Gary Neville was scathing in his criticism of Manchester United‘s performance in the first half against Tottenham.
Erik ten Hag‘s side welcomed Spurs to Old Trafford on Sunday looking to bounce back from a languid showing in a 1-1 draw with Dutch side FC Twente in the Europa League in midweek.
The hosts immediately found themselves on the back foot from kick-off and Spurs took the lead after just three minutes when Brennan Johnson tapped in following an inspired run out of defence 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 equaliser.
The first 45 minutes minutes would only continue to deteriorate however, as captain Bruno Fernandes brought down James Maddison on the brink of the interval.
Though the challenge appeared to have occurred following a slip by the Portuguese midfielder, referee Chris Kavanagh did not hesitate in showing a red card.
The decision marks the first time Fernandes has seen red for his club since arriving in Manchester from Sporting Lisbon in 2020.
Speaking on commentary during the first half Neville didn’t hold back in his assessment of both Fernandes, and United’s performance as a whole.
‘It isn’t clever. That’s no good. He’s gone knee high. He’s not going to get away with it,’ he said on Sky Sports.
I think he slips. It looks bad because he’s gone in just under knee high.
‘It’s not as bad as I initially thought but it sums up United in the first half who have been an absolute disgrace. Probably one of the worst halves I’ve seen under Ten Hag and that’s saying something.
‘He can’t believe what he’s watching. I can’t believe what I’m watching, it’s awful. It really is bad.’
‘I’m not even talking about scoring goals, I’m talking about the basics. They look shot to pieces, the lot of them.’
The club legend went on to insist that amateur sides would have put up a better showing.
He continued: ‘I suspect there were better Sunday league teams this morning that what we’ve seen from United this first half. Pub football.’
Any hopes of a reprieve after the restart for Ten Hag’s men would quickly be dashed shortly after the action got back underway.
After United threatened to get the ball forward Spurs countered without mercy, with Johnson down the right hand side before finding Dejan Kulusevski who poked past Andre Onana to double his side’s lead.
