Erik ten Hag spotted singling out one Man United star for specific instructions in training



Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has been spotted having an intensive one on one conversation with Lisandro Martinez in the club’s training session this morning.

Martinez was perhaps not at his best for Man Utd in their 3-0 defeat against Tottenham at the weekend, though barely anyone in Ten Hag’s side emerged from that game with much credit.

The Red Devils now need to bounce back as they prepare to take on Porto in the Europa League tomorrow evening, and it seems Ten Hag was keen to take the time to have some specific words about Martinez, and perhaps offer suggestions on how he can tweak his game, as per Nathan Salt in the post on X below…

Found it really interesting that Erik ten Hag made a point of speaking with Lisandro Martinez before training started this morning.

Seemed he was tweaking some of the Argentine’s positioning from what I was able to observe in the open part of the session for media #mufc pic.twitter.com/MZWPDcFsRO

— Nathan Salt (@NathSalt1) October 2, 2024

Martinez played under Ten Hag at Ajax, so in theory you’d expect him to have a better idea of what’s expected from him in this United team, but the Argentine hasn’t really looked that convincing in his time at Old Trafford so far.

Lisandro Martinez one of many failed Erik ten Hag signings

In fairness, though, he’s far from the only one, with others like Antony, Matthijs de Ligt, Andre Onana and Noussair Mazraoui also playing under Ten Hag at Ajax.

None of these have exactly set the world alight for United either, so it’s perhaps not too surprising to hear about Ten Hag being under growing pressure ahead of some key fixtures coming up for MUFC.


 

Martinez has had some good moments as a United player, so fans will hope Ten Hag can get his message across here and perhaps improve his game in the near future.

Lisandro Martinez has struggled for Man United (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

United face Porto tomorrow night and then have a difficult game away to Aston Villa in the Premier League this Sunday.

They go into this run of fixtures with just two wins from their last seven games in all competitions, and one of those victories came against League One side Barnsley in the Carabao Cup.