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Manchester United\u2019s abject performance in the derby defeat to Manchester City left former players Roy Keane and Gary Neville offering a damning assessment of the current state of the club, with players and hierarchy alike coming in for criticism.<\/p>\n
However, manager Erik ten Hag largely appears in favour with the ex-Old Trafford stars, despite overseeing a start to the Premier League campaign which has tallied five defeats in ten matches, leaving the Red Devils eighth in the table and and 11 points behind leaders Tottenham Hotspur, past the quarter mark of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Keane offered the most immediate and radical propsed solution to the latest crisis at the club, suggesting that Bruno Fernandes should have the captaincy removed from him – despite only being officially appointed to the position in July after Harry Maguire was demoted from it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first thing I\u2019d do, I would definitely take the captaincy off him, one hundred per cent. I know it\u2019s a big decision but Fernandes is not captain material,\u201d he said. \u201cA talented player no doubt, but after watching him again today, we\u2019ve discussed this before.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis whinging, moaning, throwing his arms up constantly – it\u2019s really not acceptable.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you make change you talk about boardroom level, but the manager can do this. The manager can hold his hands up and say I got it wrong – he\u2019s the opposite to what I would want in a captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan United have been built on great players and great characters. We haven\u2019t seen that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Keane also alluded to overspending and poor decisions in the transfer market. \u201cWe\u2019re well aware United have to pay over the odds but it feels too much for some of them. They lack physicality, they\u2019re like children out there. Too many who have come in for the fees involved haven\u2019t done the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
Neville, meanwhile, labelled it \u201cunbelievable\u201d that United still don\u2019t have a sporting director – David Harrison is director of football operations and John Murtough is football director at the club. However, he also pointed to the impending propsed takeover or partial purchase of ownership shares by Jim Ratcliffe as a reason behind coaching staff not being able to perform as well as they otherwise might do and get the team playing to their maximium level.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt\u2019s toxic, they all think they\u2019re going to lose their jobs. That\u2019s what\u2019s happening and I believe the toxicity at this club eats alive every player and has done for years,\u201d Neville said.<\/p>\n
Jamie Carragher, however, countered that \u201cWhat [Ten Hag] is doing on the training pitch has got nothing to do with the club takeover,\u201d but Neville reiterated that it wasn\u2019t time to place the Dutch head coach under pressure by calling for change.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course there\u2019s pressure, we\u2019ve seen it before with [David] Moyes, [Jose] Mourinho, [Louis] Van Gaal. I think Ten Hag should continue, 100 per cent. Today wasn\u2019t one of his best days in midfield [tactics] but the reality is the performances have been so poor for the last few months: battered by Brighton, lucky against Brentford and Copenhagen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t quite see a way out of it in performance levels but changing manager? That\u2019s not where I am at. He\u2019s hitting the same issues [Ole Gunnar] Solskjaer did: doing well in a cup, signing players to go to the next level and [falling off].\u201d<\/p>\n
United are next in action in the Carabao Cup against Newcastle United, before a trip to Fulham and a vital Champions League away game to FC Copenhagen.<\/p>\n