Rio Ferdinand slams Manchester United's defensive woes in defeat vs Galatasaray

Rio Ferdinand has slammed Manchester United's lack of defensive leadership after seeing them concede three sloppy goals in Tuesday's defeat against Galatasaray.

United suffered their sixth defeat of the season in all competitions at Old Trafford, despite twice taking the lead through Rasmus Hojlund. The 20-year-old scored two brilliant goals either side of half-time but both were quickly cancelled out, first by Wilfried Zaha and then Kerem Aktürkoğlu.

Casemiro was then shown a second yellow card after bringing down Dries Mertens in the box, following a dreadful pass from Andre Onana. Mauro Icardi missed the spot-kick but capitalised on more dismal defending to net the winner just minutes later.

ALSO READ: United are going so far backwards they forgot about Mourinho's matchwinning tactic

ALSO READ: United made the same mistake twice in dreadful defeat to Galatasaray

All three goals were avoidable on a night in which United's defending was abysmal. And Ferdinand believes that the individual errors are a symptom of collective issues.

“When you concede goals and score at the same time, it’s down to the team, I believe that," Ferdinand told TNT Sports. "You do have [shaky] moments in games, and you do need organisers at the back whether that be the goalkeeper or the centre-halves who talks and communicates.

"In two of those goals especially, there was zero leadership, no control of the situation. You have to make sure you understand your mindset in terms of ‘What ifs’.

"What if someone miss-hits a pass? What if someone miss-hits a shot or it takes a deflection? You have to think like that, and we’re not talking about young players here. These are experienced players here who know their way around a football pitch,