'A genuine disgrace!' - Gary Neville tears into Man Utd and warns Michael Carrick to stop 'defending' underperforming stars
A miserable afternoon at Craven Cottage
United narrowly avoided a third consecutive league defeat after scraping a 1-1 draw against Fulham at Craven Cottage. Matheus Cunha's late deflected strike rescued a crucial point, cancelling out a disastrous early own goal from Lisandro Martinez.
Despite the late equaliser, the uninspiring performance drew fierce criticism from club legend Neville. He took aim at the players' severe lack of effort and urged manager Carrick to drop his steadfast refusal to publicly criticise the struggling squad.
Neville demands an end to excuses
Speaking on Sky Sports co-commentary, Neville was stunned by the profound lack of energy displayed in west London. He was particularly frustrated by Carrick actively dismissing claims that his side were entirely passive during the contest.
"Michael has got to stop defending them," Neville said. "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.
"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."
Walking around like training mannequins
The poor display at Fulham followed back-to-back defeats against Manchester City and a Carabao Cup collapse to Brighton. Neville did not hold back in assessing the team's disastrous work rate out of possession, highlighting how easily the hosts dominated the ball.
"I've never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that," Neville explained. "Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team's energy.
"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.
"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."
A crucial international break awaits
The current international break has arrived at the perfect time for the Red Devils to reset. Carrick will use this extended pause to rebuild his squad's fitness before returning to Premier League action against Tottenham on October 10.
