Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has branded the Red Devils’ performance against Fulham on Sunday a “genuine disgrace”.
United were held to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage after Matheus Cunha’s late strike cancelled out Lisandro Martínez’s own goal.
The outspoken pundit also warned that the Old Trafford side’s wealth of attacking options could be creating defensive problems for beleaguered manager Michael Carrick.
Neville critical of United’s performance
Reflecting on the game in West London, Neville told Sky Sports: “I’ve never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that.
“I’ve never seen a United team walk around as much as that. No alertness, no aliveness. No ‘on your toes’. You should always be on your toes, always shifting up two or three yards.
“Very rarely do I say a team doesn’t work hard or is lacking in effort. That’s the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players. I’m always very careful to say that.
“But in those first 15 minutes of that second half – and generally for the first 60 minutes – Man Utd were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball.
“No one is putting pressure on Carrick, but if those types of performances continue, he will find himself in a lot of trouble. They’ve got to work harder than that for him.”
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Carrick struggling to find balance
Asked about United’s defensive struggles, Neville added: “I wish he [Carrick] could play all of those attacking players, but they are going to kill him defensively.
“[Bryan] Mbeumo and [Marcus] Rashford are too high and wide. They don’t narrow back in. You’ve got [Youri] Tielemans and [Kobbie] Mainoo in midfield who are a little bit one-paced. [Carlos] Baleba will probably come in there.
“Bruno [Fernandes] floats around a little bit, and then Cunha floats around a little bit. You’ve got these five or six players who are better with the ball than without the ball.
“It would be great to see them score loads of goals and maybe concede one or two and go and win games, but there is going to have to be a reset from the point of view of defensive structure, because there are far too many of them walking on the pitch.”
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