Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand has hit out at three Red Devils stars for not stopping Anthony Elanga scoring in their 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest.
Elanga, who graduated from the Red Devils academy, picked the ball up in his own half and ran most of the length of the pitch, avoiding a couple of challenges, before sticking the ball in the bottom corner.
Man Utd dominated possession and had almost three times the amount of shots as Forest – who are looking likely to be playing Champions League football next season – but it was Elanga’s first-half goal that settled the match.
But Ferdinand was not happy with the defending in the lead up to Elanga’s goal with the Man Utd legend calling out Alejandro Garnacho, Noussair Mazraoui and Patrick Dorgu.
Ferdinand told TNT Sports: “I think there’s three moments where they could have maybe stopped this goal.
“First of all, it’s a wonderful goal from Elanga, and you can’t take anything away from him in that sense.
“But when you’re looking for a defensive point of view, Elanga is on the edge of the box there.
“Dorgu’s got to be goal-side. You’ve got to think defensively first. You know the threat is pace.
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“Be in a better position to stop that. Then he’s behind, he’s chasing, can’t get back.
“And Garnacho has a role to play here. You should take him out, foul him there. You’ve got to foul him there. Take him out. You can see the pace, you can see the support he has.
“And Mazraoui’s got to make a decision. Before he gets into that box, you’ve got to go and engage the attacking player there. Go into the box, get closer to goal.”
When asked if it felt like one step forward and two steps back at the moment, Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim told reporters: “It’s more [of] the same since this season began. So I think if you look at the game we are improving the way we play football.
“We are creating more chances, we are dominating more games. But in the end, when you don’t win, you feel that and that is a good thing. So we know that this season is going to be like that, the momentum. So we continue to go to the next [game].”
On what needs to change, Amorim added: “Yes, because if you look at some games, we cannot create situations where they create. The opponent sometimes create more opportunities and today was not the case.
“They scored one shot maybe two shots at goal and we manage not to score again. We have to improve in the last third. We are improving the way we build up. We are pushing the opponents more to their half, but there’s a lot to be given.”
