Gary Neville blasts Manchester United after Fulham draw

Gary Neville used Manchester United's 1-1 draw with Fulham at Fulham vs Manchester United to deliver a blunt verdict on their work without the ball. He said the first 15 minutes of the second half were the worst 15 minutes he had ever seen United play, and warned that Michael Carrick needs to stop shielding the players.

Neville's criticism of United's effort

The sharpest line came on Sky Sports, where Neville said: "Michael has got to stop defending them. I get why he's defending them; he's loyal, he wants his players to work for him, and obviously there's a long way to go in the season."

He did not leave it there. Speaking on the same broadcast, Neville said Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes before their first shot, and that United's display over that spell summed up a deeper problem in the side's energy and defensive standards.

There was also no softening of the wider assessment. Neville said, "That first 15 minutes of the second half, well for 60 minutes, Manchester United were an absolute disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball. Nowhere near good enough."

The point carried extra weight because United have only 5 points from 5 league games this season, their joint-fewest at this stage of a Premier League campaign. That start leaves very little room for a performance as flat as this one.

The structure problem Carrick has to solve

Neville's criticism was not just about effort. He also argued that United's attacking shape is leaving the team exposed, saying: "I wish he could play all of those attacking players, but they are going to kill him defensively."

He added that United need a rebalance and said several players are better with the ball than without it. In his view, that creates a structure problem Carrick cannot keep papering over with selection alone.

The match itself backed up the frustration. United took 29 shots, but that volume never turned into control for long enough to settle the game. Matheus Cunha equalised with one minute of normal time to go after a heavy deflection off David Affengruber, yet even that late goal did not change the feel of the performance.

Cunha's own post-match comments lined up with the criticism. He said, "It is hard. They put in more energy than us, we cannot accept this. We need to do our best. We need to improve in every single position. It is only the beginning."

United left west London with a point, but the bigger takeaway is the same one Neville kept returning to. Carrick now has to decide whether to keep protecting the group publicly or start rebuilding the team's defensive structure in front of everyone.