On Saturday, the Atlanta United suffered yet another loss as they fell to Austin FC, 3-0, their second 3-0 loss of the season and sit at 5-5-8 on the season and sit at 11th in the conference and 13 points behind conference leading, New York Red Bulls. After Saturday’s defeat, it appears that the team’s struggles are starting to boil over into player frustrations and in particular, United Star, Josef Martinez.
During a press conference after Saturday’s match, Martinez expressed some of his frustrations stating that he does not believe that the team can place the blame for their recent struggles solely on the amount of injuries they have been dealing with. A statement to which some believe, Martinez in some way, may have been calling out his teammates for their performance and commitment to the team.
On Monday, Chris Goforth was joined by 92-9 The Game’s Joe Patrick, who covers the United and was at the postgame presser and Chris asked Joe to share his thoughts on what he took away from Martinez’s comments after Saturday’s loss. “It was fascinating to be there in front of a player who was essentially calling out the entire club basically,” Patrick said adding that Martinez did not name any particular individuals and that he believes that there is some sort of issue other than injuries that the team may be dealing with.
So how frustrated is Martinez? That was another question Chris addressed with Joe, asking him if he believes Martinez is still happy playing in Atlanta. “I don’t think he does right now,” Patrick told Goforth and continued to say that he believes that may be a reason that Martinez made the point to bring up his contract in his comments on Saturday.
Click the link above to hear the interview in its entirety.