Michael Carrick has been told that Manchester United's midfield is costing them despite their huge revamp. The Red Devils spent over £150m across the summer transfer window in transforming their midfield.
Youri Tielemans and Andrey Santos arrived from Aston Villa and Chelsea respectively for a combined fee of £85m, while Carlos Baleba was signed from Brighton. Their arrivals followed the decision to let Brazilian midfielder Casemiro depart the club at the end of his deal.
Midfield selection criticised
Neither Santos nor Baleba started in Saturday's draw with Tottenham Hotspur, the latter only introduced as a second-half substitute for his debut. Tielemans in the meantime lasted under an hour, having been selected to start alongside Kobbie Mainoo.
And former Liverpool star Danny Murphy has suggested that Carrick's midfield selection was the main issue for the Red Devils. Speaking on Match of the Day, he said: “There was a lethargy about Manchester United. This midfield can’t control games.
“It’s partly tactical, partly personnel. It’s not just about the two central boys. These are both technically gifted boys who want to be on the ball going forwards. It got worse as the second-half went on.
Physicality concerns
“I don’t understand it because we saw at the end of last season Manchester United being much more organised, much more difficult to play against.
“It gets worse. This is legs, this is physicality. Tielemans, Mainoo, they’re not able to do the yards on the big pitches against a three-man midfield.
“If they were playing against a more competent, confident side today, they’d have been beat comfortably. They’ve got to get back to basics, be hard to beat, close the spaces, maybe drop a forward player into midfield to create a three, a more solid three.
“But if they play like that against good teams, they’re going to get cut right open because that’s impossible.”
United's poor start
United’s draw against Spurs leaves them languishing in 12th in the Premier League table and just one win from their opening six games.
Murphy was not the only one to pinpoint United’s midfield as a major issue. United icon Gary Neville said: "Tielemans and Mainoo, I think we've seen enough of it now."
"I'm not calling time on it because that's probably too drastic, but I've seen enough to think that's not a midfield that's dynamic enough to play at this football club in the Premier League.
"I think they are both good players individually. But sometimes you just have players that don't quite knit together or don't quite suit each other."
