Keane calls Man Utd 'like a circus' after Martinez criticism

Roy Keane says Manchester United are "like a bit of a circus" after Lisandro Martinez publicly criticised the club's bosses.

The former United captain was speaking on The Overlap podcast after a turbulent few days at Old Trafford. He said "it's obviously chaos there", and aimed his sharpest words at Martinez for speaking out during a poor run of form BBC Sport.

Martinez, the 28-year-old Argentina defender, hit out after United's 2-0 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, Europe's top club competition. In a post-match interview, he said the club had failed to strengthen the squad in the summer after qualifying for the tournament Sky Sports.

He said he had expected more investment and "more from our technical director [Jason Wilcox]", who leads recruitment planning. The Atletico loss was United's fifth game without a win.

It did not land well. Keane said players should "start with the man in the mirror before you start coming out with all these comments" when the team is struggling.

Gary Neville, Keane's former team-mate and fellow pundit, was equally blunt. He called Martinez's comments "a direct attack on the players you are playing with". Neville compared the incident to Wayne Rooney questioning the club's ambition in 2010.

Martinez later said on social media on Wednesday that he spoke out of "anger and frustration". He remains under contract until the end of the season, with United holding an option to extend it by another year.

For fans, this means noise off the pitch as well as worry on it. A senior player questioning the hierarchy in public is rare. A club legend answering back in public keeps the story alive.