Neville: Carrick has got to stop defending the players

Man Utd came from behind to draw 1-1 at Fulham on Super Sunday; Lisandro Martinez scored an own goal before Matheus Cuhna equalised; however, the team's performance was once again called into question, with Gary Neville saying the team were a 'genuine disgrace'

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Gary Neville has urged Michael Carrick to stop defending Manchester United players after another troubling performance in their draw at Fulham.

While on Sky Sports co-commentary, Neville described their start to the second half at Craven Cottage as "the worst 15 minutes I have ever seen Manchester United 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.

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 lack of urgency and energy at times from Man Utd in west London.

It led to Neville saying afterwards that the team lacked effort and they must start working harder for Carrick.

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.

"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."

Manchester United have won just five points from five league games this season, their joint-fewest at this stage of a Premier League campaign (also 5 in 2014-15).

Neville also elaborated on how United's personnel is causing Carrick a headache. He said: "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 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."

"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."