Former Rangers star Ally McCoist has delivered a blunt assessment of Manchester United’s turbulent start to the season, warning that Michael Carrick’s side cannot use European football as an alibi for their domestic struggles.
Speaking on their underwhelming form, which has yielded just five points from their opening five Premier League games and an abrupt EFL Cup exit at the hands of Brighton, McCoist stated that the team’s deficiencies run far deeper than fixture congestion.
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While acknowledging that European commitments can eventually catch up to squads, McCoist in a chat with talkSPORT Bet, noted that United’s poor displays manifested long before any heavy fixture pile-up became a factor.
“Fulham have improved, to be honest, and were much better at Liverpool last week. But when I look at United, if they concede first, I don’t know if there’s enough belief or spirit to come back. If Fernandes doesn’t play well, they don’t have much else to grab a game by the scruff of the neck.
“Being 2–0 up against Brighton and losing is the first time they’ve lost a lead like that at halftime at Old Trafford in 50 years, it’s a ridiculous statistic going back to 1984. I was at the Hull game where Hull thoroughly deserved to beat them.
“They beat Ipswich, but then conceded a 96th-minute goal to Maitland-Niles against Everton. It just seems to be one problem after another at United. I thought they would have started better.
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“I expected them to struggle to a degree with European football this year, but that hasn’t even started yet and they already have problems. They can’t use European football as an excuse like last year when they only played 40 games.
“So it’s a real concern that Michael Carrick’s side haven’t started well. I thought European football would eventually catch up with them, but they haven’t performed well enough for that to even be the factor.”
