Gary Neville has criticised Manchester United’s response to losing their lead in the 1-1 draw with Southampton and says the players ‘broke every rule in the book’ when chasing the match.
United got in behind the visitors’ defence on numerous occasions in the first half and took the lead in the 21st minute through Jadon Sancho, who bagged his first goal at Old Trafford since his transfer.
The Red devils had chances to extend their lead in an open and entertaining affair, but they were pegged back just after the break as Che Adams stroked the ball past David de Gea.
The hosts had chances to retake the lead, with Fraser Forster producing one good save to deny Harry Maguire, but Southampton likewise created enough opportunities of their own to snatch three points.
However, United were unable to find a winning goal, meaning they have now had a first-half lead in their last three games – against Saints, Burnley and Middlesbrough – without managing to get the win.
In the final embers, the clash became quite a scrappy affair, and Neville was unhappy with the approach of United’s players and felt they were naive.
With just a few minutes left of the game, Neville tweeted: ‘Breaking every rule in the book here United on how to chase a goal!
‘Don’t give fouls away, don’t give the ball away, don’t force it, don’t lose your discipline and chase the ref etc etc!’
Manager Ralf Rangnick appeared to agree with Neville’s assessment and felt his team lacked ‘composure’ in the second half as they chased a winning goal.
Speaking to BT Sport after the game, the German coach said: ‘This is not an easy team to play against but we, again, lost a little bit of composure.
‘We took, again, wrong decisions – sometimes under pressure and sometimes not under pressure. This is where we just have to get better whenever we prepare the team for the next possible game.
‘As I said in the last four or five games, we started extremely well, we had an excellent half hour again today, but in the end it’s about playing in that way for more than just one half.’
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The result sees United overtake Arsenal up into fifth place in the Premier League table – having played two matches more – and represents a big chance missed to claim fourth place from West Ham.
