Neville: Stop defending them — now

Gary Neville has urged Manchester United boss Michael Carrick to stop defending his players after another alarming display in a 1-1 draw at Fulham. Speaking in his role as Sky Sports co-commentator, the former United full-back described the start of the second half at Craven Cottage as "the worst 15 minutes I have ever seen Manchester United play".

In that grim spell, Carrick's side fell behind to a horror own goal in the 63rd minute, when Senne Lammens parried Calvin Bassey's shot against Lisandro Martinez and into the Red Devils' own net. It took a fortunate deflection to spare United a third straight defeat in all competitions, with Matheus Cunha's long-range strike taking a nick off David Affengruber and beating Bernd Leno with one minute of the 90 remaining.

'Genuine disgrace' — Neville spares nobody

The draw follows defeats to Manchester City last Sunday and a Carabao Cup capitulation to Brighton, and Neville says the lack of urgency in west London was indefensible. He compared United's out-of-possession work to mannequins and saved his harshest words for the team's effort levels.

"I've never seen a Man Utd team walk out of possession as much as that. Michael has just said there was nothing wrong with the team's energy. 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 added: "Both teams were the same. I called them mannequins. I've never seen a United team walk around as much as that. No alertness, no aliveness. No 'on your toes'. You should always be on your toes. Always shifting up two or three yards. They were just walking when Fulham were in possession. Fulham had 46 passes in the first couple of minutes to get their first shot."

The criticism did not stop at effort. "Very rarely do I say a team doesn't work hard or is lacking in effort. That's the ultimate criticism you can give a group of players. I'm always very careful to say that, but in those first 15 minutes of that second half, Man Utd and generally for the first 60 minutes, were a genuine disgrace. Nowhere near good enough without the ball."

Neville also highlighted the structural imbalance in Carrick's squad, suggesting too many of his most dangerous attackers are a liability without possession.

"I wish he could play all of those attacking players, but they are going to kill him defensively. It's not just the defence and the back four that are causing him a problem — Mbeumo and Rashford are too high and wide. They don't narrow back in. You've got Tielmans and Mainoo in midfield who are a little bit one-paced. Baleba will probably come in there. Bruno floats around a little bit, and then Cunha floats around a little bit. You've got these five or six players who are better with the ball than without the ball."

Cunha: 'They put in more energy than us — we cannot accept this'

Matheus Cunha, the goalscorer who spared United's blushes, echoed Neville's assessment — albeit pointed in his own team's direction. He told Sky Sports: "It is frustrating for us. After the goal, we played much better and had a lot of character. It needs to be from the start. It is only one point but we should never play for one point. 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. Last season was the same, with noise around, but we finished third."

Carrick hits back: 'I didn't think we were passive'

Carrick, however, rejected the characterisation of his team's display. Asked directly if United were too passive, he responded: "I didn't think we did [look passive]. Did you think we were passive? Football is a difficult game. We controlled a lot of the first half and we played a lot of good football today. There is going to be spells when you don't have it go your own way.

"The goal they scored, and arguably there is a foul at one point on Matheus [Cunha], and it is two deflections. It goes their way. To expect total dominance for the whole game, I don't think anyone gets that in this league. We don't need to get carried away. It is not a big judgement call all of a sudden. We know we can be better, and we need to be better at certain things. We will be. There were good signs, and it will take us through the season."

The head coach also insisted his side deserved more from the game. "I thought we should've won the game; we created enough to win the game," he said. "We had a lot of good play, and the goal we did concede. It was just one of those goals. I really liked the reaction and how we finished the game. It would be easy for it to go in another direction. We nearly won it at the end. We came to get the win; of course we did, but the way we finished the game is the positive we take from it."

The numbers behind the noise

The statistics paint a complex picture. Manchester United registered 29 shots on goal at Craven Cottage — their second-most in an away Premier League match since Opta data collection began in 2003-04 — and hit the woodwork six times in the league this season, the most by any team in the division, including Bruno Fernandes side-footing against the post from a glorious position at 0-0. Yet United's five points after five games are their joint-fewest at this stage of a Premier League season, matching 2014-15.

Neville warned that while no one is placing immediate pressure on Carrick, the goodwill will not last forever. "There's no panic in that sense," he said. "But if those types of performances continue, he will find himself in a lot of trouble. They've got to work harder than that for him."

The international break has come at a welcome moment for Carrick, who returns to action at home against struggling Tottenham on October 10, with a Champions League trip to Atletico Madrid following three days later.