Michael Owen slams three Man Utd players who ‘literally do nothing’

Michael Owen took aim at Manchester United’s centre-backs after the defeat to Tottenham and said they ‘literally do nothing’ to contribute to the team. James Maddison’s first-half goal earned Spurs a much-needed victory on Sunday and inflicted yet another defeat on struggling United. England international Maddison was the only player to react after Lucas Bergvall’s shot was only parried by Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana and slotted home from yards out.

Owen was disappointed that none of Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt or Noussair Mazraoui was on hand to deal with the situation but said it summed up their lack of input during the game. ‘What frustrates me more than anything about the Manchester United team is that those centre-halves do nothing during the game,’ Owen said on Premier League Productions. ‘They hardly pick up any players at all, yet when you ask them to do one job – stop the guy who’s shooting – they’re sleeping at that as well.

‘We’ve seen so many clips in the first half when there’s nobody to pick up, there’s three of them literally doing nothing. They won’t push in, they won’t go and mark anybody, they just sit there. ‘It’s the easiest position on the pitch in theory because they’re asked to do nothing. The manager plays so many defenders and none of them are picking anyone up. ‘The midfield for Manchester United has to be the hardest place to play in the Premier League and the defence should be the easiest because they literally mark no one, ever.

‘They sit there doing nothing and everyone else is outnumbered all over the pitch.’. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video. Up Next. While Tottenham celebrated their first win in three games following successive cup defeats to Liverpool and Aston Villa and eased some of the pressure on Ange Postecoglou, United have now lost three of their past four games.

That dismal run of form has seen Manchester United drop to 15th, 12 points above the drop zone and below previous relegation-battlers Everton. Under-fire boss Ruben Amorim said: ‘It was hard. When we created situations and we don’t score, it is really hard. ‘Losing games and losing players, they have to change their approach to every game. We need to focus on the next game and forget the past. ‘They will see me with energy to move forward to prepare for the next game.’.

Tottenham manager Postecoglou, meanwhile, said: ‘Important to win today and important game for us get our league form into some sort of opportunity to improve. I thought we played decent at times. ‘We had to do all facets of the game today. Pleased for all the new players coming in, they all contributed, but most important thing was to get the win today.’. Manchester United face the aforementioned Everton next weekend while Spurs return to action against Ipswich Town.