[Ekeke]

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Good to see Guardiola giving him the respect in his comments. Just too bad that he's too small and weak in the air to ever play against a physical forward like Haaland like the media was saying when we signed him right?

I think we would have got top 4 if he was fit and playing all season. I'm concerned about his injuries going forward but hes a fantastic player and he's the backbone we need when we dont have the ball.

 

[top1whoisman]

Good to see Guardiola giving him the respect in his comments. Just too bad that he's too small and weak in the air to ever play against a physical forward like Haaland like the media was saying when we signed him right?

I think we would have got top 4 if he was fit and playing all season. I'm concerned about his injuries going forward but hes a fantastic player and he's the backbone we need when we dont have the ball.

Like he said himself he’s not really struggled with injuries before. Impact injuries don’t really tell a lot about a players’ injury proneness.

Yeah he’s so important to how we play. Perhaps alongside Bruno our most important/impactful player.

 

[Oranges038]

He's very subtle with his "fouls" inside the box. That's what the best defenders do, work of art really. The way he initiated contact with Haaland early on was very well done. Just enough contact in the back to get him off balance, but not enough to give the ref a chance to give the penalty. He's done this quite often, invaluable trait.

Streetsmart defending, wish Utd had more players like that, sublte dark arts that don't get much attention but can be really useful defending against players like Haaland.

 

[AndyMUFC]

Missing this guy for virtually a year has clearly been absolutely massive. Our best player.

 

[Gabriel Djemba-Bebe]

Harsh on Tevez. In United shirt he gave it all.

Going directly to City from United was a dick move. It was a real slap in the face for United fans who chanted his name throughout that second season. It's not even like he went there to win trophies and excel in his career - City were proper shit in 09.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Streetsmart defending, wish Utd had more players like that, sublte dark arts that don't get much attention but can be really useful defending against players like Haaland.

Also helps that Haaland is a massive pussy and just falls down all the time.

 

[Lash]

Going directly to City from United was a dick move. It was a real slap in the face for United fans who chanted his name throughout that second season. It's not even like he went there to win trophies and excel in his career - City were proper shit in 09.

We all saw his leaked payslip though. Obscene!

 

[Stadjer]

It’s funny. Most players’ image gets inflated during their absence. For some reason it was the other way around for Martinez. Maybe partly because it is being used to justify how poor we have looked under Eth this season.

But this guy is absolutely class and a monster. If he stays fit, we look a completely different side. Makes a massive difference to us. Perhaps the only signing of Eth who is an undoubted success.

When he signed many experts on here and in the media claimed he was too small and too weak to deal with the mighty Premier League. Then Martinez made them all look stupid by actually being one of the best defenders in the league. His very long period out was a good moment to downplay his ability and look less stupid for earlier claims that Martinez isnt actually that good.

Even the few games he played while not even at full match fitness showed how much he brings to the team.

 

[red woppit]

Good to see Guardiola giving him the respect in his comments. Just too bad that he's too small and weak in the air to ever play against a physical forward like Haaland like the media was saying when we signed him right?

I think we would have got top 4 if he was fit and playing all season. I'm concerned about his injuries going forward but hes a fantastic player and he's the backbone we need when we dont have the ball.

Impossible to say we would have got top four, but we would certainly have had a much better season with him available for most matches.
His injury, primarily, was the metatarsal, which didn't appear to be fully healed, or wasn't in the correct position when he started the season, but his second injury was when Souchek, I think it was, fell onto his leg, and damaged knee ligaments, that was a freak accident, so I'm not sure he is really that injury prone.

 

[Shark]

Really can't get my head around the comments saying he's been overrated during his unavailability. When he's been available he's been anything but, and would be essential in any title winning squad going forward. Class act.

 

[pratyush_utd]

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We really missed him this season.

 

[superdry]

Our very own WILD BULL OF THE PAMPAS!

 

[Pogue Mahone]

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We really missed him this season.

In an interview after the game he was talking about how important it is to keep the young players feet on the ground “They are famous now. Their life has changed” Such a great guy to have in the dressing room.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Harsh on Tevez. In United shirt he gave it all.

He gave a feck of a lot more in a City shirt. Goals, in particular.

 

[TheReligion]

@Malone_Post told You how important this guy is to the team and style

 

[the_cliff]

Not sure if posted before but anyway:

https://x.com/TenHagEra/status/1794651659366543591

 

[V.O.]

He gave a feck of a lot more in a City shirt. Goals, in particular.

Nah, he might be a weasel, but his on-pitch work ethic was never really in question either here or there. At United he was a supporting act to Ronaldo and Rooney, at City he was the main man for the two years until they got Aguero.

It's a bit like how Benzema suddenly started banging in 30 a season after Ronaldo left Madrid.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Nah, he might be a weasel, but his on-pitch work ethic was never really in question either here or there. At United he was a supporting act to Ronaldo and Rooney, at City he was the main man for the two years until they got Aguero.

It's a bit like how Benzema suddenly started banging in 30 a season after Ronaldo left Madrid.

His work ethic was fine but the quality in his game definitely went up a notch at City. Although my main point is that I can never get on board with having fond memories of a player who acted like such a dick and was a much more impactful player for City than he ever was for us (whatever the reasons behind this)

 

[SER19]

Such a brilliant, brilliant player. I hope that he continues to get credit for his ability. Vidic for example, was also a top class player, but is often thought of more as a tough guy, no nonsense. Martinez is such a smart player and a brilliant passer. What a signing - one that ten hag detractors seem to pretend doesnt exist. A truly top class defender in his mid twenties signed for about 50 million.

 

[The holy trinity 68]

None United fans and maybe some United fans will probably say I am crazy and biased, but he is genuinely in the top 3 CB's in the PL. He is absolutely class and if he was fit all season, we would have done so much better.

 

[T_Model101]

A truly brilliant player
Let's hope he gets over his injury issues and doesn't become Ronny Johnsen pt 2

 

[macheda14]

None United fans and maybe some united fans will probably say I am crazy and biased, but he is genuinely in the top 3 CB's in the PL. He is absolutely class and if he was fit all season, we would have done so much better.

I think Pep agrees with you based on his comments after the match. ‘Top 5 in the world’.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Remember a few weeks ago when our fans were calling him a poor signing

 

[Fobal]

His work ethic was fine but the quality in his game definitely went up a notch at City. Although my main point is that I can never get on board with having fond memories of a player who acted like such a dick and was a much more impactful player for City than he ever was for us (whatever the reasons behind this)

It's true but it has a clear explanation, Tevez ain't a second fiddle player, for the good and for the bad.
He wanted so bad to be a United player that he adapted to a "secondary role" to not cause any disruption, it worked wonders and because Fergie didn't think much of him and tried to paid him less and late, everything got worse and with a personality like Tevez, that ship was going to sink (worse when he had that awuful Kia and cia managing his bizzness). Fergie in this case read really bad with whom he was dealing, even if he thought Tevez wasn't exactly his cup of tea as a player.

Many United players from that period, bar Neville and mostly those who still are kind of even afraid of Fergie, has said that they didn't got the Club and Fergie's move. To this day Wayne names him his prefferred partner (it was like having Twins in the pitch) and his problems with the Club kind of started when he faced the Club asking what was happening loosing CR and Tevez so fast. THey knew that not only Tevez was great for them but that he was going to be quite a problem facing him playing for another team...when he went to City, the scenario was even worse.
Tevez is Tevez, he ain't easy, he got bored at some point everywhere, but perhaps the only time in his carreer that he actually low his head was with United, he certainly didn't feel wanted by the Club and Fergie, or better said, he didn't felt appreciated as a player.

A pity because that United was the type of team a Club should hold as much as they can, the right combination of skills and personality a United team must have.
To make it worse Tevez was the final Catalyst that started what City has become today.
The funny thing is that his problems with Fergie and Mancini, were the issues that the Press used to "kill" him and cemented his kind of bad image, while in reality on both ocassions he was more in the right.
He did worse stuff when he left Boca, how he left Corinthians, how he even left Juve to at first come back to Boca for sentimental reasons (Juve doidn't wanted to loose him) and went to China... those were their truly Tevez problematic moments, with Fergie and Mancio, it was more about two stubborn managers pushing his buttons with not much reason behind it and later having toi deal with Carlitos I don't give a fvck attitude, I do it my way.

 

[NotChatGPT]

It's true but it has a clear explanation, Tevez ain't a second fiddle player, for the good and for the bad.
He wanted so bad to be a United player that he adapted to a "secondary role" to not cause any disruption, it worked wonders and because Fergie didn't think much of him and tried to paid him less and late, everything got worse and with a personality like Tevez, that ship was going to sink (worse when he had that awuful Kia and cia managing his bizzness). Fergie in this case read really bad with whom he was dealing, even if he thought Tevez wasn't exactly his cup of tea as a player.

Many United players from that period, bar Neville and mostly those who still are kind of even afraid of Fergie, has said that they didn't got the Club and Fergie's move. To this day Wayne names him his prefferred partner (it was like having Twins in the pitch) and his problems with the Club kind of started when he faced the Club asking what was happening loosing CR and Tevez so fast. THey knew that not only Tevez was great for them but that he was going to be quite a problem facing him playing for another team...when he went to City, the scenario was even worse.
Tevez is Tevez, he ain't easy, he got bored at some point everywhere, but perhaps the only time in his carreer that he actually low his head was with United, he certainly didn't feel wanted by the Club and Fergie, or better said, he didn't felt appreciated as a player.

A pity because that United was the type of team a Club should hold as much as they can, the right combination of skills and personality a United team must have.
To make it worse Tevez was the final Catalyst that started what City has become today.
The funny thing is that his problems with Fergie and Mancini, were the issues that the Press used to "kill" him and cemented his kind of bad image, while in reality on both ocassions he was more in the right.
He did worse stuff when he left Boca, how he left Corinthians, how he even left Juve to at first come back to Boca for sentimental reasons (Juve doidn't wanted to loose him) and went to China... those were their truly Tevez problematic moments, with Fergie and Mancio, it was more about two stubborn managers pushing his buttons with not much reason behind it and later having toi deal with Carlitos I don't give a fvck attitude, I do it my way.

Not entirely sure how Tevez wasn’t his cup of player. Fergie rated him highly, he played him a lot and he was a key part of the squad the won the PL and CL. It started becoming problematic when Tevez was less than happy about us signing Berbatov, someone that would challenge him for starts, and his second season at the club was a bit of a miss, to the point where the deal to bring him to the club seemed more expensive than it should be. It’s also an attitude thing, you should always expect competition for your starting place, Saha’s injuries meant we had to bring in someone and we needed someone that could hold up the ball and add a different factor than Rooney and Tevez, who were similar players.

Nor do i have any idea how he was more in the right in both situations, especially when he fecked off back to Argentina for months and only returned when he was faced with potential lawsuits.

 

[V.O.]

He's very subtle with his "fouls" inside the box. That's what the best defenders do, work of art really. The way he initiated contact with Haaland early on was very well done. Just enough contact in the back to get him off balance, but not enough to give the ref a chance to give the penalty. He's done this quite often, invaluable trait.

Yeah, aside from being silk on the ball, he's a proper snidey little defender. Knows exactly where the line is and usually does just enough to not cross it. Great at using leverage and contact to put attackers off as much as the rules allow even when he's not in a position to challenge for the ball.

Reminds me a bit of Roberto Ayala.

 

[Malone_Post]

@Malone_Post told You how important this guy is to the team and style

I never said he wasn’t. He’s a fantastic player.

A whole teams style shouldn’t come down to one player though. That’s not a sustainable way of building a squad.

 

[Ish]

People saying he’s not good enough

yeah some people really have some wild opinions

 

[Mike Smalling]

It's pure speculation, but I wouldn't doubt for a second that we would be in the top four if Martinez had been consistently available this season. Both defensively and in terms of our build-up he means so much, that he could easily make 10 points difference, especially considering how many tight games we've had.

He will provide us a big boost for next season, if he can stay fit.

 

[Fobal]

Not entirely sure how Tevez wasn’t his cup of player. Fergie rated him highly, he played him a lot and he was a key part of the squad the won the PL and CL. It started becoming problematic when Tevez was less than happy about us signing Berbatov, someone that would challenge him for starts, and his second season at the club was a bit of a miss, to the point where the deal to bring him to the club seemed more expensive than it should be. It’s also an attitude thing, you should always expect competition for your starting place, Saha’s injuries meant we had to bring in someone and we needed someone that could hold up the ball and add a different factor than Rooney and Tevez, who were similar players.

Nor do i have any idea how he was more in the right in both situations, especially when he fecked off back to Argentina for months and only returned when he was faced with potential lawsuits.

Because Fergie fvcked up the timing, not reading the type of character and even perhaps level of player (that's why I've said maybe wasn't entirely his cup of tea as a player) he was trying to buy him on the low.
Instead of instantly giving him the "right" contract (in Tevez mind he already made "his sacrifice": accepting being on loan and accepting the established hierarchy of the players already there). He went out there buying Berva and delayed the signing of Carlos hoping to buy him for less money. Am I saying that Carlos is easy to handle? not at all, but Fergie thinking Carlos was going to be afraid of him or begging? not that type of fella, no matter if Carlos was in the right or not at everything. That is why I've said that in this instance Carlos did sthg that he normally never did.
Anyway this is Licha's thread, so let's not derailled it, my fault!.
BTW, Licha even if he is less problematic than Carlos, he also has a huge personality, we'll see how the new management handles him.

 

[sirAlexsglasses]

Brilliant player but surely he can't be injured again. If he can't stay fit for more than a month at a time then we need to look elsewhere.

he has been out for some time, no warm up games and straight into our biggest game of the season against arguably the best team unbeaten In 37 games at an extremely high level, I’m not surp at all of he does have another knock…….he left it on the pitch.

 

[Sandikan]

Why is everyone on about Tevez on the Martinez thread?!

 

[Lyng]

If Bruno leaves then Licha should be our captain. He truly gets it and on top of that is a world class defender.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Fecking Licha God he's brilliant.

 

[NewGlory]

Licha is our fire

There are only four of our players Pep has praised and would want on his team: Licha, Mainoo 100% and Bruno + Garnacho very likely.

Two of these are teenagers. Licha is force
multiplier for us

 

[DJ_21]

I don’t remember him ever being injured a lot for Ajax… or was he? Or have we made him prone to injury’s now like most of our squad.

 

[Vidooq]

He is not an injury-prone player, and this has been debated so many times here. He's had 2 injuries so far with United when he broke his foot in the Europa League Semifinal, an injury that was not properly dealt with, so it took another 3 months this season to sort it out, as the bone did not heal properly.

Then you had the unlucky landing of Coufal on his knee, and this can happen to anyone. Casemiro fell on Mainoo in the pre-season game and took him out for half a season. I can bet that if the Coufal injury haven't happened, nobody would be saying anything.

The injuries that I'm more worried about are muscular injuries, as those tend to be repetitive, and ACL injuries. Luckily, Martinez has had none of these.

 

[izak]

He is not an injury-prone player, and this has been debated so many times here. He's had 2 injuries so far with United when he broke his foot in the Europa League Semifinal, an injury that was not properly dealt with, so it took another 3 months this season to sort it out, as the bone did not heal properly.

Then you had the unlucky landing of Coufal on his knee, and this can happen to anyone. Casemiro fell on Mainoo in the pre-season game and took him out for half a season. I can bet that if the Coufal injury haven't happened, nobody would be saying anything.

The injuries that I'm more worried about are muscular injuries, as those tend to be repetitive, and ACL injuries. Luckily, Martinez has had none of these.

Good objective take, I've always felt this way with him.

I hope he has an injury free career with us.

 

[Isotope]

His availability has been unreliable this season. I prefer not to gamble that next season he’ll be back 100%. Not when his backups are way off in terms of quality.

 

[Borninthe80ts]

I feel calm when his on the pitch and im sure the players do too. The reference to Ayala was a very good one in terms of communication on the pitch and presence. Just needs a consistent partner.