Jason Wilcox’s good friend speaks out strongly against Lisandro Martinez after his Man Utd outburst.
Jason Wilcox’s former teammate Tim Sherwood has jumped to his defense after Lisandro Martinez criticized the Manchester United director of football following their 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
United’s struggles under Michael Carrick continued in Spain on Tuesday (October 13), with goals from Pablo Barrios and Ademola Lookman giving Atletico a comfortable win. United were down to ten men after Leny Yoro was sent off with 16 minutes left.
After the match, defender Martinez openly questioned Wilcox, saying he expected more new players after United signed three first-team players—Andrey Santos, Carlos Baleba, and Youri Tielemans—over the summer. He told Amazon Prime Video:
“We had a great season last year, so we expect more from the top, more players to compete because other teams are bringing in many players too. Atletico deserved to win. I expect more investment, 100%. I expect more from our technical director, Jason Wilcox.
“As players, we have to do more, but it’s also important to build a strong squad for nights like this. It’s easy to blame the coach or players, but we need to look at other areas too.”
Former Blackburn midfielder Sherwood wasn’t happy with Martinez’s comments about Wilcox, who Sherwood played with when Blackburn won the Premier League in 1994/95. Speaking on The Overlap Daily, Sherwood told Martinez to “keep your mouth shut, mate,” calling him a “bad player.”
“It’s out of order what he said,” Sherwood said. “He’s called Jason out. Jason’s a friend, and he knows how big this job is, with a lot of pressure to bring in players.
“But just because recruitment hasn’t gone well, doesn’t give a player the right to speak out—especially a player having a rough time. He just got outplayed by Dominic Solanke at the end, costing Tottenham a point. Tell him to be quiet. I’ve made the mistake myself, speaking against my club before, so I get it.”
Minority shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe was at the match with CEO Omar Berrada. They’ve already sacked two managers in the last two seasons, and now Carrick is under pressure after the poor start.
Martinez added, “You can’t keep changing managers. What about other areas? We built a good base last season to create an amazing team.”
United will face Leeds United away on October 18.