Man Utd: Lisandro Martinez outburst triggered by Carrick selecting one teammate vs Atletico
Lisandro Martinez’s breaking of ranks to directly criticise Jason Wilcox was prompted by Michael Carrick selecting Ayden Heaven to play against Atletico Madrid.
Martinez hit out at technical director Wilcox over his failure to build a squad capable of competing at the highest level after the Red Devils lost 2-0 to the La Liga side on Tuesday.
Wayne Rooney had sympathy for Martinez as he was once in a similarly frustrating position at United but believes the defender went “too far” with his comments, while Jamie Carragher insists the Argentinian was “out of order”.
Questions have been raised over Martinez’s future at the club in the wake of his outburst, and he’s now received a ‘formal punishment’ in the form of a ‘fine’ by the club.
They may well have pushed the 28-year-old into an apology, and although Martinez didn’t admit wrongdoing, he did clarify his comments in more detail in a 271-word statement on social media, in which he insisted he wants to continue ‘give everything I have for this badge’.
A report from The Sun has now revealed that Carrick selecting Heaven to play at left-back for the injured Luke Shaw triggered his post-match meltdown.
A source said: “Martinez was furious because he thinks having to play Ayden at left back away in Madrid shows how ill-equipped the squad is. It doesn’t have enough depth.
“And the fault of that lies squarely with the board.”
The source added that Martinez was not criticising Heaven directly and that the Argentinian was angry that the Arsenal academy graduate was being asked play out of position when it was clear to everyone in the summer that they needed to sign a backup for Shaw.
Heaven ‘nervous and anxious’
Gary Neville said on The Overlap that be believes Heaven and fellow young centre-back Leny Yoro will have been most affected by Martinez’s comments.
Neville said: “If you’re Leny Yoro or Ayden Heaven, and you’ve got a little doubt about settling into the first-team, and you’re a young player, you’re thinking: ‘My World Cup-winning centre-back has said we should have brought more players in so I don’t play,’ you’re really feeling nervous and anxious.
“What he says is right, they should have brought in more defenders,” Neville admitted.
“However, you can’t say that as a player. If you say that publicly as a player, you’re effectively saying that the players I’m playing with are not good enough. That’s where the players have to pick him up.”
