Jamie Carragher has hit out at a Manchester United fan and has been forced to back up his controversial comments relating to World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez.
Carragher, 45 has previously criticised Martinez, 25, by calling him a ‘problem’ for Erik ten Hag. In August 2022, Carragher said that Martinez was too small to play the defensive backline in the Premier League. He said that although you should never ‘judge players too early’, he was convinced that ‘the size of him’ playing in a back four would be detrimental to United’s 2022/23 season. This comment was made following United’s 4-0 defeat to Brentford.
At 5ft 9inch, Martinez is one of the smallest centre-backs in the league. However, one fan believes that his height is not a hindrance. Instead, they believe the Argentinian international is the ‘best centre-back’ in the league. Mark Goldbridge, presenter of Manchester United fan channel United Stand, took to Twitter to simultaneously blast Carragher’s previous comments and praise Martinez.
On Monday, 11 April, Goldbridge wrote, “I genuinely wouldn’t take much notice of @Carra23 opinion on [centre-backs]. He told everyone Martinez would flop without watching him because he was small. Martinez [is] currently the best CB in the league on [his] debut season. Sit down.”
Carragher immediately fired back at the claim. He quoted the original tweet by Goldbridge and wrote, “The partnership of [Harry] Maguire & [Victor] Lindelöf in the 2019/20 season conceded one less goal than Martinez and [Raphaël] Varane have in this campaign. There are still nine games to go this season.” He ended his statement with a winking emoji.
While Carragher might not believe that Martinez is the best centre-back playing in the Premier League right now, he does hail Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, 31, as one of the greats. Carragher rushed to van Dijk’s defence this weekend. It comes after fans had criticised him for accidentally giving Gabriel Martinelli the ball during Liverpool’s clash with Arsenal.
Speaking about van Dijk’s ability, Carragher tweeted, “[Virgil van Dijk] is far better than [Nemanja] Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgot his performances against [Fernando] Torres… No CB in the [Premier League] era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team.”
In a further tweet, Carragher further backed up his point. He stated, “Never mind the best CB in the league, he’s been the best player in the league along with [Kevin De Bruyne] for four years before this one. We have never spoken about other CBs being the best player before, that shows the level he was at.”
Martinez will hope to prove Carragher wrong, while van Dijk will want to live up to expectations. The former’s next game is United’s Europa League clash against Sevilla. The club host the Spanish side at Old Trafford on Thursday, 13 April. Liverpool’s next game is against Leeds on Monday, 17 April.
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