Neville brands Manchester United 'a genuine disgrace' and tells Carrick to stop defending his players

Gary Neville delivered one of his most scathing verdicts on Manchester United after their 1-1 Premier League draw at Craven Cottage on Sunday, branding the side “a genuine disgrace” and calling on caretaker head coach Michael Carrick to stop shielding his players from criticism.

A Lisandro Martinez own-goal put Fulham ahead in the 63rd minute before Matheus Cunha’s deflected strike rescued a point for United. But the manner of the performance — particularly a 15-minute stretch at the start of the second half in which United barely pressed — left Neville furious.

“I have never seen a Manchester United side walk out of possession as much as that,” Neville said. “There was no alertness, no liveliness, no-one on your toes. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes of the game to get a chance. I don’t know how many 10-plus pass sequences Fulham had in that match.”

Neville’s anger was sharpened by Carrick’s post-match comments, in which the United head coach said he was pleased with his side’s energy and pressing throughout the game in west London. “Michael has got to stop defending them,” Neville said. “I get why he is defending them — he is loyal, he wants his players to work for him — but he has got to stop.”

Describing both sets of players as “mannequins” for long stretches of the match, Neville was careful to stress the weight of his criticism. “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. But in those first 15 minutes of that second half — and generally for the first 60 minutes — Man United were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball.”

United head into a three-week international break having won just one of their opening five Premier League matches, leaving them 12th in the table with five points. Neville acknowledged the timing of the break could prove useful. “It’s a great time for the international break,” he said, “because there has to be a rebalance.”