Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has outlined his concerns around their defence.
United lost 2-1 to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford last week after a previous 1-1 draw against Wolves.
Ferdinand spotted some deficiencies in United's defeat to Palace and he explained his thinking as part of the pre-match BT Sport coverage ahead of the game against Southampton.
“I was one of the fans that got carried away initially but looking back with time to reflect, there were some deficiencies that concerned me and that played out against Palace later on,” he said.
“There’s people not following runners, not closing down, it happened a few times against Chelsea. Don’t forget, they hit the post twice and with a bit more quality they would have put United to the sword.
“With two new defenders in the team there is going to be teething problems. Against Wolves, Neves is one of the best strikers of the ball from outside the box. I couldn’t understand why there wasn’t someone on the edge of the box.
“He has a poor touch and if a player was closer, I believe that would have been blocked definitely. Against Palace, it’s schoolboy stuff. A straight ball is what you’re taught to deal with at 12-years-old.
“Maguire is not covering Lindelof, who is attacking the ball, and Wan-Bissaka has to get around. They’re out of position, they can’t recover and Ayew run through.
“These are issues I spotted in the first game but they got away with it because of the goals.”
