Manchester United are a team that struggles for goals - but defender Lisandro Martinez has now scored two crucial ones this month, the first at Anfield in a draw with Liverpool, the second the solitary goal of Sunday’s win at Fulham.
“An amazing goal, great finish,” the Argentine joked to The National after the much-needed win and clean sheet. “No, no, no, it was lucky, but three points and that’s it, very important.”
United need victories, confidence and goals, no matter where they come from. Does Martinez, whose own form has been as indifferent as many of his colleagues this season, see himself as an attacking threat?
“You just have to read the situation and do the right timing,” he said. “When you are with confidence the goal goes in. I went with 100 per cent of my confidence and the ball goes in, that’s it.”
The shot, United’s first on target in the whole match, came after 78 minutes. Even then it needed a big deflection before it looped over Fulham’s goalkeeper Bernd Leno in front of the 2,800 travelling United fans among a sell-out crowd.
The exuberant celebrations showed how much it meant to a team that started the day in 14th and moved up to 12th. These are positions unheard of in the modern-day history of Manchester United, but the current team have issues all over the pitch.
Wolves, in 18th, have scored more than United’s 28 goals from 23 league matches so far. Leaders Liverpool have scored 54. United’s top scorers are not troubling the goalscoring charts, with wide man Amad Diallo leading on six.
Rasmus Hojlund, who starts most often as the centre forward, only has two league goals and Sunday saw him struggle at Craven Cottage. Brazilian winger Antony has been offloaded to Real Betis, while forward Marcus Rashford continues to be ostracised from selection by his coach.
Asked if other players needed to take the burden of goalscoring off of Hojlund and fellow forward Joshua Zirkzee, Martinez replied: “We take the responsibility, and I think we played many long balls to them and for them it’s really tough. They fight against two centre-backs and the centre-backs here in the Premier League are difficult to win something [against].
“But they must do better as well. They are really good players but we have to contribute more and put them in better space or place on the pitch, we must find them in the right places and dangerous places to make them score.”
The win brings some light relief and a chance to celebrate Ruben Amorim’s 40th birthday on Monday.
“We’re going to do the tunnel [at training] tomorrow [he runs through tunnel with players on either side slapping him, some harder than others],” said Martinez.
United’s next game is in Romania on Thursday in a Europa League clash against FCSB. It’s a chance of a third consecutive victory for the first time this season.
“Now we have to be humble, we have to keep this momentum for sure, yes,” said Martinez. “It’s an amazing feeling when you win, but we must be humble. We win today, we celebrate today, tomorrow we think of the next game.”
Asked about confidence in the dressing room, he said: “We’re OK, I’m not going to talk about confidence and that kind of thing, I don’t want to make something wrong, but we’re happy and for sure when you win the confidence goes up for sure.
"It’s good for us to get the three points. It was really important [to get a Premier League win] because we didn’t get the best result in the Premier League and this had to be every week for us, we have to win every game."