Lisandro Martinez has hailed Manchester United's defensive "discipline" after they kept their first clean sheet in four matches with a 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Goals from Marcus Rashford, Wout Weghorst and Bruno Fernandes earned the Red Devils a comfortable first-leg victory as they took a giant leap towards the Carabao Cup final. It was a professional performance from United, who could've scored more, but had to settle for just the three-goal lead heading into the second leg at Old Trafford.
Despite impressing from an attacking perspective, the Red Devils also looked superb defensively and didn't give Forest many opportunities to score during the game. There was the instance when Sam Surridge thought he equalised, only for VAR to rule the goal out for offside.
Replays showed that Victor Lindelof's positioning was key to Surridge being caught offside as he stepped up in the nick of time. It was a terrific piece of defending that encapsulated the Swede's display as he shone on his return to the United side.
Lisandro Martinez also impressed at the heart of the United defence alongside Lindelof and was awarded as the Player of the Match for his efforts. He decided to praise the collective effort of the team to keep a clean sheet at The City Ground, rather than focusing on an individual.
He told Sky Sports: "I'm really happy because we showed discipline. I saw the whole game we were very focused, we have to play always like this, we have to keep going, we have to keep fighting, and today we deserved the result."
Martinez's dogged performance came three days after he netted his first United goal in the 3-2 defeat at Arsenal. But as he celebrated scoring a goal on Sunday, the Argentine was delighted for different reasons in the convincing win over Forest as he fist pumped the air at the final whistle.
United's victory has put them on the brink of reaching the Carabao Cup final for the first time since 2017, but Martinez is remaining focused on the second leg against Forest next week. The Red Devils beat Steve Cooper's side 3-0 at Old Trafford in the Premier League in December.
Martinez added: "We know [it is a great chance]. It is a good result for us, but we have to go prepare again. We have another game too, and then we have to prepare again.
"For sure [we believe we can get to Wembley]. I’m really happy with the job of the guys, I think we played so good today. We controlled the game, but still we have so many things to improve of this team. We lose the last game so we have to focus now, we did it so yes, happy."
This defensive performance was exactly what United required after Ten Hag criticised his team for conceding three goals in defeat at Arsenal. It is safe to say the Dutchman will be much happier following the win at Forest, however, as they didn't give away as many opportunities, although the Red Devils were up against much weaker opposition.
Ten Hag said on Sunday: "It's not possible you are in a top game, you're making three such big mistakes where you concede goals. Especially the last goal, you have to feel the game on that point.
"A point was the maximum and then you have to take the point and you can't give such a goal away like we did on top level. Then you can't win trophies"
