Keown claims Man United defending 'wouldn't be seen in non-league'

Martin Keown did not hold back after watching Manchester United's defending unravel again, suggesting the Red Devils are at risk of something far more serious than a bad run of form.

Michael Carrick's side needed two stoppage time goals from substitutes Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu just to salvage a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Sunday, a match in which they twice fell two goals behind. Alysson and Nicolas Jackson scored inside the opening five minutes before Bruno Fernandes and Youri Tielemans dragged United level before the break. John McGinn and Leon Goretzka then put Villa 4-2 up on 53 minutes, leaving United to stage a frantic late rescue act.

The result leaves United with just one win from their opening 10 Premier League games this season, sitting 18th in the table on eight points. Speaking on talkSPORT, Keown did not mince his words when assessing the scale of the problem at Old Trafford.

“Are they sleepwalking into relegation? You're 10 games in, one win. All competitions, 40 goals conceded,” Keown said. “Defending, you wouldn't see that in the non-league that I saw yesterday, honestly. The goalkeeper making mistakes, he's joining in now. I smell fear across that back four.”

Keown questions United's mentality

The former Arsenal defender acknowledged there was fight in United's comeback, both against Villa and in their midweek win over Roma, but argued that resilience alone cannot paper over deeper issues within the squad.

“Okay, I saw character and personality and saw it in midweek,” Keown said. “But when you win a game like that against Roma, you have to put that in a bottle and channel all that energy from the first whistle against Villa and they were two goals down in each half within minutes. Something is very wrong. The players are not motivated. You can't keep coming back from the brink in the way that they did. Okay you'll say that's a bit of personality, but something is the wrong with the team and the way it defends.”

Carrick points to 'moments'

Carrick offered a more measured assessment of the performance, insisting his side were the better team for large spells despite the result. “There was a lot happened in the game,” he said. “It's just the moments that are making it difficult. We're kind of beating ourselves a little bit, with the moments that we're giving away and goals that we're giving away in tight clusters, that are making it a lot more difficult.”

He added that he felt United should have won the match outright. “I actually thought we've played pretty well and were the better team for the most part, and I'm disappointed that we still haven't won the game, to be truthful. I thought we had most of the pressure. I thought we defended well, pressed well. We're just giving them the moments that shape the game in some ways and then finished strongly and took something out of the game but still disappointing that we haven't actually won it.”

United's next fixtures will offer an early indication of whether Carrick's talk of encouraging recent form translates into the results his side badly need to climb away from the relegation zone.