Carragher slams Lisandro Martinez for 'awful' Man Utd comments

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FT Desk

Jamie Carragher has criticised Lisandro Martinez for his post-match comments after Manchester United suffered a 2-0 defeat against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

United found themselves down within two minutes of play as Pablo Barrios found himself completely free at the back post to fire a strike into the corner. As the game progressed, they were profligate in front of goal and they would eventually pay the price when Atleti went two goals up in the 79th minute after Ademola Lookman came off the bench to score.

Five minutes prior to that, Leny Yoro had been sent off for a last-man challenge on Jonathan David.

It was yet another disappointing result for United and Michael Carrick, who finds himself under increasing pressure at Old Trafford. Many United supporters are frustrated with the club's transfer activity in the summer as no attacking reinforcements were brought in, while the team desperately required cover in both full-back positions, too.

Following the loss, Martinez didn't hold back and pointed the finger at the Man Utd hierarchy for the current situation.

Lisandro Martínez did NOT hold back after United's loss to Atletico 😬👀 https://t.co/OGo25Pzd30

— Prime Video Sport UK (@primevideosport) October 13, 2026

"I have to control myself a lot, but sometimes it's a reflection of how our club is at the moment," Martinez told Amazon Prime.

"We had a fantastic season last season, and now we expect more from the top, from upstairs, to bring in more players to compete because many teams have brought in many players as well."

Asked whether he had expected more investment in the squad in summer, Martinez said: "Yes, 100 per cent.

"I expect more from our technical director. I have to be honest. And also, as a player, we have to do more. It's also important to build a strong squad to be ready for this kind of night."

Addressing Carrick's future, he said: "He does his best. But every season is different. You can't stay with what you did last season.

"The teams know how you play, they know every detail. If you don't change, next season is a big problem. You start changing, changing, changing managers. But what about [moves his eyes upwards] other areas?"

Following the dismal tenure of Ruben Amorim, Carrick came into United last year and helped them qualify for the Champions League, though the team were aided by the light schedule of one game a week as they had been knocked out of the cup competitions early.

Carragher doesn't think Martinez should be airing dirty laundry on air.

"It doesn't do anybody any good at all, and they will be the story now for the next few days all about this," the pundit said on CBS Sports.

"Every set of supporters don't like the suits or the guys upstairs, so United fans will lap this up and think it's great. I think it's awful that he's come out and said that right now. I do.

"And when he's saying 'we had a fantastic season last season', they didn't. A manager got sacked last season. Sacked.

"I think he's out of order."

@Carra23 isn't a fan of Lisandro Martínez's comments about the Manchester United board 👇 https://t.co/nJye758mx6

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) October 13, 2026

"They finished third because they had no cup games. They got knocked out of the cup competitions very early. The reason they finished third is Liverpool and Chelsea were that bad as well.

"Now we're seeing the real Manchester United this season. They were awful again tonight.

"And him as well, when he's talking at the start of this season - I think he's a good player, by the way, he's a World Cup winner, I get that - he's had an awful start to the season. Awful. Really poor.

"And yeah, people are lapping it up, Manchester United fans will. That does nobody any good at all."

The Red Devils have won just one of their opening six Premier League matches this season and have claimed just six points so far.

They won their opening Champions League fixture 4-0 but that victory came against competition new boys, Sabah.