Michael Carrick could not even look at Lisandro Martinez after the Manchester United defender’s moment of madness saw him sent off away at Chelsea.
Martinez, not looking at the ball as a corner was whipped in, went in with his elbow on Wesley Fofana‘s throat, only a minute or so after picking up a yellow card for pulling back Morgan Rogers.
A VAR review was recommended and Martinez, who was in the headlines earlier this month for calling out the United hierarchy for letting Carrick and the players down, was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders.
It was a ridiculous decision by Martinez to make the challenge he did on Fofana and Carrick elected not to even acknowledge his centre back as he trudged down the tunnel.
Cole Palmer scored the resulting penalty, given away by Martinez, to make it 2-0.
Lisandro Martinez (left) got ignored by boss Michael Carrick (right) after his sending off
Martinez made a ridiculous decision to lead with his elbow, fouling Wesley Fofana in the box
Director of football Jason Wilcox, explicitly called out by Martinez after a 2-0 defeat in the Champions League to Atletico Madrid, watched on alongside CEO Omar Berrada as Martinez’s dire decision making took the game away from Carrick’s side, who had been the better team in the first half.
‘You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager,’ Martínez said in his Madrid rant. ‘What about other areas? [looks up] I can’t say more.
‘It is easy to say the coach, easy to say the players but also we have to see other areas [points up].
‘He [Carrick] does his best. Every season is different. You can’t stay with what you did last season.
‘The teams knows how you play, they know every detail, if you don’t change next season is a big problem.
‘Last season we did everything, we created the base to create an amazing team.
‘It is annoying, disappointing coming here and I am not seeing my team trying to get an amazing result here.’
But he cost his team dearly away at Chelsea, not just with his defending for the opening goal by Rogers, where Martinez and centre back partner Harry Maguire looked incredibly slow, but also for the reckless foul on Fofana that saw Chelsea awarded a result-sealing penalty.
Martinez had a lot to say in Madrid but he was the key person to blame at Stamford Bridge
Martinez was fined for his comments made in Madrid and he sat down for a pow-wow with the hierarchy to thrash out any differences and to get back on the same page.
Yet, at a time when results on the pitch needed to see huge improvement, not least after the Stretford End booed the players off after the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth last weekend, Martinez let his team-mates down on a day where they looked the better side for 45 minutes.
The expectation is that Martinez will leave at the end of the season and it could even be as early as January with no guarantee that United trigger the additional year option they hold on a contract that expires at the end of the season.
