Dimitar Berbatov says Manchester United need a new centre-back after their awful display against Crystal Palace last weekend.
United legend Dimitar Berbatov is worried for his former side after their performance in the 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
It was the worst possible start to a new campaign for Ole Solskjaer and company. On paper, they were expected to breeze past Palace but the result didn’t follow the script.
After Townsend’s early goal, ex-United winger Wilfried Zaha added more misery to the Red Devils with a brace of his own. United were totally outplayed and the back pairing of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof failed to impress.
Just recently, Gary Neville called out the United board for their transfer activity or lack of it thereof. So far, Donny van de Beek from Ajax has been the only addition.
In similar fashion, Berbatov also says the clubs needs reinforcements and points to the centre-back position in particular.
Berbatov told Betfair : “I said Manchester United need to hit the ground running, but they did the exact opposite at the weekend.
“It was only the first game, but they looked awful – slow, no transition between the lines, I don’t remember many efforts on target, and all of that speaks volumes about the attacking prowess of the team. In the end, Palace won deservedly.
“We’re always going to have the VAR debate in football, and once a ball touches a hand in the box, you’ll get people on both sides. It’s hard to see it resolved entirely.
“Some will be happy, some won’t, even with the retaking of the penalty. It’s no excuse for United, the performance just wasn’t good, and hopefully, it will just be a first-game blip.
“If we just based it on the first game then United are miles off the speed of the other top teams in the league, and so I hope it is just down to it being game one. If it becomes a trend, it could be a very long season.”
The Red Devils will look to return to winning ways in the Premier League when they take on Brighton at the weekend.