Manchester United legend Jaap Stam was critical of four stars, whom he accused of playing a big role in the defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
Humbling loss
United suffered a 1-0 defeat to their cross-town rivals at Old Trafford, in a contest that has sparked outrage and debate alike.
Michael Carrick’s men played with a numerical advantage for large parts after Phil Foden was sent off in the 23rd minute for kicking out at Bruno Fernandes.
The hosts asserted control on the game as they dominated possession and created chances, but they were unable to break down City’s compact defensive unit.
Against the run of play, City took the lead at the hour mark through Erling Haaland. The Norwegian was initially judged to have been offside by the linesman. However, VAR allowed the goal to stand after a lengthy check. Replays however showed that Enzo Fernandez made a clear attempt to head the ball.
Refereeing body Ref Pro subsequently issued a statement confirming that United were wronged and the goal should indeed have been chalked off.
Carrick branded the refereeing performance “worrying” and “staggering.” Lisandro Martinez indicated that it was an “injustice” to himself and his teammates.
However, Stam believes United should be more concerned about the poor team display and the fact they could not get a result against a 10-man team.
Stam’s comments
Stam told Viaplay [as quoted by the Metro], “If you look at City and if you look at this game, it was easy for them today, even with ten men.”
“I was asking myself as well: the United team coming off the pitch, what are they thinking? Would they be thinking they’ve done everything that they can? Is that it? Even in playing it out from the back, it was easy, one-two, keep the ball a little bit longer at your feet, somebody else is taking up different positions. You play it, make a little one-two, you’re out and they can go and attack.”
The former Netherlands international added, “Against ten men, even if it’s City with the quality that they have, you would expect United to be on the front foot every time, to be very, very aggressive, even the strikers tracking back.”
“Then, of course, and that’s a very important thing as well. If you have possession and they are dropping a little bit deeper, use the side, use the width of the game a little bit, put crosses in the box. But now sometimes, you feel like when they’re playing, there’s not a real idea in how to get to opportunities and how to make it difficult for the opposition to score goals.”
Watching back Haaland’s strike, Stam remarked, “It’s a long ball, they win it, City takes over and look at the front four [of United]. They’re just walking, they’re just looking at the situation.”
“A team that really wants to win, the strikers, it’s about all the 11, it’s about chasing. Against ten men, it’s about tracking back, it’s about winning battles.”
“From then on, you keep possession, you go out in transition and then you try to create and score goals.”
United will be eager to make things right on Wednesday when they face Brighton & Hove Albion in the third round of the Carabao Cup.
Featured image by George Wood via Getty Images
