Lisandro Martinez is out of form and out of sorts… mocked for his erratic defending against Brighton, the £55m star MUST stand up and be the leader Erik ten Hag needs right now ahead of Harry Kane showdown in Munich

Amid the panic and hysteria, there is a benchmark when Lisandro Martinez speaks.

“I always say: when something bad happens, you have to bring something good,” he said in an article for GQ last month.

After putting in perhaps his worst performance in a Manchester United shirt against Brighton, with United suffering three defeats in their opening five games for the first time since 1989, he better hope ‘something good’ comes against Harry Kane and Co in Munich. .

Criticism in the Premier League will not come as a shock to him. At Manchester United it is often ten times that.

Last season he and his teammates were crucified after opening season defeats to Brighton and Brentford. Martinez recovered from those early problems last season and established himself as one of Erik ten Hag’s key players. He was a special standout against Liverpool at home.

And yet Martinez appears to have regressed significantly this season, and the numbers support it.

The World Cup winner, who has been eliminated in three of the first five games so far, wins fewer aerial duels, makes fewer tackles, fewer interceptions, fewer passes and fewer clearances.

Against Brighton, in a patched-up foursome with a debutant in Sergio Reguilon on his left and an awkward centre-back in Victor Lindelof on his right, Martinez looked awkward when we were nice, and completely lost when we weren’t. .

Martinez defended with little to no cohesion and was singled out by former Man United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel for having what he perceived as a hero complex when it came to the second goal, scored by Pascal Gross.

“It’s kind of what’s happening at Manchester United at the moment, it’s very individual,” Schmeichel said Premier League productions.

“Players, for example Martinez, try to be a hero, come in and block.

‘People know this. When we look at him there, he puts himself in a position directly in line with the goalkeeper.

“He would have to close or just get up to block. If you want to block, do not twist your body, but stand up straight. It is clear that things are not going well for Manchester United.’

When United signed Martinez from Ajax for £55m last summer, it was with the aim of recruiting both an enforcer and a pace setter in building attacks from the back.

While that was the case for large stretches last season, Martinez’s impact on the game has diminished this time around.

Of the 106 qualifying defenders this season, he ranks 95th in terms of duel success (42.86 percent), while he ranks seventh in terms of defenders most dribbled past by opponents, with Gross the last to beat him. is the boss.

But if you go through all the games this season, there is a laundry list of mistakes.

In the season opener against Wolves, Martinez got past the halfway line in an attempt to nip a counter-attack in the bud, but Matheus Cunha let him skip past him with ease, leading to a three-on-two. Pablo Sarabia shot wide and Martinez was let off the hook.

Against Tottenham there was a complete breakdown in communication between Martinez and Luke Shaw, with neither picking up Ben Davies, who eventually helped make it 2-0 via Martinez’s deflection for an own goal.

For Nottingham Forest’s second goal, he finds himself marking Aaron Wan-Bissaka, rather than Willy Boly, who is behind them both to take the chest. Last season, these kinds of mistakes were unusual. This season it has become increasingly common to see a back line crying out for leadership.

“Let’s see the same energy for Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof,” Gabby Agbonlahor said talkSPORT on Saturday night.

‘Martinez for the Gross goal, he tried to make a block, he got a fake shot from Gross and scored in the back of the net. If that was Harry Maguire, you wouldn’t hear the end of it.

‘Harry Maguire is probably looking around the dressing room right now and thinking: ‘How come I’m not getting a chance in this team?’

And so to the Allianz Arena and Munich and Kane.

United used a win over Liverpool a year ago as the spark plug for their season and they need something similar on Wednesday night.

Martinez has not become a bad player overnight, but with Raphael Varane yet to return to his side, it will be up to him to stimulate and lead a defensive unit that is ailing, with Wan-Bissaka the is the last one to go to the treatment room after being picked up. an injury.

‘Warrior’ and ‘leader’ were two words used by Jamie Carragher, one of his fiercest critics, last season. The longer he stays away from that level, the more United will continue to look to the sea at the back.

There are few tougher assignments in Europe at the moment than an attack featuring Kane, Thomas Müller, Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry, but United should be tougher to beat and much of the leadership will fall on Martinez’s shoulders.

“If something bad happens, it’s to bring something good,” he said. How United fans need that has to be true sooner or later.