Scholes and Butt Fear Haaland Will Exploit Martinez in Old Trafford Showdown

Michael Carrick's first outing as caretaker manager of Manchester United brings the most demanding of assignments: hosting Manchester City at Old Trafford in Saturday's early fixture.

Despite United's respectable recent form against their rivals—two victories and a draw from the last five meetings—the punditry consensus suggests Saturday could present a different challenge entirely. Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt have identified a potential weak point in the Red Devils' defence that City's relentless number nine may well exploit.

The pair have zeroed in on Lisandro Martinez as a possible target for Haaland's prowess. Butt articulated his concerns bluntly, comparing the physical mismatch in unflattering terms. "If Haaland goes against Martinez, he would pick him up and run with him," Butt said on The Good, The Bad and The Football. "It'll be like watching a dad at school running down the road with a little toddler."

Scholes concurred that the City forward would almost certainly attempt to isolate the United defender, leaving the question of whether Harry Maguire might be pressed into immediate action after his absence from recent fixtures.

There's also the matter of United's attacking threat in transition. Butt highlighted concerns about the side's ability to hurt City on the counter-attack, lamenting the loss of pace that previously made such moments dangerous. "I don't think we've got the pace up there now to play counter-attack," he observed.

Yet there's a curious footnote to this analysis: Martinez has actually had the better of Haaland when they've met previously. Across six encounters, the City striker has managed just a solitary goal—hardly the record of a player running roughshod over his opponent. The Argentine only recently returned from an ACL injury, one that tested his resolve severely. During his recovery, Martinez admitted he contemplated stepping away from football entirely. "After the first two or three weeks, I didn't want to play football anymore," he revealed. "Because I'd already gone through the foot fracture, and now the knee … I said, 'That's it, I don't want to know anything else.'"

Carrick is anticipated to maintain the defensive setup deployed by Darren Fletcher during his brief spell in charge following Ruben Amorim's departure.