Rio Ferdinand claimed Harry Maguire was at fault for Burnley’s equaliser as Manchester United threw more points away from a winning position, drawing 1-1 at Turf Moor.
The Red Devils came sprinting out the blocks, looking to quickly put their miserable Middlesbrough FA Cup exit behind them.
Raphael Varane thought he had opened the scoring, only for VAR to disallow his header after replays showed Maguire had blocked Jay Rodriguez in an offside position.
Paul Pogba had no such VAR concerns, firing a Luke Shaw centre into the roof of the net to cap his Premier League return.
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There was then more United frustration when Marcus Rashford saw a deflected strike ruled out for a contentious-looking foul by Pogba moments before.
But in truth, United let the Clarets off the hook, failing to convert their dominance into the kind of the lead that would have ended the game as a contest.
And after the break, Burnley worked their way back into the game when Rodriguez fired home following brilliant work by the industrious Wout Weghorst.
Maguire was sucked out of position to try and tackle the newly signed striker, leaving Rodriguez in acres of space to score the equaliser.
And United legend Ferdinand singled out Maguire for his costly over commitment, the latest in a string of errors by the England international.
Ferdinand told BT Sport: "This comes from Man United attacking. Two or three of them lying down, playing forward and running forward. It’s about feet, that bit of skill is beautiful, can it be prevented?"
"There’s McTominay, he’s your protection, all he’s got to do, Maguire, is keep pushing him away, he hasn’t got to overcommit, as soon as he over commits, it’s a great piece of skill, this pass is sublime, if Kevin de Bruyne does that [Weghorst pass] we’ll all be going crazy."
He continued: "This touch across Maguire takes him completely out of it. I don’t think Maguire is quick enough to have got there to affect that situation once it got beyond him.
“It’s about stopping it at the source, once he has the big number nine, keep him facing [away from] the goal, he’s got the security of McTominay in front of him, he can deal with him a little bit, these are small mistakes leading to big moments."
It was another disjointed display from Maguire, who has seen his position in the United starting XI questioned, unable to replicate the kind of form he showed during England's Euro 2020 campaign.
"This season, you’ve seen that [too many below-par performances]," Ferdinand continued. "I’m not sure if that’s a hangover from the Euros physically and mentally I’m not sure. There hasn’t been the consistency of a player you’d expect of that stature.
"Behind closed doors he will take responsibility for that, he doesn’t need to come out here and go crazy and he’ll iron it out.
"The challenge he made just over the halfway line, he’s lucky to stay on the pitch because I feel the striker is running in on goal, it’s a performance he’ll like to erase and get into the next game as quick as possible. But these things happen."
The draw, twinned with West Ham ’s win over Watford dropped United down to fifth with the three teams immediately behind them all possessing multiple games in hand.
