Martinez height is not an issue, says Parker
AS THE old saying goes, it’s not the size of the dog in the fight that matters, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. That gets trickier when the other dog is Erling Haaland. Six-foot-four, nearly 14 stone, scores nearly every chance he gets. Bordering on the unstoppable.
Trying to stop him this afternoon is Manchester United centre-back Lisandro Martinez, seven inches shorter and more than a stone and a half lighter. For Paul Parker, the diminutive defender who won two Premier League titles with United, it’s wrong to write off Martinez because of his height.
‘It’s nonsense,’ says Parker. ‘It’s a British myth. Think about some of the great centre-backs. Franco Baresi, Fabio Cannavaro.
‘They weren’t the tallest. Cannavaro lifted the World Cup with Italy and won the Ballon d’Or.
No one is talking about Martinez’s ability. There’s a reason why he’s come through a very good football education at Ajax and plays for Argentina.
‘One of Argentina’s greatest captains, Daniel Passarella, led them to the World Cup in 1978. He wasn’t the biggest, but he was a world-class centre-half.
‘If you have to be 6ft 6in to play centre-half, there’s a problem. Some of the big centre-halves turn like the QE2 and lots of them end up like the Titanic.’
At just 5ft 7in, Parker forged a strong reputation at Fulham, QPR and United before being key player for England at the World Cup in 1990.
‘When I used to go up against the likes of Ian Rush, you’d have to make sure you were certain you could nick in ahead of him and get the ball,’ he adds. ‘If not, you’d play the percentage and give yourself the extra yard.
‘If he wants to run in behind, make contact, get your body in front of his line. There weren’t many times that I got caught out and people could say I was too small.’
When they met last season, Martinez’s Ajax beat Haaland’s Borussia Dortmund 4-0 in the Champions League. Haaland hardly had a sniff.
‘When you’re the size Martinez is, playing against Haaland, you have to play with guile,’ says Parker. ‘He’ll look to see if he can nick the ball off his first touch.
‘Martinez thrived in Holland, the tallest nation in the world. His height wasn’t a problem then.’