Former Premier League manager Martin O’Neill insists he could have performed at the same level as Man Utd defender Patrick Dorgu on Tuesday night.
The Red Devils lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest – who are on course to qualify for the Champions Legaue – with Anthony Elanga scoring the only goal of the game.
Man Utd dominated many aspects of the game with Ruben Amorim’s side having 69 per cent possession and 23 shots compared to Forest’s eight.
But Red Devils academy graduate Elanga came back to haunt them with the Swede picking the ball up in his own half and running most of the length of the pitch, avoiding a couple of challenges, before sticking the ball into the bottom corner.
Amorim is struggling to get the right results since replacing Erik ten Hag in November and his new January signing Dorgu was off the pace on Tuesday evening.
Former Leicester City boss O’Neill, 73, called out the Denmark international for taking the easy option “three times” early in the second half.
O’Neill told TNT Sports: “They had Dorgu playing tonight.
“I could have done what he did! He’s wide left-hand side, he’s got the ball and you’re saying: “Come on! Your job is to take players on. Get at them!”
“He’s laid it inside three times in the first 10 minutes of the second half… to the opposition!
“Maybe it’s no confidence, I don’t know what it is. But these type of things are all over the field for Manchester United.”
On the quality difference between Man Utd and Nottingham Forest, O’Neill added: “They [Man United] have some really good players.
“Obviously, Bruno Fernandes is a top-quality player. But they haven’t enough good players to be a threat in this league. And when I say a threat for Manchester United, I’m talking about getting into the top four.”
Man Utd boss Amorim was disappointed not to get all three points after seeing his side “control” the game at the City Ground.
Amorim told reporters: “I think we controlled the game. We already knew that this team [Forest] can score goals out of nothing. Then when they scored, we changed the game a little bit for what they want.
“Then we tried sometimes with the good opportunities but I think in the last cross, the last pass, the last assist [it] wasn’t there. When we don’t have that we cannot score goals. But we have some situations and this season is like that. We try it. We have a lot of shots on goal. We push the opponent to the last third. But in the end we had a lack of quality in the final third.”