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 saw red for the first time in his United career for a clumsy challenge on the brink of the interval.
Gary Neville insisted Man United’s first-half performance against Spurs was among the worst of Erik ten Hag’s tenure
Brennan Johnson gave the visitors the lead after tapping in from close range on three minutes
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.
United captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a reckless challenge of James Maddison
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.’