Gary Neville has labelled Harry Maguire and Casemiro as ‘inconsistent’ following their shaky displays for Manchester United against Luton Town on Sunday. The Red Devils were forced to dig deep to secure the three points at Kenilworth Road, though their chances were not helped by the performances of the aforementioned duo.
Rasmus Hojlund scored a quick-fire brace within the opening seven minutes against Luton. However, United squandered several big chances to build upon their advantage, and it almost proved costly.
The Hatters hit back through Carlton Morris in the 14th minute, and several moments of madness from Casemiro and Maguire almost provided Rob Edwards’ side with the chance to equalise.
Casemiro was fortunate not to have been shown a red card for two bookable offences following several clumsy challenges but was substituted off with just a single yellow card to his name. Maguire was also replaced at the half-time break following his booking in the 42nd minute, with Erik ten Hag not willing to risk being reduced to 10 men.
Neville was left unhappy with the way that the two players conducted themselves against Luton and how they almost cost United three points after such a strong opening few minutes. He told Sky Sports: “I think United deserved to win. I think second half performance was probably better and more measured than the first half. The first 10 minutes were fantastic but I thought for 30 minutes, Luton could’ve scored two or three goals themselves. In the second half Luton’s last part of the game in the final third let them down.
“But I thought United defended pretty well, Evans and Varane positioned themselves well on those crosses. Obviously the four one-on-ones – Garnacho had one, Hojlund had one and I think Bruno Fernandes had two big chances. Between those four, they should have taken at least one of them. I thought they were professional in the second half, a lot better, more measured.
“First half they lost their discipline. Maguire and Casemiro had to be hooked at half time, they were all over the place at times. You think, how can they go from here (high up) to there (low down) within halves of games? That’s what they are – they’re inconsistent. Ten Hag will be a lot happier with the second half performance even though they didn’t score.”