Pundit makes Lisandro Martinez claim after Harry Maguire dropped by Man United

Matthew Upson has said that Lisandro Martinez performed "a necessity in football" for Manchester United during their win against Liverpool and claimed that Erik ten Hag can't trust Harry Maguire to perform at the moment.

Martinez was paired alongside Raphael Varane for the 2-1 win over their bitter rivals on Monday night as Ten Hag won his first Premier League match of the season. Jurgen Klopp's side were poor and the performance saw United claim all three points at Old Trafford.

Goals either side of half-time from Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford meant that Mohamed Salah's late header was just a consolation for the visitors. United were led in defence by the inspired performance of Martinez at the back as he chased down every ball and didn't allow the Liverpool front-line a moment to catch their breath.

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Maguire could only watch from the bench as the Argentinian defender put in a dominating performance. Former Premier League centre-back Upson believes that United's captain is currently lacking the confidence to perform at the level required of him by Ten Hag.

Upson told Sky Sports: "It's been a period of time now where he's [Maguire's] been suffering in terms of individual performances and mobility situations, being a little bit clumsy with his feet and just having that sharpness hasn't been there for him. And then it affects the decision making, the mentality with the ball.

"You can see him drive out into midfield when he's confident, he can step out with the ball. We've seen it when Manchester United signed him. He's got a new manager, they're trying to play out from the back, I understand that they're in that transitional process.

"But individually, is he