Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley has lambasted Cristiano Ronaldo and Manchester United following their 4-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford in the Premier League.
The Red Devils were down by four goals by half-time with David de Gea’s errors and generally shambolic defending costing Erik ten Hag’s side dearly.
Manchester United are currently winless in the Premier League after two games. They lost to Brighton & Hove Albion in their opening league game at Old Trafford last weekend.
Burley stated that Brentford players were hungrier, which he could not say about Manchester United’s superstars. He also questioned the United players’ professionalism after a second sobering defeat.
Speaking on ESPN FC, Burley said:
“Let’s just say to a man, those players are a disgrace to their profession. I’ll tell you why, we can all lose games, we can all have bad performances but individually would any of those Brentford players really have got into that Man United team? But they are super hungry, they want to be in the PL.”
He added about the likes of Luke Shaw, Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot and others:
“I mean Shaw’s an international, Maguire’s played in a WC semi-final, Dalot is an international, Jadon Sancho is not worth a million, never mind a 100 million at the moment, Marcus Rashford, PSG want him, he wouldn’t go to one of the newly promoted teams in the league.”
Craig Burley questions Cristiano Ronaldo’s antics after Manchester United’s defeat
Following the final whistle, Ronaldo was seen dejected and even refused to shake hands with manager Ten Hag before walking down the tunnel.
Burley labeled Ronaldo’s antics as a “soap opera.” The former Chelsea midfielder stated that the current Manchester United squad was more than capable of beating a team like Brentford. According to Burley, the Red Devils need a change in attitude rather than heavy investment to improve the squad.
He said the following regarding Manchester United’s lack of tactical prowess against the Bees:
“Ronaldo’s upfront and never shakes the manager’s hand, that’s been a soap story and David de Gea had an absolute nightmare. Even if you say it’s an awful Man United team, I get it but it’s Brentford, no closing down, no second balls, no fight, no passion.”
He added:
“Where’s the new pressing game that Ten Hag’s been saying? Where’s the tactics, just outplayed and outfought by Brentford? That doesn’t need 500m in the transfer market to put right, that doesn’t need new players.”
Burley concluded:
“It needs new attitude and these players for some reason are reluctant to go on the field and do the basics, it’s quite scary.”
Ronaldo had informed Manchester United about wanting to leave Old Trafford earlier this summer. However, the Portuguese forward has failed to find a new club and looks likely to stay at Old Trafford for at least one more season.