Gary Neville has blasted Manchester United and claimed ‘they broke every rule in the book’ in allowing Southampton back into the game on Saturday.
For the third time in a row the Red Devils surrendered a lead, this time being forced to hold onto a draw with the Saints.
Jadon Sancho had put United into the lead in the first half, capping a dominant display, which also saw a Paul Pogba goal correctly ruled out for offside.
But as they did against Middlesbrough and Burnley, Ralf Rangnick’s side failed to capitalise on their advantage, with Southampton overwhelming the hosts in a swashbuckling second-half display.
Che Adams levelled the score minutes after the break and Ralph Hasenhuttl may have felt his team deserved more than the solitary point they took back to the south coast.
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It was a second half capitulation which raised more questions about Rangnick’s interim tenure, having taken another step back in their quest to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Taking to Twitter in the final minutes of the match, United legend Neville felt that the current crop of stars were guilty of breaking cardinal rules in trying to chase a late winner.
He posted: “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!”
Rangnick pointed to a lack of composure in the final stages, with United unable to ever truly put their opponents under exerted late pressure.
“This is not an easy team to play against but we, again, lost a little bit of composure,” he told BT Sport. “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.”
Neville’s former United team-mate Paul Scholes also weighed in on United’s latest failure, pointing the blame at the man in the dugout.
“There’s a lack of interest now. It’s been a bad seven days, it’s been really a bad six or seven months,” Scholes said.
“The season’s not been good enough - the sack following was coming. We all knew that, we all felt that but where was the plan?
“This is Man United, they should have the best of everything.
“To not have a plan and to bring in what is technically a sporting director, I think he's coached a team two years out of the last ten.
“Don't get me wrong, I like the man, I think he comes across really well. His team, he looks like he lacks experience in coaching over the last few years, his team, they're a team of individuals.
“Look at the difference between United's team and Southampton's, we have to give Southampton credit they were brilliant today.”
