Manchester United suffered a sobering afternoon at the Etihad yesterday, losing the Manchester derby by six goals to three.
Arsene Wenger has singled out a few United players for specific criticism, in the aftermath of the heavy defeat.
As reported in The Mirror, speaking to beIN Sports, Wenger named Dalot, Antony and Jadon Sancho as players who did not do enough throughout the game.
Wenger started by stating he felt United were particularly weak in wide areas, which allowed City to control the first half and deliver the irreversible damage.
“What is for me unbelievable in the first half is that Man United has defended so badly on the flanks. They were, in the whole half, flooded on the flanks and they were always in trouble.”
The ex-Arsenal boss then went on to say he felt that Sancho and Antony didn’t offer enough help to Dalot after he received an early booking for a foul on Jack Grealish.
“From the first minute Dalot got a yellow card, and Sancho and Antony did not contribute defensively.”
The Frenchman then said that he felt United were not good enough in possession when they had the ball, which ultimately scuppered any chance of them getting back into the game.
“They wanted always to go too quickly forward and lost so many balls and didn’t have enough possession. They didn’t play for possession, they wanted just to get on the counter-attack.”
United have had success playing on the counter attack this season, using the tactic to good effect in impressive recent wins against Liverpool and Arsenal.
However, it wasn’t enough to get anything from Manchester City, who blew Erik ten Hag’s side away with a blistering first half display.
Ten Hag will have to dust himself and his troops off quickly, for what is a ruthless schedule between now and the upcoming World Cup in November.
United have eight further fixtures to play in October alone, starting with a trip to Cyprus to face Omonia Nicosia, in the Europa League on Thursday evening.
