Teaching your leaders lessons means setting an example on the ground. Considering his recent performances, Lisandro Martinez is rather poorly placed to do so. After Manchester United’s defeat against Atlético de Madrid a fortnight ago (2-0), the Argentine international attacked its leaders head-on, accusing them of inadequate recruitment and squad building. In substance, his observation was justified, the form, a little less so.
“We expect more from above, you know, to bring in more players to be able to be competitive, because a lot of clubs are investing. I expect more, honestly, from everyone. I expected more investment in the transfer window. I expect more from our technical director (Jason Wilcox, Editor’s note). You have to be honest”he castigated, without however ignoring the share of responsibility of the current players. The Argentinian world champion has reportedly alienated a lot of people internally since this speech. And it didn’t have the hoped-for effect on the pitch either, since Manchester United still hasn’t regained the taste of victory. With this afternoon’s defeat against Chelsea (2-0), Michael Carrick’s men have now been chasing success for 9 games.
Manchester United could be last in the Premier League after today
That of this afternoon is once again hardly questionable given the nature of the meeting, but with a little more control, it could have been attenuated. Lisandro Martinez is far from being free from all blame, the Argentinian having himself precipitated the fall of his family. Booked in the 59th minute, the former Ajax Amsterdam defender was sent off three minutes later for bringing his elbow to Wesley Fofana’s throat following a corner.
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Double penalty since the Blues scored from the penalty behind thanks to Cole Palmer. Not an exchange, not a word, not even a single look between Michael Carrick and his player at the time of his exit. In the event of a favorable result from its pursuers, Manchester United could be relegated to last place in the Premier League at the end of this 9th day. However, the coach seemed quite calm about the idea of still being on duty against Roma next week.
