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Brentford forward Ivan Toney has suggested that his team specifically targeted Manchester United centre-back Lisandro Martinez during their historic 4-0 victory on Saturday, August 13.
The Bees, who are in only their second Premier League season, destroyed Erik ten Hag's side with four unanswered goals within 35 minutes of the first half.
Manchester United put on one of their worst ever top-flight performances. Goalkeeping errors, defensive howlers and a clear lack of effort contributed to a miserable evening in west London for the visitors.
Much has been made of Manchester United playing new signing 5' 9" Martinez at centre-back.
Toney admitted that Thomas Frank's men targeted the diminutive Argentine defender during their win.
Martinez was hooked at half-time and Toney took that as a compliment to him, as he stated (per The Manchester Evening News):
"To be fair to him he was doing well and was very aggressive for a centre-back. Obviously, if he gets beaten in the air he does well on the floor. It was a 50-50 and sometimes I got the better of him and sometimes he got the better of me."
He added:
"It is a compliment for me, him getting subbed off at half-time - but whether it was for me or for a different thing they wanted to do we won't worry."
The 26-year-old attacker further added:
"[With my] quality in the air and against a smaller centre-back. It was a good game plan and it worked. I felt I would put my body about."
Gary Neville believes Lisandro Martinez cannot play in a back four for Manchester United
According to The Metro, former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has claimed that the Martinez doesn't have the physical traits to play in a Premier League back four.
The former England international moved to full-back under Sir Alex Ferguson due to his lack of height.
The pundit told Sky Sports (as quoted in the already mentioned Metro article):
"Maybe on the left in a back three, that could potentially work. Maybe playing in midfield, because we know he can do that. I think he’s got tenacity and, to be fair, I wouldn’t judge him at all at this moment in time. But to say he could play in a back four away at Brentford against Toney and [Bryan] Mbeumo, he physically can’t compete with them."
Neville further added:
"When I saw him swapping with [Harry] Maguire in the first half at the long throws, it reminded me of Pally who used to swap with me. If you’re having to swap positions at centre-back to compensate for the other one it’s just not great and that’s what continually happened. They did target him in that first half."
