Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt have doubled down on their criticism of Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez after the Argentine footballer hit out at the legendary footballers.
Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt have amplified their war of words with Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez, questioning his mentality after the Argentine dared the legends to criticise him to his face. It all started before the Manchester Derby when Scholes and Butt made fun of Martinez’s short height, suggesting that Man City striker Erling Haaland would “pick him up and run with him”.
After guiding Manchester United to a famous
2-0 win over City at Old Trafford last weekend in the English Premier League, Martinez hit out at Scholes and Butt, saying that the former players won’t be able to criticise the players face-to-face and it’s easy to trash-talk on TV.
Scholes and Butt hit back at Martinez
On the latest edition of The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, it was Butt and Scholes’ turn to give it back to Martinez. Butt said that their comments about the defender’s height were just a joke and that Martinez needs to be more mature while dealing with such criticism.
“It’s tongue-in-cheek, it’s obvious Haaland isn’t actually going to pick him up and run with him, it’s a figure of speech,” he said. “I think when someone gets so upset about something in the media or a podcast…to come out and say, ‘Come over to my house’, f****** grow up.
“Literally, if you’re going to get so emotional about someone saying something about you, you shouldn’t be at a big football club because you’ll get that for the rest of your career at Man United.
“I got so much crap when I played at United and Newcastle, but the next week you get plaudits and clapped at. There’s no personal issue with us and Martinez, none.”
Scholes questions Martinez’s qualities
Scholes added that the criticism helped Martinez do well against Man City, but he still doubts the defender can help Man United win the league.
“It fuels people,” Scholes said. “I think we have to take a bit of the credit for Martinez’s performance on Saturday. He’s had one brilliant game, but when you start talking and shouting your mouth off, this game has a habit of coming and biting you back on the a***.
“I haven’t changed my opinion yet. I’m still not sure you can win a league with him. He’s got to do it over a period of time. What he did on Saturday, brilliant, but you’ve got to do it over a period of time.”
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