“He cannot play there in the Premier League”- Jamie Carragher delivers verdict on Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez
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At Ajax, Lisandro Martinez spent three years working for current Manchester United manager Erk ten Hag, and in 2021–2022, he was named the club’s Player of the Year. United agreed to make an initial £48.3 million payment to Ajax to sign the Argentina international at Old Trafford.
However, he is the Premier League’s shortest senior center-back at just 5 feet 9 inches tall. Martinez made his United debut in the 2-1 loss to Brighton and was fortunate to escape with a foul on Danny Welbeck without giving away a penalty. After United allowed four goals in the first half against Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium, the 24-year-old was then substituted at halftime.
“We knew we’d more likely either win it or the second ball around it,” Brentford manager Thomas Frank told Sky Sports when asked whether his side deliberately targeted Martinez.
“Of course, we looked at what Brighton did well against them, and Brighton are also like us in the way they want to play. Normally Brighton always build from the goalkeeper, but they went long every single time so of course, we looked at that. We knew we had that weapon so that’s why we did it.”
Jamie Carragher believes Lisandro Martinez is too short to play in back four for Manchester United in the Premier League
Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford was unsurprisingly one of the biggest talking points on Monday Night Football. Martinez was the subject of Jamie Carragher’s decision to concentrate, and he thinks that if United keeps using Martinez at centre-back, their problems will only get worse.
“We should never judge managers [or] players too early but I’m convinced this can’t work, because of the size of him in a back four,” Carragher said. “Maybe he could go left-back, maybe he could play in a back three, but in a back four, he cannot play there in the Premier League.”
“And the reason why they’re gonna have a huge problem with [Martinez] at centre-back is every single team that play Manchester United, maybe bar Manchester City and Liverpool, who might feel, ‘we don’t need to change for Man United’ – should target that. And if they don’t, they’re crackers.”
“They really should do that and I think [United] have got a huge problem. And Ten Hag has got his fingerprints a little bit over this team, and the two or three things I think he’s influenced are not working.”
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Sujeeth Shetty
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