Man Utd Players Silenced After Martinez Outburst at Leeds

Manchester United's players were prevented from speaking to the press after Sunday's 1-1 draw at Leeds United, as the club moved to stop any repeat of Lisandro Martinez's explosive outburst against the hierarchy last week.

"I can't speak, I'm not allowed"

Not one United player stopped in the mixed zone at Elland Road after another lead slipped away, with Bryan Mbeumo's opener cancelled out by Dominic Calvert-Lewin's equaliser in the Leeds draw.

Matheus Cunha took a moment to explain the situation to a Brazilian reporter, while captain Bruno Fernandes told the correspondents waiting in the mixed zone: "I can't speak, I'm not allowed." The Sun reports that United instructed the squad not to speak, although there was no specific directive from the club's press officers to avoid the written media.

Harry Maguire was the only United player to conduct any post-match media at all, speaking to the broadcast rights holders and to the club's own channel, MUTV.

The outburst that started it

The clampdown follows Martinez's extraordinary television interview after United's 2-0 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid last Tuesday, when the Argentina defender rounded on the club's hierarchy and demanded "more" from director of football Jason Wilcox over the summer transfer business.

Martinez was fined for those comments, and later issued an apology after meeting the club's leadership and manager Michael Carrick, admitting his frustration had led him to speak at a time and place that were not right.

United rarely allow players to stop in the mixed zone without a press officer present in any case, but Sunday's blanket silence — after a poor result, with supporters demanding answers — was a deliberate step beyond the norm, designed to ensure there was no repeat performance.

So what: a defensive crisis before Como

The fallout is worst possible timing for Carrick. Martinez himself was forced off at half-time at Elland Road with a thigh problem, and his fitness is now a major doubt for Tuesday's Champions League trip to Como.

United will definitely be without Leny Yoro in Italy. As Sports Mole notes, the French defender serves a suspension on matchday three after his sending-off at Atletico, leaving Carrick potentially missing both of his first-choice centre-backs for a game United badly need to win after the defeat in Madrid.

Silencing the squad may stop the headlines for a day, but it does not fix the results: United have now dropped more points from a winning position, and the pressure that produced Martinez's outburst has not gone anywhere.

Beyond the Final Whistle: a media ban is what a club does when it has lost control of its own story. Martinez said out loud what the results have been saying for weeks — this squad was not built well enough — and fining him, apologising for him and then gagging the entire dressing room does not make him wrong. If United lose in Como with a patched-up defence, no amount of silence will keep the noise down. Was Martinez right to speak out, or should he have kept it in-house? Let us know in the comments.