Lisandro Martinez believes Manchester United have put the fear factor back into Old Trafford.
United lost their opening two Premier League games of the season, to Brighton and Brentford, with Erin ten Hag making the worst possible start to his tenure. But Ten Hag and his players have turned things around, with four straight wins in the league taking them up to fifth in the table.
That domestic run included back-to-back Premier League wins at home to Liverpool and Arsenal, with defender Martinez convinced teams will now fear travelling to Old Trafford once again. The only blip at Old Trafford since the opening day loss was defeat to Real Sociedad in the Europa League, when the United coach rotated his squad.
“In the beginning, it was no good,” said Martinez, United's player of the month for August. “It was not what we wanted. But we changed direction after Brentford. We changed the mentality, we changed the spirit.
"Then we did an amazing job against Liverpool and then we kept going and you can see now, every game the team is ready to fight.
"This is Manchester United, no? When the teams come to play in our stadium, they have to feel it wasn't easy for them. So yeah, now we feel very well about it.
"The connection with each other is incredible, and I think we did a fantastic job against Liverpool and Arsenal.”
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Martinez, who joined United from Ajax in a deal worth £56.7million in the summer, said Ten Hag has a clear vision for success and the way he wants his teams to play.
“I know him very well,” said Martinez. “I know what he wants, his mentality, his style. I played with him for three years at Ajax, and now it's good to be with him again, in this amazing club. We keep working hard and now we're ready for the big games.”
Martinez also reserved special praise for winger Antony, who followed him from Ajax this summer in a £85.5m deal, claiming he has the talent to make a big difference at United.
“Antony's a fighter,” said Martinez. “He has a lot of quality, one against one, his finishing, his mentality, he can bring a lot of things to the team - you can see that from the first game.”
