Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg has taken aim at Lisandro Martinez following Manchester United’s 2-0 loss to Chelsea, claiming the defender made him ‘feel a bit sick’ with his behaviour.
Michael Carrick’s future at United was plunged into further doubt on Saturday as his side’s miserable winless streak extended to nine matches in all competitions with defeat at Stamford Bridge.
Morgan Rogers broke the deadlock just five minutes into the second half before a quickfire pair of yellow cards for Martinez left the visitors with only ten men on the field.
Cole Palmer made no mistake with the penalty awarded after Martinez’s second foul and the Blues held firm with their man advantage to pick up their fifth win of the Premier League campaign.
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The result propelled Xabi Alonso’s men up into fourth place, while the Red Devils sit above the relegation only on goal difference ahead of another tough clash at home to Aston Villa next weekend.
Prior to the match, widespread reports indicated Carrick would be given the chance to fight for his future and turn United’s fortunes around after their disastrous start to the season.
But the club’s latest setback has heaped yet more pressure on an increasingly dejected-looking Carrick and in his post-match analysis for Viaplay, Arsenal Invincible Ljungberg took the opportunity to lambast Martinez for ‘letting his manager down’ again.
‘I feel, when I look at that, I feel sorry for Michael Carrick,’ Ljungberg said.
‘Everybody is slaughtering Carrick in the media and stuff, “Is he good enough as a coach, this and that”, the players are not doing it.
‘How they behave, Martinez doing what he did, I was there and I felt a bit sick.
‘I’ve seen this quite a few times when he does stupid things, doesn’t think about the team first. They let him down.’
Former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel echoed Ljungberg’s takedown of Martinez, suggesting the Argentine’s conduct both on and off the pitch was simply ‘not good enough’.
‘He has cost so many goals and that is one of the issues with Manchester United, that they’re leaking goals for fun,’ the great Dane explained.
‘If you’re a big player, you played in a World Cup final, you just can’t perform like that, come out with statements like that [after the Atletico Madrid match], and then perform like he did against Chelsea.
‘Sorry, for me that’s not good enough.’
Martinez’s sending off against Chelsea means he will be suspended for United’s upcoming encounter with Villa.
According to ex-Liverpool midfielder Danny Murphy, there is a high chance the World Cup-winning defender will never play again under Carrick.
Asked if the term ‘liability’ was perhaps too strong a word to describe Martinez on Saturday night’s Match of the Day programme, ex-Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder Murphy replied: ‘It’s getting that way. A player of that experience and quality, he knows better.
‘There’s something obviously not right at the moment in his head, he’s in a different space, because you don’t see the poor performances for a player of that quality.
‘There was the Dominic Solanke issue last week [against Tottenham] and then there was the interview, rant, whatever you want to call it and then today, his performance in the second half was just nowhere near it.
‘To go and do that after you’ve just had a yellow… I don’t know whether he’s thinking of getting away, whether he’s disgruntled at everything going on around the club, but he’s given Carrick a really big dilemma now.
‘When he’s served the suspension, I think it’s unlikely that Michael, if he’s still the manager, is going to put him back in.’
Before their next top-flight clash, United will look to stop the rot when they return to Champions League action at home to Roma.
In his post-match interview with TNT Sports on Saturday, Carrick said he expected to remain in charge for the group-stage contest.
Asked by TNT Sports if he expected to be in the dugout at the Theatre of Dreams, Carrick said: ‘Yeah.’
When pressed further on his future during his post-match press conference, the United head coach said: ‘I’m just looking forward to getting the boys ready for midweek now.’
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