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Pundits discussing Manchester United “can talk on the television” but “no-one says anything” to your face, according to defender Lisandro Martinez.
Martinez, 28, helped United to an impressive 2-0 win over rivals Manchester City on Saturday, shackling striker Erling Haaland as the Red Devils kept just their third Premier League clean sheet of a disappointing campaign.
After sacking Ruben Amorim and putting Under-18s boss Darren Fletcher in charge for two games, the result gave Michael Carrick a dream start as United’s new interim head coach.
Before the derby, Martinez was on the receiving end of jibes from former Red Devils midfielders Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes.
Butt said on The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast that Haaland would “pick Martinez up and run with him” and treat the Argentine like a “little toddler”, while Scholes suggested the Norway forward would “throw him in the net” after scoring.
Asked about Scholes’ comment, Martinez said: “Honestly, he can say whatever he wants. I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don’t care.
“And I think for me, I respect the relations when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television, but when you see [them] here face to face, no-one says anything in your face.
“So for me, I don’t really care what they say. I just put the focus on my performance, the performance of the team and I give everything to this club until my last day.”
Scholes shared some of Martinez’s comments on an Instagram story on Sunday, and said: “Someone’s had a good game, was really happy for you.”
In response to the invite to Martinez’s house, he added “tea, no sugar” with a tag to the Argentine’s account.
‘It is about the connection’
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United have suffered a miserable season, without any European football and knocked out at the first hurdle in both domestic cup competitions.
It means they face just a 40-game campaign – the fewest they will have played since 1914-15.
Heading into the derby, United had been on a run of one victory in seven games, but an impressive display secured a thoroughly deserved win over their city rivals.
Pep Guardiola’s side were unable to deal with the cacophony of noise from the crowd and intensity of the United players on the pitch, being restricted to their second-lowest expected goals (xG) figure in a league game under the Spaniard.
“It is about the connection,” added Martinez. “It’s about how we represent them on the pitch. If they see us fighting like [that], they will be with us.
“If sometimes our performance wasn’t the best, because they expect a good attitude from us, tackles, the DNA, the blood of Manchester United.”
“And I can really understand because sometimes it’s like ‘what are we doing here?'”
