Lisandro Martinez launched a withering attack on Manchester United's football leadership executive after Tuesday night's defeat in Madrid, and his approach means he is likely to have the backing of his teammates.
Not content with criticising United's football leadership group live on English TV, Martinez walked a few steps down the corridor at Atletico Madrid's Metropolitano stadium and proceeded to tell an American audience exactly what he thought of the people in charge of the club he plays for as well.
Jaws hit the floor when Martinez's astonishing interview with Amazon Prime hit TV screens and tablets late on Tuesday night. It was the most remarkable post-match chat since Roy Keane was a United player, perhaps dating back to his 2001 comments that it was "the end of the road" for that team.
Second interview and reaction
Martinez then went on CBS Sports and repeated the same claims, although Peter Schmeichel didn't have quite the same ability as Gabriel Clarke to get to the heart of the matter. In fact, you sensed Martinez was itching to get off the football and onto the state of the club.
"As a club I expect more. I'm not going to close my mouth, we need more ambition," he told Schmeichel. After his skewering of director of football Jason Wilcox, this was another dagger to the heart of the Ineos operation at United.
Wilcox was at the Metropolitano to watch the team he has helped build slip to another defeat, morale ebbing away and momentum being lost. United are in a doom loop again, but this time the focus is taking in a wider remit than the person sitting in the manager's office.
Ratcliffe's dilemma
You can only imagine the tension when Wilcox and Martinez crossed paths as United flew back to Manchester after the game. That flight was about decompressing rather than debriefing, before everyone went their separate ways after arriving back in Manchester a little after 2am.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe was also present in Madrid, and you can imagine the breakdown in relations between the squad and those in charge was vexing him into the early hours. Wilcox is his man in a way that Carrick probably isn't, but Ratcliffe has a ruthless and pragmatic streak, as he showed with his dismissal of Wilcox's predecessor Dan Ashworth.
Ambition is the keyword here. Chief executive Omar Berrada talks a good game and Project 150 is full of noble intent. Of course, it would be lovely if United could win the league next season, returning to the peak on the year of their 150th anniversary.
Transfer market frustration
But the talk is the easy part. The doing is the difficult bit and nothing United are doing in the transfer market suggests they actually have the ambition to match their roaring rhetoric.
This was the summer when United could have been aggressive. Carrick had got them back in the Champions League. Back in the big time and back in the cash that comes it. Then they spent less than Hull and Ipswich and left their head coach with one left-back and one striker. Both are now injured.
Now, it seems the players have cottoned on to the fact that the football leadership at Old Trafford are all mouth and no trousers. Professional footballers at this level know their careers are too short to be taken for a ride and don't fancy wasting their time on a club that is treading water.
Player backing
The timing of Martinez's tirade wasn't perfect, given United actually delivered a reasonable performance in Madrid and could have been level before Leny Yoro's harsh red card, but if this wasn't quite a premeditated attack, it was something that was clearly building up inside him.
You wonder what the other players made of it. Youri Tielemans offered a "no comment" in his own post-match interviews, while Amad posted an X-rated message on Snapchat that was ambiguous as to its target.
But it's hard to believe this is Martinez going rogue. These players spend hours together every day. They know the mood of the group, they know what each other are thinking, and it's impossible to believe Martinez hasn't made these points to his teammates. They would have been discussing their start to the season and the underlying reasons behind it for a while, just as they would have been discussing the transfer business during the summer. The fact that he's gone public suggests they agree with him.
It would certainly explain why the mood among some of the more senior players looks so bleak. Martinez has been below his best this season, while Bruno Fernandes looks more frustrated than ever.
The captain turned 32 last month and has committed the peak years of his career to Old Trafford. He has been notably silent this season, doing less media than usual, and while there has been a view that was related to contract talks, he might well be biting his tongue.
Fernandes knew this was a summer to capitalise on a rare sense of impetus. Instead, it was squandered, and his chances of ever winning one of the big trophies with United now look to be slimmer than ever. You can understand why his fuse is short.
What happens next
Martinez's comments have certainly changed the narrative at Old Trafford. Michael Carrick might still be under pressure, but the Argentine has shifted the focus onto Wilcox and Berrada. It feels like Wilcox is now just as vulnerable as Carrick, especially if the players are backing their boss but not his boss.
How United react will be telling. Martinez could face disciplinary action, although that would feel self-defeating. Carrick talked about the emotion taking over after a game, but it felt a little more calculated than that and the idea of a social media climbdown is hard to believe.
Martinez was speaking from the heart, as an experienced player who feels he has been let down by those above him. His honesty is refreshing. Carrick will speak to the 29-year-old when things have cooled.
Tensions were still running high on Tuesday. There will be time before Leeds for a review and a plan for what comes next. The players will be in for a recovery session today, then have a day off on Thursday.
Carrick will try to be the diplomat, but every player will be asked for their views on what Martinez said during contractual broadcast interviews. It still feels unlikely that this will become a full-blown mutiny, but answers will be scrutinised and social media posts analysed for meaning.
The spotlight is no longer just on the head coach, but on those above him as well. If Carrick ends up going, then Wilcox at least might have to follow him out of the door. Patience has snapped inside the Old Trafford dressing room.
