Man United’s Lisandro Martinez blasts board’s lack of investment

MADRID – Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez blasted the club’s board for a perceived lack of investment this summer, after the team were beaten by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Oct 13.

United are winless in five games across all competitions after the 2-0 defeat in the Spanish capital and have made their worst start to a Premier League season in 40 years.

“Really poor,” Martinez told Amazon Prime when asked about the team’s performance against Atletico.

“I have to control myself a lot but sometimes is a reflection... (or) mirror of how our club is at the moment.”

Martinez said he “100 percent” expected more investment in the squad during the summer after United finished third in the Premier League last season to return to Europe’s top competition.

“I expect more from our technical director (Jason Wilcox), I have to be honest, as players we have to do more but it is also important when you make a strong squad to be ready for these kind of nights,” he continued.

Martinez said last season the club had “created the base to create an amazing team”, which was not followed through on.

Pressure is mounting on coach Michael Carrick after five games without a win but Martinez suggested sacking the Englishman was not the way forward.

“You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager. What about other areas? I can’t say more,” said Martinez.

“Tonight it is easy to say the coach (is to blame), easy to say the players, but also we have to see other areas.”

Red Devils minority owner Jim Ratcliffe was in the stadium to watch the league phase defeat by last season’s semi-finalists.

Man United spent around £140 million (S$237m) this summer on midfielders Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, but fans were upset the club did not reinforce in other positions, including left-back and striker.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Carrick said he had not heard Martinez’s comments and so could not judge them.

“I think it’s a little bit on the emotions of the game as well, of coming here and being disappointed not to get something from the game,” said the coach.

Former Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney said Martinez’s criticism was excessive.

“I think he’s maybe gone a bit too far, and that should have stayed internal,” Rooney told Amazon Prime.

“You can clearly see that he cares and he wants the club to invest more money in more players, and to do that he’s probably one of the players who’ll be out the door if I’m being honest.” AFP