Gary Neville labels Manchester United’s midfield ‘NON-EXISTENT’ after their win over Wolves and insists Erik ten Hag’s side lacks ‘balance’

Gary Neville has dismissed Manchester United’s midfield as ‘non-existent’ after the Red Devils started their Premier League season with a 1-0 win over Wolves.

United stumbled to their first top-flight English win of the new season as Old Trafford celebrated taking three points in their season-opening game.

Neville spoke on Sky Sports after the game when he explained that Erik ten Hag’s side had failed to impress against a struggling Wolves team.

He said: ‘Manchester United’s midfield didn’t exist, it was emptying. It may have been a sort of concern, if you saw Man United in pre-season and Casemiro left to their own devices when Mason Mount and Bruno Fernandes went up front, it looks great.

“But you have to have a balance. And the front three don’t really work hard enough in a defensive sense, that would have been a real concern as Wolves only got a new manager four days ago and a lot of misery about how their season will end, but they’ve been brilliant tonight.

Neville was less impressed after United limped to a narrow victory against Wolves

United’s new midfield, including summer signing Mason Mount, was set up to attack from the start with home supporters expecting to see an unleashing of attacking prowess against a Wolves side still hurt by the loss of their manager.

But despite creating a couple of half-chances in the opening changes, Mount, Casemiro and Fernandes struggled to open holes in the robust visiting defence.

New captain Fernandes hovered around the attacking third to try to find space, while Mount – making his first competitive appearance for United – was energetic but lacked quality on the ball.

It wasn’t until Raphael Varane scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute that United got a shot on target before two more followed in the dying minutes.

Victory was guaranteed as the hosts escaped a stoppage-time penalty as Andre Onana clattered into Wolves substitute Sasa Kalajdzic.

A VAR review eventually decided that no further action would be taken before Wolves boss Gary O’Neil revealed he had received post-match apologies for the decision.

United held on to an unconvincing three points in front of a 75,000-strong home crowd to cement their place among the Premier League’s opening weekend leaders

Bruno Fernandes (left) was not at his best as United struggled to break down Wolves’ defence

Brazilian winger Antony struggled all the way and was hooked in the second half

Neville was unimpressed with United’s strike targeting Marcus Rashford (left)

It was an equally disappointing performance from Man United’s attacking trio of Marcus Rashford, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho, as new striker Rasmus Hojlund watched from the stands as he recovers from a back problem.

Rashford often broke into dangerous positions but couldn’t get much fun as he tried to dribble through Wolves defenders on multiple occasions, Garnacho was wasteful with his shots and Brazilian star Antony was hooked midway through the second half.

Control in midfield was lost as Wolves created the better chances and enjoyed an almost equal possession, while also having more off-target shots than the hosts.

New manager Gary O’Neil will be bolstered by his side’s resilience, while Ten Hag needs to work through issues ahead of their next game with the Spurs on Saturday.