Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez aired out his frustrations with the club, going beyond just the recent results after their latest 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League group stage.
United are without a win in their last 5 games in all competitions, and have recorded just one win in the Premier League in 6 games. The club are currently in 13th place in the Premier League and 7th place in the Champions League, though the latter will change after the next round of fixtures.
In a post-match interview with Amazon Prime, Martinez lamented the performance calling it “really poor,” and further went on to criticize the lack of recruitment during the offseason. “I have to control myself a lot. But sometimes it’s a reflection in the mirror of how is our club at the moment,” he said.
Martinez acknowledged that United had a good season last year, but the club had not done enough to carry that forward. “We did a fantastic season last season. And now we expect more from the top, from up, to bring more players to compete because many teams bring many players as well, and today also Atletico they have an amazing team and they deserved to win today.”
The defender also called out Manchester United’s technical director Jason Wilcox. Martinez said, “I expect more from our technical director. I would have to be honest, as the players, we have to do more, but it’s just important when you make a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night.”
When asked about the added pressure this loss must have put on United manager Michael Carrick, he said, “You start changing, changing, changing manager. But what about other areas? It’s easy to say the coach, it’s easy to say the players (are the problem) but also we have to see other areas.”
Speaking to CBS in another interview, Martinez spoke about rotating players and the team not having enough bench depth. “We have to rotate players, and for me we don’t have the best squad at the moment compared with other top teams.” He admitted that blame can be aimed at the players but the club also needs to do more. “When you watch the games, you see the players and the manager and you point the finger (at us), which is right. We take the responsibility. But also as a club, I expect more.”