Manchester United fans dropped a clear-cut verdict on Lisandro Martinez after his lacklustre performance against Porto in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
Erik ten Hag’s men secured a point from their trip to Portugal, despite blowing a 2-0 lead in the first half against Porto at the Estadio do Dragao.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring for United inside 10 minutes before Rasmus Hojlund doubled the Red Devils’ advantage in the 20th minute.
However, Porto rallied back after Pepe pulled one back in the 27th minute before Samu Omorodion scored an equaliser for his side in the 34th minute.
Samu Omorodion then fired Porto into the lead only five minutes into the second half, with United suffering a calamitous collapse in the backline.
Erik ten Hag’s side suffered further woes in the 81st minute after Bruno Fernandes was sent off, having previously been dismissed in the 3-0 defeat to Tottenham.
However, United salvaged a point in injury time after Harry Maguire came off the bench and scored an equaliser at the Estadio do Dragao.
Martinez underperforms vs Porto
Lisandro Martinez started in the heart of defence for Manchester United alongside Matthijs de Ligt for the 3-3 draw against Porto in the Europa League.
The 26-year-old Argentine defender has been a key defensive figure for Erik ten Hag and has often been praised for his influential role in United’s defence.
However, Martinez appeared off pace with his performance against Porto and the Argentina international struggled in defence alongside Matthijs de Ligt.
Porto piled on the pressure after going 2-0 down and De Ligt and Martinez’s partnership failed to impress, with Ten Hag forced to make changes in the match.
Martinez was hooked off in the 78th minute for Harry Maguire, while summer signing De Ligt made way only a minute later for veteran defender Jonny Evans.
Man Utd fans react to Martinez after Porto draw
United fans on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, made their feelings clear on the underperforming Martinez after the draw against Porto.
Red Devils supporters pointed out that the ex-Ajax star has been “clearly struggling” and are desperate for Ten Hag to make a change for the Aston Villa match.
While Matthijs de Ligt was also criticised for his performance, United fans felt that Ten Hag must now drop Martinez and play Maguire for Sunday’s trip to Villa Park.
“Martinez is clearly struggling to [perform this] season. The space between him and De Ligt is just beyond belief and Ten Hag still hasn’t dealt with this issue,” one fan said.
Another argued: “I’ve had enough of Lisandro Martinez, man, he needs to be benched for Maguire. The only issue is that [the] Maguire-De Ligt CB pairing doesn’t work.”
A third commented: “Maguire and Evans should be starting at Villa – Martinez [and] De Ligt looked way off it tonight… particularly Martinez – his worst game in a United shirt.”
Someone else wrote: “I’m not just saying this because he scored, I’d be more comfortable seeing Maguire in defence than De Ligt or Martinez, who’ve both had weak starts to the season apart from De Ligt’s threat at set pieces.”
“Love Martinez but he’s had a poor start to the season [and] Maguire should be starting ahead of him against Villa,” another posted.
While a sixth tweeted: “Hate to say it but Martinez has been terrible this season. I’d be [inclined] to go with Maguire and De Ligt against Villa and put Martinez [at] left-back. How over the summer did we not address the left-back situation that was so clear over the summer?”
“And Maguire must start in place of Martinez. He’s been a shambles this season,” somebody else said.
And an eighth added: “I don’t think Martinez and De Ligt [are] working This man needs to use Maguire.”
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