Martinez has made Butt look a right mug; Man Utd pundit the one who needs to ‘f***ing grow up’ | OneFootball

Nicky Butt has told Lisandro Martinez to “f***ing grow up” after the Manchester United defender gave a measured response – which he was asked for – to the pundit’s baseless criticism ahead of the Manchester derby. Excuse us for getting into a playground back and forth dear readers, but how about you f***ing grow up, mate.

Rather than being “picked up and run with like a dad at school running down the road with a little toddler” by Erling Haaland, as Butt suggested would be the case, Martinez was the teacher waiting at the school gates to reprimand the father for his tardiness.

It was a magnificent display from the Red Devils centre-back against the Premier League’s most dangerous striker; one Butt and fellow bullsh*t purveyor Paul Scholes might have predicted had their analysis of the battle involved more than a quick glance at their relative physiques.

Saturday was Martinez’s fourth win in five meetings against Haaland and his second clean sheet. If there’s a criticism that can be aimed at the Argentinian it’s that there’s a rick in him. No-one is saying he’s a perfect centre-back; he makes mistakes too frequently to be hailed as a world class defender.

But it’s very difficult to watch Martinez play a game of football and question his aggression, pace or physicality. Scholes’ suggestion that Haaland would “score, then throw him in the net” was also apropos of nothing. It was nonsense. Fiction for clicks.

“He can say whatever he wants,” Martinez said. “I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don’t care.”

Scholes accepted that invitation but, perhaps frustrated or embarrassed at being The Other Guy On The Podcast not even worthy of reference by the United star, Butt issued a nuclear and unbefitting response.

We’re reticent to draw attention to it as there’s evidently nothing that Butt – at the start of his punditry career – wants more than for this to be dubbed a ‘war of words’. Martinez “doesn’t care” what Scholes thinks; he’s not about to give a sh*t about the thoughts of the guy alongside him. What is he? The podcast producer?

But we were triggered by the obvious need for the man telling another man to grow up to grow up himself. There isn’t a person on earth who took Butt’s claim that Haaland would pick Martinez and run with him literally. It is indeed “f***ing obvious” and definitely not the reason Martinez was irritated, Nicky.

Martinez, like every human being over the age of six knows how metaphors work. He’s annoyed by a) what the metaphor suggests and b) that suggestion being without foundation.

And what’s this rubbish about “emotional” footballers not being suited to “big clubs”. Wasn’t Roy Keane your captain? Didn’t you watch Eric Cantona kung-fu kick a fan? You can’t just tell someone to grow up and expect to win the argument. He’ll be telling him to stop showing off in front of his friends in a minute.

Butt and Scholes also can’t just brush off whatever they say on the basis of this being a podcast akin to “three lads (we would actively avoid) in a pub”. Well actually, they can, but a licence to say anything at all with no regard to facts, stats or simply what people see with their eyes makes it an entirely meaningless pursuit and one we can only hope that Martinez and the rest of the Manchester United players continue to treat with the disdain it deserves.