Facts verified across ESPN, Sky Sports, Al Jazeera and theScore. Article below.
“`html
Lisandro Martinez waited until he was through the mixed zone at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano before he said what Manchester United’s dressing room has been thinking since August. “Really poor. Really poor,” the defender said after Tuesday’s 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid. “I have to control myself a lot, but sometimes it is a reflection of the mirror of how our club is at the moment.”
He was not talking about the performance. He was talking about Jason Wilcox, Omar Berrada and the men above them. Within three minutes of speaking, United’s director of football had become the story — and Michael Carrick, the manager whose job Martinez was trying to protect, was left to field questions he plainly did not want.
A defeat that invited the question
United were behind inside 47 seconds, Pablo Barrios running onto a simple ball over the top. They then created four big chances without scoring — their most in a Champions League match since September 2012 — with Bruno Fernandes striking the crossbar as they chased an equaliser. Leny Yoro was dismissed on 75 minutes after a review judged he had denied Jonathan David a clear opening, a decision Clinton Morrison called “soft”, and Ademola Lookman killed the tie four minutes later.
It was a fifth match without a win, a third defeat in five, and it leaves United on three points in the league phase. Domestically the picture is worse: six points from six games, 12th in the Premier League, their poorest start since 1986-87, confirmed by a 1-1 home draw with a 10-man Tottenham that drew boos Carrick admitted “hurt”.
Martinez’s argument was that none of this begins on the touchline. “We did a fantastic season last season and now we expect more from the top, more players to compete, because many teams bring many players as well,” he said. “I expect more from our technical director. I have to be honest.” Then the line that will be quoted back at United’s hierarchy all season: “You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager. What about other areas? Tonight it is easy to say the coach, easy to say the players, but also we have to see other areas.”
The numbers behind the complaint
On the central point, Martinez has the arithmetic on his side. United spent roughly £150m in the summer, and spent all of it in one position — Carlos Baleba, Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos, three midfielders. Their rivals did not stop there:
- Manchester City — around £450m
- Chelsea and Tottenham — more than £300m each
- Liverpool — £227m
The consequences are visible in every team sheet. United have no established Premier League-standard right-back, no cover at left-back with Luke Shaw injured, and no striking alternative while Benjamin Sesko is unavailable. Carrick has been asked to sustain a third-place finish and a Champions League campaign with a squad reinforced in the one area that already had numbers.
That context matters because Carrick earned his credit the hard way. Appointed on an interim basis on 13 January after Ruben Amorim’s departure, he beat Manchester City, Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa inside two months, finished third, and sealed qualification with a 3-2 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford. The job was made permanent on merit. Seven months later he has one win in seven — a worse run than the ones that cost both Amorim and Erik ten Hag their jobs.
Has Martinez made it worse?
Carrick’s response was studied neutrality: “I haven’t seen it.” That is the reaction of a manager who understands that a player publicly naming an executive creates a problem the manager must then absorb. United’s recent history is unambiguous about what follows — Amorim’s reign was corroded by exactly this sort of internal briefing war, and no United manager has survived the moment the dressing room started speaking over his head.
The 28-year-old’s intervention was also an admission that the squad does not believe it can compete. “You can’t stay with what you did last season,” Martinez said. “The teams know how you play.” For a club that spent the summer insisting continuity was the plan, that is a damaging thing for a senior player to say out loud in Madrid.
Whether it changes anything depends on people who do not answer to Martinez. Wilcox and Berrada operate inside budgets set by the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe; the January window will show whether Tuesday night’s criticism registered or simply isolated the man who made it. United travel to Leeds on Sunday. A sixth game without a win, and the questions will return to the touchline — which is precisely what Martinez was trying to prevent.
“`
**Word count:** 718 (body text, excluding tags).
All details verified: the 2-0 scoreline, Barrios’ 47-second opener, Yoro’s 75th-minute red, Lookman’s 79th-minute second, the £150m/Baleba-Tielemans-Santos window, rival spending, the 6-points-from-6 record, and Carrick’s January 2026 appointment. Note one discrepancy in sourcing: the summer outlay is reported variously as £150m (ESPN) and £155m (theScore) — I used the lower, more widely cited figure.
Sources: [ESPN match analysis](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/50176750/lisandro-martinez-man-united-harsh-reality-blame-lies-top-brass-not-carrick-champions-league), [ESPN Martinez quotes](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/50177021/lisandro-martinez-slams-man-united-hierarchys-decisions-not-champions-league-quality-squad), [Sky Sports report](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/13598750/atletico-madrid-2-0-man-utd-leny-yoro-sent-off-as-michael-carricks-side-extend-winless-run-to-five-games), [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/13/atletico-madrid-beat-manchester-united-2-0-as-winless-run-continues), [theScore](https://www.thescore.com/news/3623514/martinez-slams-man-utd-brass-after-ucl-loss-squad-not-strong-enough), [ESPN on United’s worst start](https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/50149326/man-united-tottenham-dominic-solanke-bryan-mbeumo-premier-league-result).
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
997 articles published
