03 October 2023 , 21:55
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Rio Ferdinand has accused Manchester United of defending like school boys in their shocking home defeat by Galatasaray.
United suffered a 3-2 loss at the hands of their Turkish opponents in the Champions League on Tuesday night. Rasmus Hojlund scored twice in an impressive performance from the young Danish striker, but his display was overshadowed by weak defending.
Wilfried Zaha got on the end of a long ball to score, Kerem Akturkoglu tucked into the corner following a throw-in and Mauro Icardi dinked over Andre Onana after being played onside by Sofyan Amrabat. It could have been worse, too, had Icardi scored from the penalty spot after Casemiro was sent off for a late tackle after an error from Onana.
Former United centre-back Ferdinand was furious with what he saw from his old club, calling out Diogo Dalot, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Amrabat for their performances. “You’ve got to give Galatasaray credit because they kept themselves in the game, and when the chances came their way, they punished Man United,” he said on TNT Sports.
“But that was a serious rollercoaster of emotions for me because at one moment, I’m sat there thinking about how we look like a unit, cohesive and a team with shared potential, something to be positive about. And then the next, I have my head in my hands because there’s a lack of organisation, there’s no leadership, there’s nothing defensively.
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“As a kid, you’re told that you’re the most vulnerable after just scoring and that happened twice tonight, we fell asleep! At times, it looked far too easy and they went through us like a hot knife through butter and it’s embarrassing. This is the Champions League, it’s not school football or anything. The lack of positional awareness, spacial awareness, at this level you’ll be punished for that and they were tonight.”
Manchester United crumbled against Galatasaray (Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)United have been hindered by injuries of late, with Luke Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Sergio Reguilon all missing at left-back. Amrabat has filled in at left-back and, while he was caught out for the Icardi goal, it was the performances of Varane, Lindelof and Onana which particularly annoyed Paul Scholes.
“Amrabat isn’t a left-back, obviously, but he leaves things so wide open. Lindelof and Varane were so lazy, so weak and we all know what the goalkeeper did as well,” he said. “Honestly though, it’s a shocking result. It’s a really bad result for United. To lose your first home game of the Champions League group stage, even after losing the first away game as well, it’s a really terrible result.”
United sit bottom of Group A having lost their two opening matches. They have conceded seven goals in their opening two matches following the 4-3 defeat by Bayern Munich in the opening game.