Erik ten Hag says Lisandro Martinez's knee injury “doesn't look good” and worried Manchester United manager hopes the centre-back has avoided a “personal disaster” He said he is praying for that.
The 26-year-old appeared mentally depressed after being forced off in just his fourth appearance since returning from a four-month absence due to a recurring foot injury.
Martinez was surrounded by worried United team-mates in the second half after he fell to his right knee after being landed awkwardly by West Ham full-back Vladimir Coufal.
The Argentina international was able to continue playing for a short period of time, but he pulled up again to cheering chants from the Old Trafford fans and eventually trudged down the touchline.
Tembabaa feared the worst and said he could “only hope” that Martínez, who signed from his former club Ajax in 2022, does not sustain a serious injury.
“It's hard to say (the situation), but it doesn't look good so there's a big concern,” the United manager said after Sunday's 3-0 win over the Hammers.
“But we have to wait to see what the diagnosis is and then we can give you more details.
“Of course, we will make every effort to get the correct diagnosis and confirm what the damage is.
“He's so sad and so disappointed. All of us. We really feel with him.
“First of all, it's a personal disaster when it's really bad, but let's wait and see how it goes. But it's also a very bad situation for the team because he definitely brings a lot to us. .”
Martinez's injury was a body blow to what was an otherwise great day in what has been a largely disappointing season for United.
Rasmus Høylund put his team ahead on his 21st birthday, and the talented 19-year-old Alejandro Garnacho added another goal in the second half.
The Argentina international celebrated his first goal by sitting on a billboard with young 18-year-old big guns Hojlund and Koby Mainu.
“The team now is balanced on the pitch and we will be able to play even better,” said Ten Hag. “We are also seeing progress.
“We bought players for the future in the summer. We also made the choice to give deserving players a chance in the first team, like Garnacho and Mainu.
“But in the second leg (of the pre-season tour) against (Real) Madrid, Mainu suffered a serious injury and after that we have to adapt all our plans.
“Hoilund had periods and started late at a young age, but as you can see he is progressing.
“When you have a consistent team behind him that does routines, they will serve you better and then you will see a balance up front.
“It's a threat for all the opponents, but at the same time you can see that they enjoy playing football.
“They enjoy giving their opponents problems and they want to do it as a unit and I think that picture of the three lads celebrating together covered a lot of ground.
“It's not about one player, it's about the team and that's what I saw today.
“It looked like a team with 11 guys defending and 11 guys attacking. For me, it was a lot of fun to watch.”
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This view is not shared by his West Ham counterpart David Moyes, who even felt that West Ham perhaps played better than they did when they beat United 2-0 at home in December. was.
“Yes, I think (the scoreline pleased United),” he said, “looking back at our performances in the last few games, I didn't enjoy the draw against Bournemouth and I think we didn't play well enough. thought.”
“I didn't enjoy the points again at Sheffield United, but I probably enjoyed the team's performance more. I didn't enjoy the result.
“So when you’re getting to a certain point and things aren’t going well, you have to accept it and move on.
“But I hope I can build on today's performance and I think I could have played better today.
“I thought we created quite a few chances, but we didn’t have the shooting boots on to take them.
“We beat Manchester United at the London Stadium, but we could have played better today than at the London Stadium.”
