By Kehinde-Hassan Afolabi
Lisandro Martínez’s criticism of Manchester United’s hierarchy after the defeat to Atlético Madrid raises legitimate questions about recruitment, but risks overlooking the players’ own responsibility for the team’s disappointing performances.
Lisandro Martínez has every right to demand higher standards at Manchester United, but his criticism of the club’s hierarchy risks overlooking the performances that have contributed to the team’s latest struggles.
“Blaming administrators is as old as administration itself,” and that is an excuse Lisandro Martinez wants to leverage to avoid answering questions of Manchester United’s players’ shortcomings this season – Kehinde-Hassan Afolabi
The Argentine defender made his frustration clear after United’s 2-0 Champions League defeat to Atlético Madrid on Tuesday, questioning the club’s investment and calling for more from director of football Jason Wilcox.
Yet, while his concerns about squad depth may have merit, the timing and direction of his remarks raise a bigger question: should players be pointing fingers at the board when they have not done enough on the pitch themselves?
Manchester United’s defeat at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano was another damaging result in a difficult start to the season. Pablo Barrios scored inside the opening minute before Ademola Lookman sealed Atlético’s victory late in the second half, shortly after Leny Yoro was sent off.
United had chances to respond but failed to convert them, leaving Michael Carrick’s side with more questions than answers as they remain without a win in five competitive meetings with Atlético, while they also became the first English team to lose a Champions League group/league phase game against the Rojiblancos.
Speaking after the match, Argentine defender Martínez described the performance as “really poor” and said he had to control himself while discussing the state of the club.
“Tonight it is easy to say the coach, easy to say the players but also we have to see other areas,” he said, pointing towards the club’s leadership.
He was even more direct when asked whether he expected greater investment.
“I expect more, 100%. I expect more from our technical director [Jason Wilcox],” Martínez said, while acknowledging that the players also had to improve.
That admission is important. But even though he recognised that responsibility does not rest solely with the hierarchy, his public criticism has inevitably shifted attention towards the people running the club rather than the players expected to deliver results.
Why Martínez’s transfer argument misses the point?
There is a reasonable case for questioning United’s recruitment strategy, because the club did not address every area of the squad during the summer, and a lack of depth can become a serious problem across a demanding season.
Martínez is also right that a team cannot expect to repeat previous performances indefinitely without evolving.
However, recruitment cannot be used as a blanket explanation for poor performances. United made significant attacking additions in the 2025 summer, including Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Šeško and Bryan Mbeumo, while their more recent midfield rebuild brought in Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba after they had lost only Casemiro.
The question is not whether those players are capable of improving the team. It is whether the squad is making enough of the resources already invested in it.
United’s current problems cannot automatically be attributed to a failure to sign more players because the same team was almost the best in the league since Michael Carrick’s return until the end of the season.
They won more points thereon that any other team till the end of the season but so far, the talents acquired in the summer are yet to fully make themselves genuine contributors, while the seasoned ones have also been found wanting.
The midfield recruitment, in particular, suggests the club has attempted to address an area of concern. Whether the strategy proves successful is a separate debate, but it is difficult to argue that every setback can be solved simply by adding more names to the squad.
And if Martínez believes United need further reinforcements, another question follows: which current players should make way, because in the second-half of last season, there was hardly a Man United player who didn’t play like they deserved their spot on the team?
Recruitment is not just about signing talent. It is also about building a balanced team, defining roles and ensuring that the players already at the club justify their places.
Players must take responsibility
Blaming administrators is as old as administration itself,” and that is an excuse Lisandro Martinez wants to leverage to avoid answering questions of Manchester United’s players’ shortcomings this season.
But of course, executives and sporting directors should be scrutinised for their recruitment decisions, long-term planning and ability to build a competitive squad. Wilcox should not be exempt from criticism simply because the players are underperforming.
But accountability must work in both directions.United’s players cannot expect the hierarchy to shoulder the blame for every disappointing result while their own contribution escapes serious examination. Their passive performances so far has been the chief of the current crisis.
Against Atlético, they conceded almost immediately and struggled to turn promising moments into goals and also lost Yoro to a controversial dismissal, making an already difficult task harder. Those circumstances matter, but they do not erase the team’s responsibility for the way it began the game or its failure to take its chances.
Martínez’s own argument acknowledged as much. “As players we have to do more,” he said. That should be more than a passing admission in an interview; it should be the starting point for the response on the pitch.
The club’s hierarchy can improve recruitment, but it cannot make tackles, defend crosses or finish chances for the players. Those responsibilities belong to the team.
Moreso it would not make signings just for the sake of it, because every club knows how negative impact it has on the team to have players surplus to requirements. United, especially, have been there, and would want to thread in that direction no longer.
The manager cannot be the only answer
Lisandro Martínez also pushed back against the idea that changing managers is the solution to every problem.“I don’t think so. I don’t think so. He does his best,” he said when discussing whether Carrick had been sufficiently backed.
He added that every season brings new challenges and warned that opponents learn how a team plays. His broader point was that United cannot simply rely on what worked in the previous campaign without making the necessary adjustments.
That is a fair assessment, but it would also be unfair to arrive at the narrative that the hierarchy has not done anything to improve the team. As a matter of fact, they did. The team cannot keep producing disappointing performances and hide under the excuse of blaming the administrators.
There may be legitimate concerns about the balance of the squad, including whether the club should have strengthened at left-back. Yet United have had options in that area, including Luke Shaw, Patrick Dorgu and Noussair Mazraoui, while Martínez himself can operate in defence. The issue is therefore not as simple as identifying one missing signing and treating it as the explanation for the team’s wider problems.
Martínez has a point, but the timing matters
The Argentine’s comments have struck a nerve because the fans are entitled to demand answers from the people overseeing United’s recruitment and direction. Public frustration is understandable when results fall short of expectations, and players are not obliged to pretend that every decision made above them is correct.
Nevertheless, there is a difference between identifying structural problems and appearing to shift the spotlight away from performances.
There was a reason for the optimism around the club before the start of the season, and about the signings made by the club. And that question already answered the whole controversy.
Martínez may have intended to demand greater ambition throughout the club, but his remarks, after another humbling display, have opened another debate about dressing-room accountability at a time when United need unity and a response.
The defender did acknowledge the players’ shortcomings, and that should not be ignored, nor should the club’s leadership be shielded from scrutiny. But if United are to recover, the conversation must move beyond who deserves the blame and towards what each part of the club must do differently.
Martínez can challenge Wilcox to build a stronger squad, fans can demand more from the recruitment team, and the hierarchy must answer for its decisions. Ultimately, however, the players must show that the team already assembled is capable of performing at a much higher level.
His frustration may be understandable, but United’s problems will not be solved by interviews alone. The most convincing response to the club’s struggles would be a better performance on the pitch. From the players.
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1 Comment
Fact and fact alone