Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes criticised a lack of leadership and planning at Manchester United following their Champions League exit at home to Atletico Madrid.
With Renan Lodi's first-half goal putting Atleti up 2-1 on aggregate, United eventually went out tamely as they struggled to create much of substance while chasing the result.
According to former United centre-back Ferdinand, the biggest difference between the two teams was not on the pitch but rather with Ralf Rangnick and Diego Simeone in the respective dugouts.
"The difference between the two teams, the Atletico team, they had a group of reliable men, reliable men who would go out there and do anything the manager asked of them," Ferdinand told BT Sport.
"They understand the job at hand and they work together as a team. Whereas the other team, Man Utd, they’re looking at each other like, 'Who's going to pull us out of this? Who's going to pull the magic trick out of the hat?'
"It's not about the team getting through this. It's a moment of brilliance from an individual and it's a very different way of working."
Ferdinand hedged his comments, though, saying the club needs to patiently progress when they bring in a manager, a process which has reportedly already begun behind the scenes.
"Once you get the manager, getting the right person, you're talking minimum of two, three years before you can think about challenging, and with Manchester City and Liverpool it's a high bar," Ferdinand continued.
Scholes delivered a particularly blunt assessment, asserting interim manager Rangnick is not meeting expectations with the squad he has at his disposal.
"The coach is a massive part of it, getting a proper coach. This isn't a terrible group of players, if you give them structure and a way of playing, there's some real talent in this squad. It's not as talented as the teams above them, we know that," he said.
"The very first thing this club needs to do, to get anywhere near winning anything, is get a proper coach. Get a coach that suits them and give them a couple of years to build a squad that will challenge.
"Atletico are not a better team than Man United, but they've got a better coach. If he [Simeone] was coaching Man United, they go through that game.
"What it comes from is leadership. It comes from a coach who demands that and will get that out of his players. I don't want to keep having a go at this manager. He seems real nice, I love his interviews, he's very honest, but how he was chosen to be manager of this club – whether it's for six months, six weeks, six games – I don't know."
Villa draw buys Ten Hag a little time, says Neville
Gary Neville believes Manchester United bought Erik ten Hag time with their 0-0 draw against Aston Villa, but is not sure how much.
United are winless in their last five games in all competitions, with their stalemate at Villa Park the fourth draw in that run, having also lost 3-0 to Tottenham in their last home match.
Ten Hag's side have won just three of their opening 10 matches in all competitions, while their eight points in the league cements their worst-ever start to a Premier League season.
Only 19th-place Southampton (four) have netted fewer goals than United (five) in the competition so far, while only in 1972-73 (four) have the Red Devils ever netted fewer in their first seven matches of a top-flight campaign.
Against a Villa side who beat Bayern Munich in their last outing before this meeting, a draw could be seen as a good result, but Neville believes that shows the "low bar" the team is currently working with.
"It's a small step forward," Neville told Sky Sports. "Before the game, if you offered any Man Utd fan, player or coach a draw, then they would have snapped your hand off.
"That's where, at the end of the game, when you see Erik ten Hag's interview, there's an element of relief because it keeps the wolves at bay for a couple of weeks at least. It gives them a little bit more time.
"I don't think anybody who thought a major incident would happen after the game thought it would happen with a draw. They always thought it would need to be a difficult day or difficult defeat like it was last week against Tottenham. I think it buys Ten Hag a little bit of time.
"It's Manchester United's worst start in Premier League history so we can't celebrate. When we're thinking it's a decent point when you draw at Villa, it tells you how far Villa have come - but it also tells you how low the bar is for United in this moment in time."
Ten Hag, who signed a new contract in the off-season, continues to insist that he has the backing of the club's hierarchy despite the less-than-stellar start to the campaign.
However, the pressure is starting to pile on the manager once more, with United failing to score in each of their last three Premier League games, equalling their worst run without a goal in the competition under the Dutchman (also a run of three in both December 2023 and April 2023).
While Neville does not think the club will rush into a decision on Ten Hag's future, he admits they might have to if things have not changed by the November international break.
"The club did make the decision to keep Ten Hag in the summer, so they won't want to reverse that decision within the first six or seven games," Neville added.
"They have just got to hope [something happens] in this next couple of weeks - through maybe a reset, some thinking time, some planning.
"Manchester United fans, coaches, players have talked about this new structure that surrounds Ten Hag, it needs to go to work quite quickly in the next few weeks.
"If the next international break comes around and Manchester United are still in that 13th, 14th position in the league, I think there's going to be a lot of pressure.
"The next few weeks are critical in making sure they can somehow get some momentum for the rest of the season so that Ten Hag can keep his job."
Real Sociedad 1-1 Atletico Madrid: Sucic stunner salvages point for hosts
Luka Sucic scored a stunning late equaliser to ensure Real Sociedad held Atletico Madrid to a 1-1 home draw in LaLiga on Sunday.
Atletico had taken an early lead, Antoine Griezmann bringing down a lofted ball before setting up Julian Alvarez with a delightful backheel, and the Argentine scored after just 51 seconds.
Jan Oblak then made a string of fine saves, including a double stop against Martin Zubimendi and Nayef Aguerd, as the hosts dominated possession.
Eventually La Real's pressure paid off and there was nothing the goalkeeper could do as Sucic's superb first-time shot from distance sailed over him and into the top corner in the 84th minute.
Atletico moved one place up to third on 17 points, four points behind second-placed Real Madrid and seven off leaders Barcelona. Sociedad are 15th with nine points.
Data Debrief: Quick off the mark
To salvage a point against Real Madrid last weekend, Atletico left it late, not scoring until the 95th minute to claim a point.
This time out, however, Alvarez scored the club's fifth-fastest goal in LaLiga in the 21st century (51 seconds), and the fastest since February 2018 when Griezmann netted in 38 seconds against Malaga.
Instead, it was La Real who left it late, with just their seventh goal of the season. It is their worst scoring record at this stage of a LaLiga campaign since 2006-07 (five), the campaign of their last relegation to the second division.
Nice 1-1 Paris Saint-Germain: Mendes rescues points to keep visitors unbeaten
Paris-Saint-Germain missed out on the chance to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1, with Nuno Mendes saving a point in a dramatic 1-1 draw at Nice on Sunday.
Nice started brightly and caused havoc as PSG struggled to find their rhythm in the early stages. Ali Al-Abdi soon took advantage of their visitors' lacklustre start, opening the scoring six minutes before half-time with a powerful strike from a corner.
Ousmane Dembele, who was dropped in midweek for the Champions League, orchestrated their equaliser, picking out Mendes, whose deflected shot beat the keeper to hit the back of the net seven minutes after the break.
They almost had a second moments later, Marquinhos rising high to meet Lee Kang-in's cross, only to see his powerful header rebound off the post.
Nice held firm despite the late pressure from PSG as goalkeeper Marcin Bulka kept out good efforts by Vitinha and Dembele.
It leaves PSG two points behind leaders Monaco heading into the international break.
Data Debrief: PSG's total dominance does not come to fruition
It has been a fairly disappointing week for PSG, who suffered a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League, and failed to re-close the gap to Monaco at the top of the league by dropping points.
They had 19 shots against Nice, with 14 of those coming in a dominant second half. Seven of those after the break were on target, while Gianluigi Donnarumma did not face a single effort at the other end.
However, they only managed 0.97 expected goals (xG) - Mendes' goal came from a strike worth just 0.05 - and they could not find a late winner despite their best efforts.
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