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Adama Traoré thinks he can get past Lisandro Martínez but underestimates his strength as he bodychecks him to the ground.
Manchester United camp will be all smiles after Joshua Zirkzee’s late winner saved their blushes in a 1-0 win as they wasted chance after chance.
Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount were the prime culprits as United looked to stumble towards an opening-day draw and puncture all the momentum coming into the season.
However, a clean sheet and a coherent defensive structure, far removed from last season, ensured a single goal was enough to seal the win.
The whole of defence deserves a lot of credit for dealing with Fulham’s threat expertly, with particularly Casemiro impressing in both halves of the pitch.
However, the standout moment, apart from the goal, of course, came in the first half courtesy of another South American.
Martinez changes the whole team
It feels like an exaggeration to say this about a centre-back, but Lisandro Martinez’s presence does more for the team than just his quality on the pitch.
His personality and commitment seem to rub off on the whole team, who seem to play better with the Argentinian on the pitch.
Moreover, such is his connection with the crowd that he can get the whole stadium going with just one tackle or defensive action, sometimes much-needed when the attack is labouring.
That was exactly at play during his duel with Traore, as it took the winger out of the game, who didn’t have nearly as much impact on the game afterwards.
United also found another gear to their game with the crowd egging them on, momentum which they eventually leveraged to score the winner.
Of all the injuries last year, the absence of Martinez arguably hurt the team the most so Ten Hag’s first priority this year will be to keep his marquee defender free from issues.
