Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones seemingly tried to justify Lisandro Martinez’s horror challenge in the Crystal Palace game yesterday by simply saying that’s how the Argentine approaches the game due to his aggressive style.
Watch below as Jones is alongside fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp looking at the Martinez challenge, which could have resulted in a red card and a very serious injury for his opponent if he’d caught the player…
"I don't know what on earth you're thinking you're gonna gain by jumping in with two feet!"
Jamie Redknapp and Phil Jones take a closer look at Lisandro Martniez's challenge on Daichi Kamada ? pic.twitter.com/YfFeNPc6Dy
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 21, 2024
Redknapp is clearly not impressed with Martinez here, but Jones ends the clip by saying that that is just Martinez’s game and that he’s an aggressive player.
While the 26-year-old is undoubtedly a very competitive player and a tough tackler, that is surely no excuse for diving in two-footed like he does in the video above.
Defenders can be aggressive, and sometimes they really need to be, but there’s an art to it as well, and it cannot risk seriously injuring other players.
Martinez has mostly done well since joining Man Utd, but there is surely some room for him to mature a bit as a player, and he absolutely has to avoid something like this happening again, or he won’t get as lucky as he did here.