As they cruised to a 2-0 victory over Sheriff Tiraspol at the Zimbru Stadium in Moldova on Thursday evening, Manchester United kept a clean sheet for the third time in their last five matches.

United were able to secure their first victory of their Europa League campaign thanks to goals scored by Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half of the game. This victory was United's first professional away victory. The team captained by Erik ten Hag was dominant throughout the entire match and their Moldovan hosts never once appeared to be in a position to threaten them.

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Ten Hag made the decision to field his best available team in the match because their previous two matches—a trip to Crystal Palace the previous Sunday and a match against Leeds United the following weekend—were both postponed. He did this in the hopes of securing their first Group E points. Ten Hag decided to change up his starting lineup for United's first game of the season, which resulted in the team's loss to Real Sociedad by a score of 1-0. This decision came after a demanding season in the Premier League.

Raphael Varane and Lisandro Martinez were reunited in the heart of the defense after his decision to revert back to his strongest line-up. They replaced Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof, who started the loss to Sociedad at Old Trafford. His decision to revert back to his strongest line-up allowed him to do so. In the past few weeks, Varane and Martinez have come together to form a strong partnership, and both players have started all five of the Reds' victories so far this season.

Maguire and Martinez were Ten Hag's first choice to pair together at center back for United in this season's opening two Premier League matches, which resulted in his team allowing a total of six goals to be scored against them. During the second half of the team's loss to Brentford, Martinez was replaced by Varane after being taken out of the game at halftime.

First interview with Lisandro Martinez representing Man United

The very first interview that Lisandro Martinez gave after signing with Manchester United

Therefore, it came as a bit of a surprise when Martinez kept his spot in the starting lineup for the match against Liverpool that took place nine days later at Old Trafford. Nevertheless, he turned in a stellar performance against the Merseysiders, playing a heroic role alongside Varane, who replaced Maguire in the starting lineup as a result of his performance.

Martinez is a perfect example of why every player needs time to adjust to new surroundings and new teammates. Flanked by Diogo Dalot on the right and Tyrell Malacia on the left, the two center-backs have not made a single mistake since. Gary Neville, a former defender for Manchester United, was one of those who voiced their disapproval of Martinez's performance after the team's loss to Brentford. Neville was particularly critical of the manner in which Martinez had been bullied by the physicality of the Bees.

It prompted the former Reds captain to question whether or not Martinez could continue to play in a flat back-four, suggesting that United may have needed to switch to a three-at-the-back system in order to accommodate the Argentine. As a result, Martinez was questioned as to whether or not he could continue to play in a flat back-four.

According to Neville's comments to Sky Sports, "maybe on the left in a back three — that could potentially work." Perhaps playing in the middle of the field, as we are aware of his abilities there.

"I believe that he has tenacity, and to be fair, at this point in time I wouldn't judge him at all. But to suggest that he could play in a back four away at Brentford against [Ivan] Toney and [Bryan] Mbeumo is absurd because he is not physically capable of competing with those players.