When Manchester United signed Lisandro Martinez from Ajax, a lot of questions had been raised about the move. Most of the concerns were about his size and whether he would be able to adjust to the Premier League. It is safe to say that till now, he has been able to do a wonderful job and established himself as a starter in Erik ten Hag’s team.
Of course, this is very early in the season and it would be pre-mature to declare him a success, just like it was pre-mature to question his ability after the first two league games of the campaign.
Manchester United had lost their opening two games of the season, against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford respectively, while shipping six goals. Naturally, many fans feared that this was headed for another disaster of a season. Thankfully, the club have bounced back since then and won four games on the trot in the Premier League, putting them in top four contention.
Thus, the reaction to the early defeats has been fantastic to say the least. As reported by 90min, Martinez told club media:
"“In the beginning it was no good, it was not what we wanted.“But we changed directly after Brentford. We changed the mentality, we changed the spirit and then we did an amazing job against Liverpool and then we keep going and you can see now every game the team is ready, is ready to fight – the connection with each other is incredible.“I think we did a fantastic job against Liverpool and Arsenal. But this is Manchester United, no? When the teams come to play in our stadium, they have to feel it was not easy for them. So yes, now we feel very well about it.”"
Martinez reveals how Manchester United reacted to early defeats
It is safe to say that the reaction from Manchester United has been superb and it has raised the fans’ hopes about the season.
Now, it remains to be seen if they will be able to maintain this kind of form throughout the course of the campaign and challenge for the title as well as silverware in the other competitions that they are involved in.
Tougher tests lie ahead. Manchester United have already managed to beat table toppers, Arsenal, but their next game is against an even tougher opponent in Manchester City.
It will be very interesting to see how they do against Pep Guardiola’s side and give us a better idea of where this team is at right now.