Confusion reigned as Manchester United scrambled to put together some semblance of a defensive shape towards the end of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Leicester.
A groin injury to Chris Smalling left several United players baffled about where to position themselves and who to pick up as their defensive leader struggled to see out the dying minutes, with Jose Mourinho all out of substitutes.
There was plenty of shouting and pointing but very little in the way of composure as United continued to sit back against the 10-man Foxes before Harry Maguire found the net with one of the final pieces of play.
Maguire ensured that the spoils were shared at the King Power Stadium and while the Red Devils should have been well out of sight, had they converted the chances that they squandered, a lot of the analysis focused on the moments of confusion which followed Smalling’s injury.
United legend Gary Neville offered a play-by-play of the conversation among the players on the pitch, as Phil Jones looked to take charge.
But Neville claimed, both during commentary and in his post-match comments, that midfielder Ander Herrera refused to slot in at right back, which would have allowed Victor Lindelof to move into a more central position and cover for Smalling.
“Smalling has got to flag up as an experienced defender that he’s struggling, get Lindelof into the centre,” Neville said on his podcast. “Herrera come back to full-back. It didn’t happen for two or three minutes.
“Then Phil Jones recognised it had happened and tried to reorganise – as I saw it, Ander Herrera refused to go to right-back and told Henrikh Mkhitaryan to go back there.
“All of a sudden Smalling sits down on the floor and then goes off the pitch and then comes back on at centre-back. He ends up picking up Harry Maguire.
“You can’t believe the disorganisation and lack of leadership shown by Manchester United at the end of that game in a game they should have won. Jose [Mourinho] will be furious when he watches that back.”
Herrera has since responded to Neville’s assertion that he had defied instructions, taking to Twitter on Christmas Eve to deliver a not-so-subtle message to the Sky Sports pundit.
Happy Christmas to everyone, including the ones that try to invent stories that never happened 👍🏼😘👍🏼😘👍🏼 #sofunny #trytobehappyanddontlye
— Ander Herrera (@AnderHerrera) December 24, 2017
