Lisandro Martinez had one job to do in the 92nd minute of Manchester United’s game against Tottenham at the weekend. Had he done it, United would have won a big Premier League game and, despite their uncertain start to the season, would currently sit only two points outside the Champions League places.
Had he done it, United would have travelled to Madrid for a tough European game yesterday in better spirits and with more confidence and with less noise around them.
Had he done it, he may not have looked quite so ridiculous as he stood before the TV cameras blaming everybody else apart from himself for the defeat that inevitably came against Atletico Madrid.
But Martinez didn’t do that. He didn’t even get close to doing it. As the ball travelled across the United penalty area on Saturday evening, Martinez failed to do his job. He failed to even get off the ground as he tried to compete with Dominic Solanke for the ball.
Instead, he grabbed on to his opponent’s shirt and hoped. At one stage he actually had his back to the ball. That’s what modern defenders do when they are desperate, when they lack the wherewithal or confidence to take real control. And, perhaps inevitably, Solanke headed the ball into the net and United’s three points became one.
It felt like a poor piece of defending at the time and it certainly feels like one now. But for Martinez and perhaps others in that United dressing room, the blame clearly doesn’t belong to them. It always belongs to other people. And when a dressing room becomes infected with a culture like that then the end is never good.
Lisandro Martinez (left) launched into an explosive rant against Jason Wilcox (right) after Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid
As far as moral high grounds go, Martinez does not have much of a leg to stand on after his error at the weekend allowing Dominic Solanke to score Tottenham’s equaliser at Old Trafford
All football clubs need accountability at all levels if they are to thrive. In the boardroom, the manager’s office and the dressing room.
At Old Trafford, too many people are happy to put their hand up when things are good but not when they are bad. That’s a culture as insidious and destructive as cancer. It may move slowly at times and it may temporarily be masked by a run of decent results, but it will get you in the end.
This week I listened to Michael Carrick – United’s honourable but under-performing manager – talk on TV about suggestions that his team haven’t been running enough. Carrick said that stats can be misleading. He is right about that.
But I was at Old Trafford on Saturday and didn’t need any help from the good people at Opta to tell me that Carrick’s players were failing him on that metric. I could see it with my own eyes.
I have watched enough football to recognise a bunch of players going through the motions. I know cheating when I see it and so do the people who pay to come and watch their team every weekend. It was because of this that United were booed off at half-time against Tottenham and indeed at the end.
Martinez is a thin-skinned individual. He was so upset at criticism from Paul Scholes last season that a meeting between the two was mooted. Scholes’ phone never rang.
Nevertheless he is right when he talks about issues with United’s recruitment. It hasn’t been good enough. Last season I watched an in-house United video that featured director of football Jason Wilcox telling the world how to get a transfer right. Do I really have to spell out the punchline to that one?
But it is not Martinez’s place to fire his bullets upwards in Wilcox’s direction, not when so many in red are failing at the basics every weekend.
All it does is provide his manager with endless fresh questions to answer and open the door to the attitude of a United dressing room that is clearly lacking a few mirrors.
United have to play at Leeds United on Sunday. It was always a big game but now it feels bigger. Now it has an extra layer. Will Martinez play? How will he play? What will he say? What will his manager and team-mates say? We can already imagine the live TV cameras cutting to Wilcox in the directors’ box at Elland Road as the second Leeds goal goes in.
It wasn’t Wilcox who put through his own net at Craven Cottage, as Martinez did last month in the draw at Fulham
Martinez is a thin-skinned individual. He was so upset at criticism from Paul Scholes last season that a meeting between the two was mooted. Scholes’ phone never rang
And all of that comes back to the Argentinian who, despite his status as an experienced international, gets a pass mark at best from his four years at the club and who has been front and centre during a time when a succession of managers – from Erik ten Hag to Ruben Amorim and now Carrick – have been failed by their players.
This is not a great United squad. It lacks depth and authority in key positions. But it’s good enough to sit in the top six of the Premier League. It’s good enough to beat a team like Tottenham. But it will never go where it needs to unless everybody in the building understands their own responsibilities.
Wilcox may or may not end up being the real deal at Old Trafford. He has already made some mistakes. But he won a Premier League as a player. He played on the wing for Blackburn and indeed Leeds at a time when pitches were average and protection from full backs was scant.
So the 55-year-old knows what the game is. He knows how it should feel and smell. Wilcox also knows what running felt like. He knows what a good dressing room felt like. So he will know – like the rest of us – that Martinez’s comments point to a desperate and destructive malaise within.
