Michael Owen tears into three Manchester United players who 'do nothing' after Tottenham defeat

Michael Owen has criticised Manchester United's centre-backs, claiming they "do nothing during the game."

Ruben Amorim's squad was decimated by injury and illness issues in the build-up to their clash with Tottenham on Sunday. Amorim was forced to name eight players who had never played for the club on the bench, but was able to field an experienced back three of Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui.

James Maddison's early strike secured the points for the home side at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. After Andre Onana could only parry Lucas Bergvall's effort, United's defenders were too slow to react as Maddison tapped home the rebound.

Speaking to Premier League Productions after the game, Owen criticised the United backline, saying: “What frustrates me more than anything about the Manchester United team is that those centre-halves do nothing during the game.

“They hardly pick up any players at all, yet when you ask them to do one job – stop the guy who’s shooting – they’re sleeping at that as well.

“We’ve seen so many clips in the first half when there’s nobody to pick up, there’s three of them literally doing nothing. They won’t push in, they won’t go and mark anybody, they just sit there.”

Defeat in the capital means United have now dropped to 15th in the Premier League table. They have won just four league games since Ruben Amorim took charge of the club over two months ago and failure to win either the FA Cup or the Europa League will see them miss out on European football next season.