I'm coming round to the idea that he's the best in the league at the moment. Fantastic to have a player like him again.
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 45
- Clean sheets
- 20
- Goals
- 1
- Assists
- 0
- Yellow cards
- 10
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
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I havent bought a kit with name and number on the back in ages. Hell, havent bought a kit itself in ages, but I'm thinking of buying one with Martinez on the back.
Hopefully this works out better than Heinze and tevez ... (And veron for different reasons )
Yeah, 2 of them were great but then turned out to be pricks, Veron deal never worked out sadly.
To be fair Maguire is actually very good at that (only to the left side though). Not many hit that cross field pass to the left winger/fullback better than he does. Otherwise yes his passing is fairly average, and (more importantly) he tends to dwell on the ball for way too long before actually making the pass.
Lindelof has always been our best at playing through the centre of the pitch over the last few years, either short or that long ball over the top to an onrushing attacker. Obviously Martinez has taken over that role now, as well as just being better at everything in general.
With a player of his stature it is absolutely unbelievable what he achieves on the pitch. The little man's an absolute beast. He's special and he's ours!
Lingardo Martinez
Honestly that’s a hard ass fit. I love it.
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Bruh.
He's become a Mancunian now
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Didn't think I could love a player as much as I do with martinez.
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The Butcher then put in a 2 footed tackle on the kids and sped offTweet
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One of the most likeable players we've ever had. Love him to bits.
Could he play as a DM? I just feel like he has the quality. Him next to Casemiro in that midfield could be one hell of a duo.
No, it has been discussed to death, EtH doesn't rate him there, just let him play centre back.
The contrast to Joe Gomez for Brighton's winner yesterday is quite something.
So that's how he messed up Gibbs White's ankle
It has a lot but his quality and performances have really doubted that judgement for me. Perhaps he has improved as a player since then and can do a good job there now.
Unlike the other usual 'oh he's doing a good job as a defender and is technically good therefore he should play as a DM' ala the Shaw and even Lindelof shouts, Martinez looks altogether a completely different (potential) proposition to play that role. Firstly, he's played there before, he doesn't really have lapses of concentration, he's fairly pressed resistant as he can stand on the ball and turn quite nimbly away from a player, is technically very very good on the ball and of course, off the ball offers a lot of tenacity with interceptions, jostling and tackling.
If anything, when I see Martinez play, he seems to be more playing within himself in the sense that he's being professional doing a job at the back rather than a 'natural'; he doesn't try to force passes or try to influence the play more than he needs to, when he has the quality to do so. He doesn't suit box to box but another 10-20 yards up the field honestly is that not much of a stretch for me. The only question mark is perhaps his back to goal play/awareness and in the pockets where you can lose the ball more easily etc as we've not seen much of that due to his current position.
What is it with everyone's obsession with taking every great ball playing defender and sticking them at CDM?
We already have casemiro playing CDM. Literally the best CDM in the world. Licha is pulling up trees playing his natural position at CB and the pairing with varane is potentially the best cb duo in the league right now. I certainly can't think of any I'd swap them for.
Why would you want to break up that partnership to move him into a role where the manager has openly stated he doesn't excel in?
Lets play our best players in their correct position, that's whats got us this far this season.
I'm thinking hypothetically for discussion's sake and because we may require his ability from time to time i.e isolated situations, with the Arsenal game being the most recent example. Not trusting to start Fred in that game and having McT is a worst trade off than potentially having a player like Martinez, who could do a job there. Just like Pepe/Ramos at Madrid or Marquinhos at PSG etc. Also as I said above, I think he has a much stronger claim than the usual 'can he play as xyz?' comments you'd see.
Of course in an ideal world with a better squad and having 'fully' transitioned into the best version of what ETH imagines his team will play as, we don't need to entertain the idea.
I understand it's a double edge sword though. Asking a player to play multiple positions can affect their ability to actually perform to their best though. ETH has played Rashford as a 9 and Bruno on the right wing probably too many times that we should have seen.
I can't see them both playing together unless it's for like 10 minutes to preserve a lead, but I still sort of think we'll see Lisandro at DM this season at some point.
If I was Ten Hag and Casemiro gets suspended for say the game against Spurs with huge top 4 implications, and I'm worried about Kane creating from false 9 position, I can't imagine picking McTominay instead of giving Shaw a game at LCB after how well he played (one meh game, like 3 superb ones if I'm remembering right) and Malacia. Malacia makes mistakes, but he's tenacious and can play the type of short passing football that helps us control games. It's too chaotic with McTominay.
But yeah, he's our LCB and that's his spot for the next 7-8 years barring injury. We need to replace Maguire with another aerially solid player to protect him, and we can't buy a tiny DM, but he's more than worth it.
He and Casemiro are the first 2 players we've had since Ferguson left that completely dominate their areas of the pitch in most games. It's kind of crazy that Barca missed out on him after the success they had with Mascherano back there.
It’s a discussion point on a forum. That’s all.
Seeing Shaw can play CB, and we've obviously missed out on a trick like that for years while being starved of good footballers (Maguire says hi) maybe there's good reasons to consider if other players fit other places?
What a player. We miss his defensive capabilities in our current Ajax team, but more so his mentality. We have a team of soft whimps at the moment, having one Martinez in there would transform our team immensely. Good to see him doing so incredibly well at United.
thank you for providing his services. Captain
Not sure why but the first thing I thought was is that the bond villain Nick Nack.
It's been tried and considered by our manager in a much weaker league. Our manager doesn't rate him in there.
Just let it go.
He must be in the running for CB of the season with Botman & Saliba.
We haven't missed that trick, we just didn't have anyone else to play at LB. We've played Jones, Smalling, Blind, O'Shea, Bailly, Lindelof, and even lesser players like Blackett and McNair(?) on both fullbacks and CBs. Even Shaw played a CB in 3 man defence before for us.
I understand where you and some others are coming from, but moving one of the best CB's in the world to CDM and then moving one of the best LB's in the world to CB to cover for him is just a terrible way of building a side (barring some sort of insane emergency where every midfielder is injured).
Instead we should look to just get more quality players that are natural midfielders and good footballers in (they really aren't that difficult to find), while keeping those defensive areas as a strength and advantage of ours against other teams.
Seriously, are people still pushing this?
Martinez will not play in midfield for Manchester United, barring the most serious of injury crisis. EtH knows this, because he didn't think he suited the role in the Eredivisie...why would he think he can in a far more competitive league?!
He's also our best defender this season. You keep keep playing him where he is, because that's where he offers the most to the team.
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Maybe because he tried it 2 years ago and he improved a lot during that time?
Man Utd 2:0 Nottingham Forest
Those midfield passes were sublime.
He sits on the highest table with Paul Scholes in terms of his lowest level is still miles ahead of many defenders.
Incredible footballer.
He sits on the highest table with Paul Scholes in terms of his lowest level is still miles ahead of many defenders.
Incredible footballer.
I’ve never understood blindly fanboying for players, but feck me do I now. The man could two foot one of our own, get sent off for it, and I’d blame the person on the receiving end of it for getting him angry.
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