Lisandro Martinez has been backed by former Manchester United defender Wes Brown after receiving some criticism following his debut.
The former Ajax centre-back didn’t enjoy the ideal start to life at Old Trafford as United slumped to a 2-1 defeat in their Premier League opener against Brighton. Martinez was given the nod alongside Harry Maguire and endured a tough time as the Reds fell 2-0 down during the first half.
The Argentina international was also lucky not to concede a penalty in his first outing, having barged into the back of Danny Welbeck, only to be saved by a lack of intervention from the referee or VAR. But Brown has insisted he was impressed by Martinez’s first competitive showing with United.
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“He played well,” Brown told the club’s website. “I was still looking at the size of him, but I like him.
“He's sharp, he's in your face, he's not scared of getting involved and he passed the ball out well. He took up some good positions and for his home Premier League debut, it was not a bad one for him personally, even if it was for the team.
“I think he is quick, he reads the game well and he doesn't look like he panics when people are running at him with the ball. He was good. I know we got beat, but he was good.”
Sunday’s defeat saw United come crashing back down to earth following a promising pre-season, with many of the same problems from last season on display. Brown feels there is a simple solution to get the Reds back on track.
“The thing with the defence is that we let in two goals. Can we stop this, can we stop letting goals in, can we get three games with clean sheets?
“Confidence-wise, that is one of the biggest things for me. Because you then go into games gearing each other up, telling everyone to do it again, to keep doing it. Even though we didn't play terribly in defence, we still let in two goals and we've got to stop that. It's a mentality thing. We've got to try harder as a team because we let a lot of goals in last season.”
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