to Ipswich you'd absolutely take that. That's your 19 games to win three last >> Yeah, I don't think I've I think Ipswich maybe have flown beneath the radar a bit so far. A lot of talk about commentary who have recovered really well because you know, I think Lampard's doing doing a good job. A lot of talk about Hull and and the couple of wins they had at the start. But Ipswich actually I I think probably have been the been the most impressive of the promoted teams in terms of all all round play. They've you know, a lot of flux in the summer with O'Neill coming in for McKenna who we we talked about earlier. Lots of new signings. A lot of money spent as well, let's be fair. But it's clicked fairly quickly and they've got some seriously good players in there, you know. Ezequiel Palacios should probably not be playing for Ipswich. He should be playing for for a club higher up the league. Julio Enciso on his day, fantastic player. Saša Lukić, very good Premier League midfielder. And they look at home this time. They've got that robustness and physicality that they missed before. And I think they've got got the quality too. Whether it'll be enough and a very competitive division where we are still five or six teams really, aren't there, that haven't got themselves together yet. And surely two or three of them will, but I think they've got a shot at it. And and on the on Saturday it is a free shot. No one really knows what a what any given city game is going to look like at the moment. And you you would fancy them to take a bit of a beating nonetheless even if the atmosphere isn't quite as highly charged as it was the other night. But no, they've they've made a a decent start. They've got a platform to have a little shot at staying up. And then yeah, I think I think they'll be quite happy letting people talk more about Hull and Coventry for which for whichever reasons they're doing that because it's going fairly well. >> Yeah, Arsenal go to Forest, Nicky. And I don't know as an Arsenal fan, what what you want to happen to City? Like the title race is I mean, is it as simple as you just wait until the new year, City get docked a load of points, and then you've won the league? >> This is one of those areas where I find it really hard to to to speak as a fan. I think like this is um a thing we're all observing as as people who cover the sport and and watch and uh I honestly don't know like that I think I said this last time I was on. I don't think there's going to be any outcome from here that satisfies people. I I just think that we are absolutely destined for a situation I'm sorry to keep going back to it, but it's the best parallel I have. A situation similar to what's happened with Juventus in Italy after Calciopoli where you have different people with completely different of how football has played out in this chapter and those will never be reconciled. People will have their own version of events, which isn't that just how the world is going anyway and all in all things. Everyone's got their own truths. Um so as a fan, I don't know. Um I think it's just very odd to watch as a fan at the moment because as a fan what you really want is just to know what the situation is for your team. And and I think Arsenal fans are not sure whether their team is effectively top of the league right now because City won't be there or if if that's an ongoing title race or or what that means. Um you know, I was thinking um in the City conversation just now, in some ways City have done a very good job of taking their lessons where they can afford them this season. So they got bumped in the Community Shield. Oh well, it's the Community Shield. They got taught a lesson a bit by PSG last night. Oh well, they'll still finish in the top eight of their Champions League group. It's okay, you can lose that game. And as long as they keep winning their league games until the punishment comes down, they'll be very happy. Um the uh the Arsenal situation is not really changed by any of that. They've got to keep winning their games regardless of whether or not City get um a points penalty because frankly, it's not just about City. You've got other teams breathing down their neck like Brighton who are playing great at the moment and who thumped them. So um at this stage of the season, it's just about focusing on your own business and and winning games, isn't it? >> Arsenal's business, they're getting a bit of bad press at the minute because they've gone full Sir Jim Ratcliffe and announced that uh 65 workers uh will be being laid off. Needless to say, none of the 65 earn 300 grand a week or none of them have just signed contracts worth 20 million a year. It's the the staff who are, you know, the least well-paid at the club. And I get business is business and fans will attempt to justify anything, you know, yes, let's sack the tea lady and the receptionist if it means we can get Vinnie Jr. in and pay him, you know, an extra couple of hundred quid a week, but uh it's yeah, it's not good optics, is it? It's it's very Scrooge McDuck-esque. >> Hm. Um the other Premier League games, Everton-Chelsea, Fulham-Hull, Brentford-Liverpool, Bournemouth-Sunderland, who both play in the Europa League uh tonight. Uh you are playing Who are you playing, Baz? Torrense? We were just chatting before we came on air. Not a huge amount of knowledge, certainly from me, about >> Uh they're a Portuguese side uh who are playing in the second division, and the reason they're in the Europa League is cuz they won the Portuguese equivalent to the cup FA Cup. So, um I That is all I know about them. >> Um uh producer Ty wrote regards Bournemouth-Sunderland that Patrick Kluivert's expected to return for Bournemouth, and he should be available for the weekend as well. So, tough for a 50-year-old to play two games in four days, but hoping he's keeping himself in trim. Uh Spurs-Commentary is on Monday night, so we'll uh uh talk about that uh next week. >> It's a really good round of fixtures this weekend, actually. You can't I'm looking at all these games, and you probably expect Man City to steamroller Ipswich, which I hope they don't, Nick, but apart from that, it's very hard to call a a of any of them. >> Yeah. I think Fulham are big, isn't it? Especially for for Well, for both of them, but Fulham as well, who are at the bottom of the table.