24 Jul 2025 09:11:09
Has anyone listened to the Fulltime devils bit on Lisandro Martinez? They're waxing lyrical about him.
If you listened to them and had never seen him play you'd think we had the modern day Beckenbauer in our team.
For me this season is make or break for him unfortunately.

1.) 24 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 11:09:27
He's one of my favourite players in the current squad, and potentially he could be very good for this United side under Amorim.

Amorim's system relies on ball playing defenders in the wide CB rolls for first phase build up.

That is something that Martinez does better than any other defenders we have.

Sure he has his weaknesses in this system, his lack of pace and 1v1 ability in the wide areas being a bigger issue than his limited ability in the air.

Yet if we can fully embrace the possession style that Amorim is looking for then his weaknesses will be limited and his strengths absolute key.

We saw against Leeds in pre-season during the second half how key playing out from the back can be when Yoro got onto the ball and starting pinging passes about. After Martinez him and Heaven are the only other central defenders who have that level of passing ability.

The rest (Maguire, MdL, and Mazraoui are tidy passers, but are not reliable expansive passers, who can cause the opposition problems when they are on the ball.

While Martinez is amongst the best ball playing CB's in the league of not all of Europe, the real thing about him that makes him a key player is his mentality. He is a leader, he demands the ball even when under pressure, he works his socks off and he throws himself him into danger for the team. His personality also seems infectious, with him often elevating those around him.

The real issue with him is his injuries, which are really starting to stack up now. He didn't really have too many before joining us so I wouldn't say he is injury prone.

The question now is have we managed him in the best way after his initial injury (which was just a freak injury) or have we rushed him back which has caused the subsequent injury issues.
Or have we managed him perfectly fine and the issue is actually his style is too abrasive for a player of his stature in a league as physically demanding as the EPL?

If it's the former then careful management should mean he can bounce back and become a key player for us. If it's the latter then unfortunately he will likely pick up more injuries on a regular basis and he sadly won't be able to become a key player for us.

I don't think he can or should change his style of play. He needs that style to be able to play in his position with his limited physicality at the level he's playing at.

2.) 24 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 11:57:05
I think he's awesome, he just needs to stay injury free and get a solid run of games.

3.) 24 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 14:42:25
There is some words I would not use in describing Martinez…Awesome, expansive passer, great CB…. are we talking about the same man the Glass butcher if so better words would be, Rash, dangerous tackler to himself, slow, useless in the air, targeted now by decent teams, injury plagued…
Great determination Yes is the only one word that could be considered.
For me he even behind DeLigt.

4.) 24 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 14:53:33
Great player.
Luckily, the injury he has come back from isn't a muscle injury, so I'm sure he will be fine.

5.) 24 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 15:19:45
German you are so bitter to the south american contingent in our squad it seems.

Martinez when fit and on form is in the top 5 in the league for me. He's just rarely fit, so I do think it's his last season unfortunately unless he stays fit all season.

6.) 24 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 17:28:41
Dn. where you get that tosh from, I don’t think Deligt or Onana or Rasmus or Zirkee are from South America are they?

I do think Martinez is an awful CB for the EPL, too slow, too rash, accident waiting to happen and injured more than plays, and every decent team target him because he is poor.

Would never ever get in any top 4 epl team.

7.) 25 Jul 2025
24 Jul 2025 23:32:24
Great determination is two words.

8.) 25 Jul 2025
25 Jul 2025 00:09:31
Eds, any chance of us poaching Pau Cubarsi to slot in between Yoro and heaven?

{Ed001's Note - about the same chance as I have got of getting a date with Sydney Sweeney.}

9.) 25 Jul 2025
25 Jul 2025 02:26:03
I have no idea who Sydney Sweeney is, so we're in with a shot in the dark ?.

{Ed001's Note - nor me but people keep mentioning her on the sites so I thought it would be someone you would be more likely to know!}

10.) 25 Jul 2025
25 Jul 2025 19:34:31
i'm older than people might think!