‘Got no legs & a bag of nerves!’ - Two Man Utd defenders fail to convince as questions are asked of World Cup winner Lisandro Martinez

Leaks at the back have continued to hamper United's cause this season, with clean sheets proving to be in short supply. Only one has been picked up so far in 2026-27, against Sabah in the Champions League, with no shutouts being secured in Premier League action.

Head coach Michael Carrick, who is seeing his future heavily speculated on, has tinkered with his back four at times. He is yet to find a formula that works, with the Red Devils going winless through their last four top-flight fixtures.

Five points have been dropped against 10-man opponents, with a derby defeat being endured against arch-rivals City in September before then being held in dramatic fashion by Tottenham last time out.

World Cup winner Martinez did not cover himself in glory against Spurs, as he failed to deal with the 92nd-minute cross that Dominic Solanke glanced into the corner of the net, and finds himself back under the microscope.

The no-nonsense Argentine has seen his height discussed at length down the years, as a supposedly commanding centre-half, but those around him at Old Trafford have looked far from convincing as well - while Dutch star Matthijs de Ligt has been stuck on the sidelines for almost 11 months.

Asked about United’s defensive unit, with Yoro having recently made his senior international debut for France, 5ft 7in Premier League title winner Parker - who was speaking courtesy of FreeBets - told GOAL: “I'm never going to question anyone's height!

“I played there [centre-half] for a lot of games. I had four years at Queens Park Rangers, and I had three years at Fulham doing it. And that was three years in Division 3, and one year in Division 2. You remember what Division 3 was like back in the day - everything was physical, and I did a decent job at it.

“I think he's [Martinez] a very good, clever centre-half. When he's not playing, he's missed because there's no one else who can pass the ball from the back quickly. Everyone picks up on his mistakes.

“Harry Maguire makes a lot of mistakes. His positions, he has got no legs to get back, gets on the ball very slow, too many touches, too many times backwards. So, if you're going to talk about him, I think you have to talk about Maguire as well.

“And then putting both out again, they need two centre-halves. I think they've got one decent in-house that I like - De Ligt. If he was fit, he would always be there for me. But the problem is, I think it's a back issue. Back problems you never can do anything about. You don't ever really know. It's only that person who knows, and you have to trust them to let you know where they are with it. But if they were to get him back, and he was to get a number of games behind him, then it would be who do play with him.

“We have to believe, because Zinedine Zidane said so, that Yoro was this, and Yoro was that. I've seen Yoro play centre-half for United, and he's a bag of nerves. It's a bit different, international football, especially today's international football, which has dropped so many levels, is completely different to playing league football. Because you're getting people rapidly always hitting you in your face, you're constantly running back towards your own goal, and Yoro seems to struggle with that.

“I'm still not sure, but two centre-halves would make a big difference. The right ones. One of them I would like to be De Ligt and see where United go, but Martinez, to me, he would always be in the side at the moment because he's the one who can lead.

“He leads by example, and he's the one who's tenacious. I think a lot of people jump on the back of him, to be perfectly honest. I just think you get him and De Ligt together, and I think you've got two very good centre-halves at Manchester United.”

Carrick has suggested that De Ligt could make his long-awaited return to action in United’s Champions League clash with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. He got minutes under his belt in a behind-closed-doors friendly date with sister club Lausanne-Sport.

The Dutchman may, however, be a little rusty after so long out and United - particularly their under-fire manager - cannot afford to carry any passengers heading into a crucial run of away fixtures.