Michael Owen believes Manchester United 's isolation of Cristiano Ronaldo in attack is bordering on "abuse."
The five-time Ballon d'Or winner was benched by caretaker manager Michael Carrick for the Red Devils' 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Sunday.
But Owen, who played with Carrick for three years at Old Trafford between 2009 and 2012, claimed in a lengthy rant that the way Ronaldo and his more talented team-mates are being used by United gives them "no chance."
"We were at Old Trafford for the City game the other day and all of a sudden it’s just exactly the same they leave Cristiano Ronaldo up front on his own," the former Liverpool striker told Premier League Productions . " That’s almost abuse!
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"Having someone that good in your team and then playing everyone defensively and saying: 'That’s alright we’ll just hope he nicks a goal,' he’ll end up being average.
"If you leave him and all these good players or just two of them playing and everyone else defending they’ll start putting in bad performances because they’ve got nobody to pass to, they’ve got no options, they’re chipping the ball from 50 yards away."
"They need other players to come up and help them," Owen continued.
"It’s almost abusing the good players they’ve got and that’s the last thing you’ve got to do. If anything, expose the rubbish!
"Find ways of getting world class players in your team, get [Paul] Pogba, get [Bruno] Fernandes, get Ronaldo, get them as best as you can.
"If you let a few goals in because [Eric] Bailly ’s not great or [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka or whoever it may be then fine, you can replace them.
"But at the minute, because they’re nervous and scared they just bulk up with sitting midfielders and more defenders, they abuse the great players up front, leaving half of them on the bench and playing one or two.
"They’ve got no chance!"
Owen's blast follows what Carrick described as a 'disappointing' draw with Chelsea.
Jadon Sancho 's goal had given the Red Devils a shock lead against the run of play five minutes into the second half, before Jorginho equalised from the penalty spot, courtesy of a Wan-Bissaka foul.
"When you're in front in a game like this, to have it taken away from you like it was is disappointing," the caretaker United boss explained.
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"[I am] mmensely proud of the players, immensely proud of the whole group.
"All week, [we've been] in a difficult situation and trying to make the best of it. [We] can't hide from that, it's been tough at times but we've made the best of it and I'm immensely proud of the resposne and the way we've gone about it this week.
"We came here to win the game, we had a plan, we were positive in our mindset and in our attitude for that, so we're a little bit disappointed, I can't lie."
