ARSENE WENGER slammed Manchester United’s defending after their 6-3 loss to Manchester City.
The former Arsenal boss was shocked by how poor United were in their attempts to stifle City on the flanks.
In particular, Wenger was critical of Diogo Dalot at right-back but also wingers Antony and Jadon Sancho as they did not track back and help out defensively.
He told BeIN Sports: “What is for me unbelievable in the first half is that United has defended so badly on the flanks.
“From the first minute Dalot got a yellow card, and Sancho and Antony did not contribute defensively. They were, in the whole half, flooded on the flanks and they were always in trouble.
“After that, when they had the ball, I felt they were obsessed by respecting too much the game plan.
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“They wanted always to go too quickly forward and lost so many balls and didn’t have enough possession. They didn’t play for possession, they wanted just to get on the counter-attack.”
Gary Neville highlighted a “nervousness” in United’s performance and claims the players froze on the big occasion.
But rather than pick on individuals the former Red Devil slammed the team as a whole, admitting he expected better from Erik ten Hag’s men.
He said: “The story of the game is that in the first half Manchester United froze. There’s no doubt they bottled it.
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“They have been really nervous. They have just not handled this derby at all.
“I expected so much more from United. There was no composure. They never settled. They were anxious and nervous on the ball.”
Neville did focus criticism on Ten Hag however, slamming the United boss for making Christian Eriksen mark Erling Haaland as the City striker powered home a header from a corner.
He added: “I’ve no idea why Eriksen is marking him in that initial phase and the rest of them are stood still when he’s on the move.
“Eriksen can’t handle him physically. He gets up so early, he’s so strong and the technique is brilliant.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
