‘No-one says anything in your face’ – Martinez hits back at Scholes and Butt

As United dominated Manchester City on Saturday, Martinez, 28, shackled striker Erling Haaland and kept their third Premier League clean sheet after a disappointing campaign.

After firing Ruben Amorim and appointing Darren Fletcher as United’s interim head coach, Michael Carrick had a fantastic start.

Before the derby, former Red Devils midfielders Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes yelled abuse at Martinez.

On The Good, The Bad, and The Football podcast, Butt claimed that Haaland would “pick Martinez up and run with him” and treat the Argentine like a “little toddler,” while Scholes claimed that the Norway forward would “throw him in the net” after scoring.

Martinez responded, “Truly, he can say anything he wants,” when asked about Scholes’ comment. I already told him that he can travel wherever he wants if he wants to say something to me. wherever I’m at home. I’m not interested.

“And I think for myself when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on television, but when you see them there face to face, no one speaks in your face.”

Without any prior European football, United have endured a miserable season and were eliminated from both domestic cup competitions.

This means they only have played 40 games overall, which is the most they have ever had since 1914-15.

United had been on a run of just one victory in seven games before the derby, but a strong performance gave them a much-deserved victory over their city rivals.

Pep Guardiola’s side struggled to control the volume of noise and intensity of the United players on the pitch, remaining only with their second-lowest expected goals (xG) in a league game while under the Spaniard.

Martinez continued, “It’s about the connection.” It’s about how we present them during the game, he said. They will be with us if they witness us fighting in [that] manner.

“They expect a good attitude from us, tackles, the DNA, the blood of Manchester United, even if our performance wasn’t the best,” they might say.