Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez sharply criticized the club’s management after the 2-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid in the Champions League. “I have to pull myself together a lot. But sometimes it’s a reflection of how our club is at the moment,” said the Argentine soccer world champion of 2022 after the sobering appearance in Madrid.
“We had a fantastic season last season. And now we expect more from the top, from above, to bring in more players in order to be competitive, because many teams are also bringing in a lot of players,” Martínez explained on Prime Video. “Atlético have a first-class team and they deserved to win today.”
When asked if he meant to say that United did not have a squad of Champions League quality, Martínez replied: “Honestly, I expect more. I expect more,” said the 28-year-old from the struggling Premier League club and added: “I expect more from our sporting director.”
The athletic director’s name is Jason Wilcox. The club spent more than 170 million euros under the 55-year-old in the summer. From Martínez’s point of view, apparently not enough.
The Red Devils qualified for the Champions League again last season after a three-year break. This Premier League season, coach Michael Carrick’s team got off to a weak start with six points from the first six games. In the premier class, the balance is balanced after the opening win against FK Sabah from Azerbaijan (4-0) and the defeat in Madrid. The club has now been without a win for five competitive games.
Martínez defended ex-professional Carrick, who was appointed permanent head coach by the interim coach in May and has a contract until 2028. “He’s doing his best,” Martínez said. It is always easy to criticize the coach or the players, he emphasized. “You can’t keep changing, changing, changing coaches. But what about the other areas?”
Carrick initially declined to comment on the interview. “Immediately after a game is not the time for me to talk about this interview because I haven’t seen it, so I really can’t say anything about it.” United icon Wayne Rooney criticized the sweeping attack. “This will completely tear the team apart,” suspected Rooney in his role as a TV pundit.