Manchester United had already conceded six goals in their two Premier League open games.
Premier League managers had already targeted Lisandro Martinez because of his height. The Argentina international was 5ft 9 in. This was evident in their games against Brentford when the former Ajax star struggled to deal with Ivan Toney and Ben Mee.
However, Rio Ferdinand believes a change in formation from four back to three back can offer some kind of protection for the Argentina international.
What did Rio Ferdinand say?
The former England international speaking on his YouTube Vibe with Five, said: “Play him in a three, it’s fine.
“[Ten Hag] needs to go to a back three because we can’t keep the ball out of the back of the net. You play a back three a lot of the time when you haven’t got good enough defenders to be able to defend the goal, and we need to do that.”
Rio Ferdinand also added that opposing defenders will now fancy the chance of facing Martinez.
Ferdinand added: “He’s going to be a target, seriously. I know for a fact there will be players now, center-halves who know they’re going up for set-pieces, and center-forwards: Mitrovic, Nunez, Haaland, Wood, Dominic Calvert-Lewin. All of them, they’ll be sitting there going, “Oh my god, get me in the team, there are definitely chances there”.
“I was speaking to Alan Shearer yesterday on the text and we were talking about it. He used to lick his lips when the ball was plopped up to the far post. He used to lick his lips when there were 6ft 4in center-halves waiting in front of him, let alone a 5ft 9in center-half.
“So imagine what these guys are going to be thinking when they’ve got a 5ft 9in guy standing there. They’ll be thinking: “Just tee it up and I’ve got a run on him” – they don’t even have to jump! Bang! Put him and the ball in the back of the net.
“With all due respect, when have you ever seen Ben Mee really bully a center-half in the opposing team’s box and bundle the ball in? Not often in his career. You don’t put him down as one of the types. But he does it in his second game of the season [against Martinez].
“For all the good that he’s got, and how good he is taking the ball, confidence on the ball, his tenacity etcetera, that element there [his lack of height] is a massive factor in the Premier League.
“In the Dutch league or the Spanish league, Javier Mascherano played there brilliantly for Barcelona because they had the ball 80 percent of the time.
“And in Spain, and Champions League football, there aren’t many aerial battles. Whereas the Premier League offers a different proposition from any league in the world.
“If you’ve got an Under-15s team, and you go to a scout from a professional team and you say, “Listen I’ve got a center-half here, he’s 5ft 9in, really good on the ball, blah, blah, blah, do you fancy taking him?” The scout is going to go, “5ft 9in? No chance mate. He’s not big enough”. That’s what they’re going to say, it’s a fact.”
