Gary Neville Brands Manchester United’s Second-Half Display Their Worst Spell
Manchester United escaped Craven Cottage with a 1-1 draw against Fulham, but Gary Neville delivered a fierce verdict on the visitors’ start to the second half, describing it as the most alarming 15-minute spell he has witnessed in more than four decades of watching the club.
Fulham took the lead in the 63rd minute through an extraordinary own goal involving Senne Lammens and Lisandro Martínez. Lammens failed to deal cleanly with a harmless effort using his legs, then struggled to regain his footing as Martínez sent the loose ball beyond his own goalkeeper. The sequence followed a sluggish and mistake-filled opening to the half from United.
Matheus Cunha eventually earned United a point with a late shot that took a deflection, yet the result did little to ease the concern around the team’s form. United have now gone three Premier League matches without a victory and will enter the international break in the bottom half of the table.
Neville’s criticism centred on United’s work without the ball rather than their attacking shortcomings. He said he had followed the club from the age of five and had never seen a United side produce a poorer 15-minute period, calling the display “absolutely pathetic” and questioning what Michael Carrick would have made of it.
Expanding on his comments, Neville said the players had appeared to walk around while Fulham were in possession. He argued there was too little urgency, no movement to close spaces and no readiness to react, saying he had likened the side to mannequins because they were not shifting even a few yards to respond to danger.
He urged Carrick to stop shielding the group, while acknowledging the manager’s loyalty to his players and the amount of the season still remaining. Neville believed United needed greater balance, warning that the attacking options Carrick would prefer to field could leave the side badly exposed defensively. For Neville, a failure to run was the one aspect he regarded as unacceptable.
The Fulham draw also left United with their joint-lowest points total after five Premier League fixtures, matching the return from 2014-15. Under Louis van Gaal, United won only one of their first five league matches that year, beating QPR 4-0 at Old Trafford, before recovering to finish fourth.
