Jamie Carragher has called Lisandro Martinez's comments criticising the Manchester United hierarchy "awful", saying the defender should look at his own "really poor" start to the season. Speaking after United's 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid, in which they played with 10 men, Martinez launched a striking attack on the club's leadership over the lack of summer investment in the squad.
Martinez, who is out of contract at the end of the season, said he expected more from "upstairs", singling out technical director Jason Wilcox. United failed to improve their options at left-back and up front in the most recent transfer window, despite spending £155m on four major summer signings after finishing third in the Premier League last season.
Carragher told CBS Sports that the comments do nobody any good and will dominate the headlines for days. He argued that supporters traditionally dislike the people in suits upstairs, so fans will welcome the criticism, but said it was the wrong moment for it. He also disputed Martinez's claim of a fantastic previous season, pointing out that a manager was sacked and that third place owed much to the absence of cup games and the struggles of Liverpool and Chelsea.
Martinez, a World Cup winner, has had a difficult start to the campaign, according to Carragher, who said United were "awful" again in Madrid. Martinez admitted he had to control himself, saying the outburst reflected the current state of the club. He said he expected more investment from the top to compete with rival teams that had strengthened their squads.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing