Dion Dublin singled out two Manchester United defenders for mistakes that led to goals during Sunday’s defeat against Aston Villa.
Manchester United missed an opportunity to move up the Premier League table last weekend, which means Ruben Amorim’s side will spend Christmas in seventh place.
Fans travelled to Villa Park on Sunday, hoping that the Red Devils would interrupt Aston Villa’s winning run, but that didn’t happen due to sloppy defending.
There were a few positives to take from the game, though.
Matheus Cunha added to his goals tally for the season, and Amorim introduced two debutants – Jack Fletcher and Shea Lacey – to extend United’s proud list of academy graduates.
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The result means it’s back to the drawing board for United. Amorim needs to pick up each of his players in time to face Newcastle on Boxing Day at Old Trafford.
Dion Dublin demands more from Leny Yoro and Diogo Dalot
Conceding avoidable goals is nothing new for United.
Many points have been thrown away this season due to questionable defending and the recent defeat to Villa was no different.
United were by far the better team throughout the game, but two goals from Morgan Rodgers, against the run of play, proved decisive.
Ex-United striker Dion Dublin was critical of Leny Yoro and Diogo Dalot for their roles in the two goals from the England international, with both players failing to close him down.
“If you’re a defender like Yoro and you know your opponent has had a bad touch, that is when you have to go in,” Dublin said on Match of the Day.
“You cannot allow an opponent to get to the ball [with space]. That’s where you’ve got to be, right there in his face.
“Keep him there, keep him going down the line and make sure that he doesn’t come inside on his stronger foot. This is really poor defending, you cannot allow to happen.”
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Dalot made a similar mistake to Yoro for the second goal by allowing Youri Tielemans to get his cross into the box instead of blocking it.
“It was a bad ball to Tielemans, it was in behind him and again Dalot… he’s got to go closer, he knows that Tielemans is not going to beat him for pace, make it difficult for him, get close to him.
“They’re three on three, everything’s fine, he’s facing the corner flag, no danger. You’ve got to stop the cross, put your leg up. He allows Tielemans to cross the ball, Yoro switches off and who’s there, the man of the moment again.”
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