Rio Ferdinand has hit out at Manchester United‘s defending during their 3-2 Champions League defeat by Galatasaray on Tuesday night, branding their defence as ’embarrassing’ before claiming they were ‘cut open like a knife through butter.’
United added another defeat to their underwhelming start to the new season, with Wilfried Zaha returning to Old Trafford to open the scoring for the Turkish club, with Kerem Akturkoglu and Mauro Icardi also finding the back of the net for the visitors.
For United it’s their second straight loss on the bounce following their 1-0 defeat by Crystal palace, and Ferdinand, on punditry for TNT Sports lambasted his former side’s defending after the match.
‘I’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster tonight,’ he said. ‘One minute I’m sitting there going, “we look like a team with shared potential, something to be positive about”.
‘But then I’m sitting there with my head in my hands thinking there’s an absolute lack of organisation at times. There’s experienced players through the team and there’s no organisation defensively.
Rio Ferdinand has slammed Man United’s ’embarrassing’ defending after their 3-2 defeat by Galatasaray
Ferdindand claimed that there was ‘no organisation defensively’ with Victor Lindelof (pictured) being caught out of position alonside Raphael Varane for Galatasaray’s winner
Ferdinand (pictured) said that his former club’s defence looked like they were ‘being cut open like a knife through butter’
‘And that’s where you’re at your most comfortable and we go to sleep. We’re being cut open like a knife through butter, and that’s embarrassing.
‘This is the champions league it’s not like we’re playing school football or anything. This is the champions league and some of the mistakes you’re seeing, and at this level you’re going to get punished and they were tonight.’
United took the lead after 17 minutes, with Marcus Rashford teeing up Rasmus Hojlund for his first of the night. The Dane would make it 2-1 after half time, lifting the ball over the goalkeeper after a brilliant solo run into the box.
He could have had a third, but it was disallowed for offside, with Andre Onana being at the centre of the controversy too, conceding a penalty which was then missed by Mauro Icardi.
Ferdinand added: ‘It’s the team. I always believed that. And I always believed that you need organisers at the back. Whether that’s the goalkeeper or the centre-halves who talks and communicates.
Rasmus Hojlund (pictured) scored twice for Untied and had a third goal disallowed for offside
The result comes as the second consecutive defeat for Erik ten Hag (pictured) and his team
‘In two of those goals there was no leadership in that backline about controlling the situation and I spoke a bit there about one of the goals in terms of making sure you understand your mindset of the what ifs.
‘”What if someone makes a mistake? What if there’s an underhit pass and it goes behind us?”
‘You’ve got to think like that to where I am in relation to that striker – he can’t have an easy route to goal. We’re talking about concentration.
‘But we’re not talking about young players here, we’re talking about experienced players who know their way around a football pitch and have won things.’
