Man Utd star blasted for ‘criminal’ and ‘unthinkable’ decision against Tottenham | football

No Manchester United player emerged from Sunday’s disastrous defeat to Tottenham with their reputation intact.

But Diogo Dalot faced the most scathing criticism as the full-back’s role in the game’s opening goal was described as “criminal”, “unthinkable” and “indefensible”.

United fell behind by a goal after just three minutes when Micky van de Ven took advantage of a gentle press from Marcus Rashford to win the ball in his own half. In a remarkable advance, the Dutchman stormed past four United players and found Brennan Johnson, who was able to shoot the ball into the goal from a few meters away without being covered.

Johnson was able to advance unchallenged into the box, with replays showing Dalot failing to follow his man into the box and appearing to give up on the edge of his own box.

Noussair Mazraoui, Bruno Fernandes, Manuel Ugarte and Matthijs de Ligt were all unable to cope with van de Ven’s run, but Danny Murphy singled out Dalot’s role as the worst.

“That’s the worst thing about that goal,” Murphy told Match of the Day 2. “He [Johnson] gained 12 yards, they started evenly. Look at Dalot’s reaction. That is simply unthinkable.”

Former United right-back Danny Simpson was also taken aback by Dalot’s position as Johnson scored the opener.

“I see the cross coming and the fact that Brennan Johnson has so much space at the back post I think is criminal,” he told MUTV.

“I think that’s Dalot’s position. I’m not sure if he played in midfield or full-back and he needs to recover.”

“Diogo Dalot had raised his hands to apologize – but you can’t allow that at any level.”

Meanwhile, another former United star, Tim Howard, effectively accused Dalot of resigning.

He told NBC Sports: “Dalot is almost step for step, slightly behind Brennan Johnson. “He just needs to get into gear.

“Instead he stops and raises his hand. He knows he’s not making any effort. It cannot be justified. “You can’t protect players if they don’t give 100 percent – ​​especially at home.”

Dalot has been ever-present at left-back this season, fitting in alongside Luke Shaw, who is still recovering from injury.

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