Stuart Pearce slammed Manchester United’s performance in the Champions League (Picture: Getty)
Former England international Stuart Pearce criticised Marcus Rashford’s performance against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, suggesting the forward was running backwards ‘like he has a fridge on his back.’
Manchester United slumped to their fourth loss in five games in all competitions as they suffered a 4-3 defeat to Bayern Munich in their opening game of the Champions League group stage.
It was a night to forget for Erik ten Hag’s side, with Pearce singling out a number of players, including Rashford, for their lack of effort defensively during the game.
‘United are under the cosh because too many of their players have jacked it in. Rashford half running back and Casemiro half running back,’ Pearce explained during the game on talkSPORT.
‘I’m not sure what Andre Onana said when he had a rant at Maguire in the summer but now is the time to have a rant at the back line, not just the back line but the whole team.
‘Too many players who have given up the ghost and that is alarming. United are so off the pace and they are lucky that Bayern have not been more clinical.’
United were 2-0 down at the break after goals from Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry, the former’s effort somehow squirming under the body of Onana from long range.
Marcus Rashford endured a quiet night in Munich as United slumped to defeat (Picture: Getty)
Harry Kane’s penalty restored Bayern’s two-goal advantage after Rasmus Hojlund scored his first goal for the club shortly after the break.
Casemiro fired home a late double – either side of Mathys Tel’s injury-time effort – as United kicked off their Champions League campaign with a defeat.
Thomas Tuchel’s side spurned a number of good opportunities to heap more pain on United, with Pearce suggesting that the scoreline was hugely flattering to the visitors.
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‘[They were] too wide open, too regularly,’ he added. ‘Their goal to come back to 3-2 was a false dawn. They conceded four and that’s what they deserved.
‘As silly as it sounds, the score flatters United. What concerns me is that United almost stopped trying for about 15 minutes – even though they scored in that time.’
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