Pep Guardiola hits out at criticism of Man Utd defender Lisandro Martinez

Pep Guardiola has hit back at critics of Lisandro Martinez and insists his height won’t prevent him from combatting the goal threat of Erling Haaland in Sunday’s Manchester derby.

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The Argentina international has already secured cult hero status at Old Trafford following a series of combative displays during the course of United’s recent revival.

Many pundits, most notably Jamie Carragher, have argued that Martinez’s stature would see him targeted and outmuscled in the Premier League and the former Liverpool defender suggested on Friday that it was far too premature to label the summer recruit from Ajax an unqualified success.

He wrote in theDaily Telegraph: ‘United’s defence has impressed since the calamitous performance against Brentford and Martinez has been central to that. Since he was paired with Varane, they have kept three clean sheets in five games. But, long-term, the reservations I had when first seeing Martínez remain.

‘He looks a little too short to play centre-back in the Premier League. We saw when United struggled badly against Brentford – a game where Martinez was subbed at half-time – how difficult it is for him if sides hit long balls into the penalty area to a striker relishing such service like Ivan Toney.

‘There is nothing you can do about a height disadvantage when forced into continuous aerial challenges.

‘It is well known that some of the greatest centre-backs of all time, including Italy’s Franco Baresi, Argentina’s Daniel Passarella and England’s Bobby Moore, were less than 6ft, proving size is no barrier to being a world-class centre-half.

‘The difference is they were pretty much 10 out of 10 in every other department, compensating for the one weakness