Lisandro Martinez destroyed by Gary Neville for 'wimpish' defending in Man Utd's Carabao Cup defeat to Tottenham

Neither Spurs goalkeeper Fraser Forster nor his counterpart Altay Bayindir covered themselves in glory during Thursday's thrilling Carabao Cup quarter-final tie, but Neville was keen to ensure Martinez didn't escape criticism following his defending for Spurs' second goal, scored by Dejan Kulusevski.

The centre-back lazily flicked out a leg in an attempt to clear James Maddison's cross, but the ball fell kindly to Kulusevski, who smashed it past Bayindir to double the hosts' lead. Neville described Martinez's defending as "wimpish", and accused him of letting his manager down.

"I have to say the clearance from Lisandro Martinez is quite simply appalling. To play that straight to Kulusevski," the United legend said on Sky Sports. "He's been let down by two poor mistakes, Ruben Amorim, he really has. You talk about structure, shape, patterns, tactics but the goalkeeper parries one out into the centre of the box and your centre-back flicks with the outside of his left boot a wimpish clearance."

Neville's colleague Jamie Carragher also voiced concern about the World Cup winner.

"I think a little bit of a worry for Manchester United fans will be Martinez because I was very critical of him when he first came," Carragher said. "I didn't think he'd be able to play in a back four because he'd be too small. But he had a really good first season.

"In some ways you think he's perfectly suited to a back three. He can step out with the left foot, got two bigger players alongside him. Even though he played a great ball through for the winner in the Manchester derby, I don't think he's looked as comfortable since Amorim came in."

With United's dreams of landing the Carabao Cup over, their attentions will turn to a meeting with Bournemouth at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Sunday.