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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Samuel Meade

Patrice Evra disagrees with Gary Neville over who to blame for Man Utd's failings

Patrice Evra and Gary Neville are clearly not on the same page when it comes to who should be taking responsibility at Manchester United.

The Red Devils have endured a poor start to the campaign, losing their opening two games against Brighton and Hove Albion and Brentford. Already an assessment of who is to blame has started, such has been the manner of their defeats following more failures in the transfer market.

United's lavishly assembled squad have long underperformed with their last piece of silverware coming in 2017. Last term they finished sixth with major calls for a squad rebuild, which has not occurred under Erik ten Hag.

That said, former star Evra is adamant that the players must own their performances after their latest humiliation.

He told Betfair: "We blame the board, the manager, and many people. But what about the players? I always have so much respect for the players but now I think it's time for them to take some responsibility. I also blame Ten Hag, he's been fooled by all those players, the same way other managers have been fooled by them.

"In pre-season they looked so good, and he would have been excited to make them even better, but no. Psychologically they are broken. Every time they face a difficult challenge, those players won't overcome it. It's been like this for years and it's the same thing, it doesn't even hurt anymore, it's deja vu."

Evra's post mortem is at odds with the conclusions drawn by Gary Neville last week however.

The Sky Sports pundit, who has seen his former side decline since his retirement, has long had issues with the Glazers and appeared to absolve the players of any blame against Brentford.

Man Utd have lost their opening two games this season (Mark Leech/Offside/Offside via Getty Images))

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The Red Devils shipped four goals in the opening 45 minutes and failed to muster any fightback in the second-half, but Neville still targeted those at the top. He said: "There's no leadership, no voice, you can't blame individual players or the manager. You have to look above, you have to look at the very top.

"This week, they're going to get peppered. But there's a family over there in America who are letting their employees take all the hits and that is unforgivable. Joel Glazer has got to get on a plane tomorrow, get over to Manchester and tell everyone what the hell his plan is with the football club."

He also added: "You can look at the players all you like, but there are that many big things that need to be put right first. They've got to show up and face the music, you can't keep hiding in Tampa."

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