Neville: Carrick has got to stop defending the players

Gary Neville has called on Michael Carrick to stop defending his Manchester United players after another troubling performance in a draw at Fulham.

While on Sky Sports co-commentary, Neville described Man Utd’s start to the second half at Craven Cottage ‘the worst 15 minutes’ he has ever seen them play.

In that time, Carrick’s side conceded a horror own goal from Lisandro Martinez, before Matheus Cunha’s late deflected strike avoided a third straight league defeat for Man Utd.

Neville said: “I’ve watched Manchester United since the age of five, and it’s the worst 15 minutes I’ve ever seen them play.

“Absolutely pathetic. They’ve walked for 15 minutes, and you get what you deserve in a football match. I’ve never seen a lack of effort for 15-20 minutes like I’ve seen there. What must he [Carrick] be thinking?”

The 1-1 draw comes off the back of losses to Manchester City last Sunday and a capitulation in the Carabao Cup third round against Brighton – although there was a real lack of urgency and energy at times from Man Utd in west London.

It led to Neville saying after the game that the team lacked effort – by his own omission, the most critical thing you can say of players – and they must start working harder for Carrick.

On Super Sunday, he said: “I’ve never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that. Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team’s energy.

“Michael has got to stop defending them. I get why he’s defending them; he’s loyal, he wants his players to work for him, and obviously there’s a long way to go in the season.

“Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. 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. They were just walking when Fulham were in possession. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes to get their first shot.

“46 chances – Fulham against Man Utd. I don’t know how many over-10-pass sequences Fulham had in that game, but the international break has come at a great time. There needs to be a rebalance.

“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, Man Utd and generally for the first 60 minutes, were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball.

“Michael is of course saying something different to us than he is saying privately. That would’ve really worried me. People will ask questions about him, but he knew that when he took the job.

“But there’s no panic in that sense – 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.”

Neville also elaborated on how his team – and the defence – is causing Carrick a headache, adding: “I wish he could play all of those attacking players, but they are going to kill him defensively.

“It’s not just the defence and the back four that are causing him a problem – Mbeumo and Rashford are too high and wide. They don’t narrow back in. You’ve got Tielmans and Mainoo in midfield who are a little bit one-paced. Baleba will probably come in there. Bruno 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.”

Cunha: They put in more energy than us – we cannot accept this

Cunha also said Man Utd lacked energy at Craven Cottage, telling Sky Sports: “It is frustrating for us. After the goal, we played much better and had a lot of character. It needs to be from the start. It is only one point but we should never play for one point.

“It is hard. They put in more energy than us, we cannot accept this. We need to do our best. We need to improve in every single position. It is only the beginning. Last season was the same, with noise around, but we finished third.”

However, Carrick did not subscribe to the same view, adding to Sky Sports: “I didn’t think we did [look passive]. Did you think we were passive? Football is a difficult game.

“We controlled a lot of the first half and we played a lot of good football today. There is going to be spells when you don’t have it go your own way.

“The goal they scored, and arguably there is a foul at one point on Matheus [Cunha], and it is two deflections. It goes their way. To expect total dominance for the whole game, I don’t think anyone gets that in this league.”

Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com