Despite picking up two wins from their first three games, United have endured a tough start of the season and would count themselves fortunate to pick up six points. Against all of Wolves, Tottenham and Nottingham Forest, Casemiro was left exposed in midfield and has struggled as a result.
Mason Mount&aposs 55million arrival from Chelsea was hoped to improve the balance in that area, with the 24-year-old bringing more energy compared to Christian Eriksen. However, the England international has struggled to hit the ground running and is now injured.
Eriksen returned to the starting line-up vs Forest last weekend but United continued to be cut open on the counter-attack. And Murphy insists their issues are due to a lack of defensive strength in midfield.
“Uniteds problem is that against higher-quality opposition, they have too many attack-minded players and not enough for whom the dirty work comes naturally,” Murphy wrote in his Daily Mail column. “They signed Mason Mount to bring more legs around Casemiro but now hes injured.
“Eriksen and Fernandes both want to create. Their first instinct is not to protect. The same goes for the wide men. Against Wolves, a game United should have lost, Alejandro Garnacho and Antony were poor defensively. The full-backs caused United problems.
“Marcus Rashford solves that when hes on the wing and Antony had more fire in his belly against Forest, but Ten Hag needs to be more pragmatic in midfield to help Casemiro.
“Hes struggled so far but Im not concerned about him. Hes world-class, he transformed United last season and its not like his form has fallen off a cliff. Hes just had a slow start and his quality will come through.”
