Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl has told Manchester United that his side will have their own plan to expose Lisandro Martinez when the two teams meet on Saturday.
The Saints will welcome the Red Devils to St Mary's for the early kick-off, as United bid to make it back-to-back wins after their epic 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Monday.
Much of the focus will be on how £55million signing Martinez fares in his fourth Premier League outing, as the diminutive Argentine defender has endured a rollercoaster start to life at his new club.
After being brutalised by Brighton and Brentford, 5ft 9in Martinez produced a Man of the Match performance against Liverpool, impressively dealing with what many believe to be the division's most ferocious forward line. But the Argentina international will face another tricky test this weekend, as Hasenhuttl plots to exploit his weaknesses once again.
Asked whether Southampton will be targeting Martinez with long balls and aerial bombardments, the Austrian coach replied: "I think it's not that easy to say 'he's small, put the ball there'. It's not that simple in football. We have our plan."
Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag signed the centre-back after three successful years together at Ajax, hoping that his ability on the ball, reading of the game and the fact he's left-footed would make up for his size. So far, it's been a case-by-case examination, as Liverpool largely kept the ball on the deck when attacking United.
That's compared to Brighton and Brentford, who both found success targeting Martinez in the air and pulled off thoroughly deserved wins. Ten Hag leapt to his player's defence after the humiliating 4-0 hammering at Brentford, telling Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher in an interview for Sky Sports : "The data shows he is dominating the ground duels and also the aerial duels.
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"I worked with him for a long time and I had that prejudice that you have, I had the same. But really quickly he turned it round because he was facing the biggest strikers in Holland and in Europe, in the Champions League. It was never a problem for him."
Carragher had been critical of Martinez's first two displays in English football, but was full of praise post-match on Monday. "I thought tonight would be his type of game. It would be more about reading the game, clever runs in behind, being tight and aggressive, rather than Liverpool playing direct football," the former England defender explained.
"He's obviously a very aggressive player and this manager [Ten Hag] knows him better than anyone. That's what he's about, he's a really aggressive defender, he's a fighter, in those first couple of games he was targeted, but that was never going to be the case against Liverpool, or a Man City, but it still will come and he'll have to deal with that.
"The thing I would say about Martinez is that he’s really aggressive, reads the game well, gets on the ball well. What I would say about him, because of his size, is that is a problem for him. No matter what anyone says, being 5ft 9in is a problem."
