Rio Ferdinand has slammed the Manchester United defenders for showing “immaturity” in their draw at Galatasaray.
The Red Devils twice led by two-goals but eventually drew 3-3 to leave their Champions League hopes hanging by a thread. A rocking Rams Park witnessed a dream United start to a breathless match, with Alejandro Garnacho completing a fine team move before Bruno Fernandes rocketed the visitors further ahead in the 18th minute.
Hakim Ziyech’s free-kick all too easily beat Andre Onana to give Galatasaray hope, which Scott McTominay appeared to extinguish when scoring in the 55th minute. But United, not for the first time in Group A, unravelled as Onana’s howler allowed Ziyech to score another free-kick before substitute Kerem Akturkoglu levelled with a scorcher.
Despite their attacking exploits, United’s defence has come under fire again. Harry Maguire continued to play at the heart of the backline alongside Victor Lindelof with Luke Shaw and Aaron-Wan Bissaka on the flanks. Ferdinand has claimed, after sticking to their task well, that the United defence dropped off as the game went on, which ultimately cost them.
He said on TNT Sports: “In the first half I was asking them to be uncomfortable and enjoy sometimes being penned back on the edge of your box, bank of four and a bank of five and not allowing a big gap between the midfield and the defenders. They were doing that.
“But it’s about doing that consistently, doing that rep after rep after rep. And that’s where I think sometimes there’s maybe a little bit of immaturity, maybe boredom creeps in and one jumps out and then they go ‘Oh, we’re out of shape’, and they look very open at those times.”
United have one of the best attacks in the Champions League but, unfortunately for them, that is undermined by one of the shakiest defences. Only one team has a worst record than them as they sit bottom of their group with a must-win game to come against Bayern Munich.
Paul Scholes bemoaned their game management as they squandered a lead, once again, in a European outing. He called on Maguire and Lindelof to show more leadership as the game began to reflect a basketball encounter, such was its end-to-end nature.
“It’s back to game management. I feel like a broken record, I’ve been saying this for years now – it’s a lack of leadership,” he said. “You think of the experience they’ve got in the team, of [Victor] Lindelof who plays for Sweden, [Harry] Maguire playing for England for so long.
“The centre of the pitch was wide open. People just running through it all the time. With the pace they’ve got up front, they will always get counter-attacking chances. But make sure you’re solid. It was end-to-end, it was a game they didn’t need after being 2-0 up and 3-1 up. It was absolute madness.”