John Giles goes to town on Roberto Martinez over “new level of stupidity”

Gilesy was not impressed with the off-field antics from the opening round of the Premier League.

The former Irish international vented his frustrations at Jose Mourinho and Roberto Martinez in particular in his latest column with the Herald. Mourinho came under fire after harshly criticising Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro for attending to Eden Hazard after the player went down injured during stoppage time of the 2-2 draw with Swansea. Meanwhile, Roberto Martinez made a surprise appearance on Sky Sports in which he analysed his side's 2-2 draw with league newcomers Watford. For Giles, the actions of the two managers left a sour taste in his mouth.

"From Jose Mourinho's bizarre attack on his own staff to Roberto Martinez's excruciating appearance as Jamie Carragher's guest on Sky, I saw a new level of stupidity when all I wanted to see was a decent game."

He revealed his befuddlement trying to figure out Martinez's reasoning for taking part in the interview. However, he was very complimentary of Carragher's role in the segment.

"All Martinez managed to do was to show himself up. He barely answered a question and how could he? If he was honest about his own players' faults, it would be a crazy thing to do so why bother? What did he gain?"

"A lot of people will tell me that this is the 'modern game' and that I'm just an old pro hankering after days gone by but common sense is still common sense unless the world has really gone mad."

"It made zero sense for Martinez to expose himself to Carragher, an honest ex-pro who is very good on defence and was trying to do his job."

Giles then took aim at Brendan Rodgers for his apparent sugar-coating of his side's performance against Stoke City. Liverpool took home three points with the 1-0 win, but Giles hinted that Rodgers may have been attempting to pull the wool over everyone's eyes.

"According to Rodgers, his team played well and deserved to win. By any reasonable view, they didn't play well and they didn't deserve to win."

Hat-tip to Irish Independent