Danny Murphy believes Lisandro Martinez is fast becoming a ‘liability’ and is ‘unlikely’ to play under Michael Carrick again following his red card in Manchester United’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Morgan Rogers fired Chelsea in front shortly after the restart at Stamford Bridge and United’s route back into the game became even tougher as Martinez was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 63rd minute.

The hosts made no mistake with the resulting penalty as Cole Palmer squeezed the ball past Senne Lammens from 12 yards and Xabi Alonso’s men held firm with their man advantage to emerge with maximum points.

The result propelled the Blues up into fourth place in the table, with the west London giants winning at home without conceding for the first time in their last 13 matches.

Meanwhile, United’s miserable winless run extended to nine games in all competitions, heaping yet more pressure on a dejected-looking Carrick amid widespread speculation over his future at Old Trafford.

Martinez’s sending off was just the latest chapter in what is becoming a nightmare season for the World Cup-winning Argentina defender, who went public with his criticism of the Red Devils’ hierarchy last month.

Asked if the term ‘liability’ was perhaps too strong a word to describe Martinez on Saturday night’s Match of the Day programme, ex-Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder Murphy replied: ‘It’s getting that way. A player of that experience and quality, he knows better.

‘There’s something obviously not right at the moment in his head, he’s in a different space, because you don’t see the poor performances for a player of that quality.

‘There was the Dominic Solanke issue last week [against Tottenham] and then there was the interview, rant, whatever you want to call it and then today, his performance in the second half was just nowhere near it.

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‘To go and do that after you’ve just had a yellow… I don’t know whether he’s thinking of getting away, whether he’s disgruntled at everything going on around the club, but he’s given Carrick a really big dilemma now.

‘When he’s served the suspension, I think it’s unlikely that Michael, if he’s still the manager, is going to put him back in.’

According to Murphy, Carrick will have to accept some ‘responsibility’ for the club’s wretched start to the new season.

However, the former England international feels a combination of ‘physical’ and ‘mental’ issues within the squad is United’s ‘biggest problem’ this term.

‘I’m not sure they care too much about the fans, the way they’ve dealt with things,’ Murphy explained.

‘Look, it’s not all Michael Carrick’s fault. He’ll have to take some responsibility.

‘The biggest problem I see at Manchester United at the moment, it’s not even a lack of quality. Yes, there’s a few spaces in the squad, but physically, over the last couple of months, they’ve looked well off it compared to the team we saw at the end of last season.

‘That’s for one of two reasons. One is they physically aren’t good enough and they didn’t have a good enough pre-season or they’re switched off mentally from the manager’s messaging.

‘I think it’s a mixture of the two depending on which player we’re talking about.

‘To get that cohesion back, that tenacity and that athleticism and that togetherness, I’m not sure whether he’s going to be able to do it with the squad he’s got.’

Estevao made his first start of the Premier League season for Chelsea and impressed in a new-look attack alongside Palmer, Rogers and Pedro Neto.

Prior to Saturday’s contest, there had been rumours that the young Brazilian had grown frustrated with his peripheral role at Stamford Bridge and could push to leave the club next summer.

But Murphy is confident Chelsea fans will see a lot more of Estevao if Alonso decided to stick with his 4-2-3-1 formation which worked so well against the Red Devils.

‘He’s a phenomenal talent and the fans have been a little bit bemused that he’s not been used, especially in that last couple of games because he’s gone back to a 4-2-3-1,’ Murphy said of Estevao.

‘In the early part of the season he was playing the three lads up top in a different system so there was no wingers but today, if you wanted a sample of what they’ve been missing… the bravery, the speed, the skill, the threat to the goal.

‘He started on the right, he drifted across sometimes and ended up as a No.10 and on the left, they have that flexibility.

‘The dilemma moving forward is whether he plays this system or the other because where does he play him? He’s got Joao Pedro to come back, he’s got Cole Palmer and he’s got Morgan Rogers.

‘Ultimately, he’s got to be used more. At the moment, Xabi Alonso seems stuck on 4-2-3-1 and if that’s the case then we’re going to see a lot more of Estevao.’

Chelsea will hope to pick up where they left off when they return to Premier League action away to Sunderland in a week’s time.

United, meanwhile, will look to stop the rot in the Champions League at home to Roma on Tuesday night, before they play host to Aston Villa next Sunday afternoon.