Owen Hargreaves rips into Man Utd players but defends David de Gea after historic defeat

Owen Hargreaves was furious with the Manchester United squad after their historic 4-0 defeat to Brentford, but defended goalkeeper David de Gea.

De Gea made two huge errors to hand Brentford a 2-0 lead, and took blame for the painful loss in a brutally honest post-match interview.

But Hargreaves feels it is United’s outfield players who are to blame after the Red Devils fell to the bottom of the Premier League table for the first time in 30 years.

‘They made some mistakes and the goals were poor,’ Hargreaves said of the United players. ‘There was no fight to get back into the game, no tackling, no aggression.

‘Football at this level is about competition, that’s how you make it. Brentford won every battle today. You’ve got to win the battles.

‘They weren’t ready against Brighton and they weren’t ready again. Erik ten Hag is a super coach, he did an amazing job at Ajax, but these two games have not gone to plan.

‘I don’t know how you can turn this around quickly. The confidence is just gone.

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>1992 – Manchester United are set to finish a day bottom of the Premier League table for the first time since August 21st 1992. Anniversary. #PL30 pic.twitter.com/Z2GBJOLbnV

‘It’s a privilege and honour to wear that football shirt. We’ve all been there as players, had terrible games, but you get through it by fighting and competing.

‘Forget about the tactics, it’s about winning your individual battles.

‘I was hopeful [we would see a response after Brighton]. I’m tired of being critical and negative. But what can you say? There wasn’t any positives.’

Quizzed on De Gea, former United midfielder Hargreaves added: ‘Don’t put all the blame on [David de Gea].

‘Yes he made a huge mistake, but there is plenty of time to