Gary Neville brands Man United’s first half against Tottenham as ‘one of the worst I’ve seen under Ten Hag’ as the club legend blasts ‘absolute DISGRACE’
Gary Neville was scathing in his criticism of Manchester United’s first-half performance against Tottenham.
Erik ten Hag’s side welcomed Spurs to Old Trafford on Sunday as they looked to bounce back from a sluggish performance in a 1-1 draw with Dutch side FC Twente in the Europa League in midweek.
The hosts were immediately on the back foot from kick-off and Spurs took the lead after just three minutes when Brennan Johnson tapped in after an inspired defensive line from Micky van de Ven.
Joshua Zirkzee and Alejandro Garnacho had chances to level, with the latter hitting the post from close range, but United struggled to find an equalizer.
The opening minutes of the 45 minutes would only deteriorate further, however, as captain Bruno Fernandes brought down James Maddison on the edge of the break.
Gary Neville insisted Man United’s first-half performance against Spurs was among the worst of Erik ten Hag’s tenure
Brennan Johnson gave the visitors the lead after three minutes by tapping in from close range
United were fortunate not to go into the break chasing a bigger deficit after multiple saves from Andre Onana
Although the challenge appeared to have arisen following a slip by the Portuguese midfielder, referee Chris Kavanagh had no hesitation in showing a red card.
The decision marks the first time Fernandes has seen red for his club since joining Manchester from Sporting Lisbon in 2020.
Speaking on the first-half commentary, Neville did not hesitate in his assessment of both Fernandes and United’s performance as a whole.
‘It’s not smart. That’s not good. It has become knee-high. He’s not going to get away with it,” he told Sky Sports.
I think he’s slipping. It looks bad because he just dropped in at knee height.
‘It’s not as bad as I initially thought, but it does sum up the fact that United were an absolute disgrace in the first half. Probably one of the worst halves I’ve seen under Ten Hag and that’s saying something.
On the verge of half-time, United captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a reckless challenge from James Maddison
The red marked the midfielder’s first sending-off in more than 200 appearances for the club
‘He can’t believe what he’s seeing. I can’t believe what I’m seeing, it’s horrible. It’s really bad.’
‘I’m not even talking about scoring goals, I’m talking about the basics. Each and every one of them looks great.”
The club legend continued to insist that amateur clubs would have performed better.
He continued: “I suspect there were better teams in the Sunday league this morning than what we have seen from United this first half. Pub football.’
Any hopes of a reprieve after the restart was reduced to ten men would be quickly dashed shortly after the action got underway again.
Marcel added on commentary that a pub team would have performed better
After United threatened to get the ball forward, Spurs countered effectively, with Johnson skipping down the right flank before finding Dejan Kulusevski to cross past Andre Onana to double their lead.
Timo Werner had a golden opportunity to make it three before the hour mark, but Onana made an impressive double save to deny the German and an onrushing Dominic Solanke.