MATHEUS CUNHA urged Manchester United to strike a balance between starting on the front foot – while keeping their “crazy spirit” for late drama.
The Brazilian’s deflected effort in the 89th minute at Fulham , but even Cunha admitted his team didn’t work hard enough.
United legend branded United’s lack of effort “an absolute disgrace,” urging the “mannequin” players to fight for after their 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage.
Neville accused United of “walking” around during the early second half at winless Fulham, in what he called “
United only picked up the tempo after falling behind on 63 minutes when a and Senne Lammens.
Cunha, 27, said: “It’s hard because, in the beginning, we try to feel calmer, to do things with good decisions.
“But in the end, we feel like we need to do it and then we just do it. But this is part of Manchester United.
“This energy to do it, a little bit of crazy moments, is the spirit of the team and then we do well.
“But of course, we need to try to improve, to have this energy, these kinds of crazy moments. At the same time, we need to have the other part, to have a little bit more calm in our decisions. If we mix these two things, we will improve much more.”
Neville told Sky: “That first 15 minutes of the second half, and generally the first 60 minutes, United were an absolute disgrace.
“There needs to be a reset in terms of structure. They don’t want to do the ugly part of the game.
“I’ve never seen a Manchester United team walk as much as that. Michael needs to stop defending them.
“I just see apathy and ambling around the pitch. They can all work harder than that- they’re getting outrun in every match.”
According to data collected by FotMob, United players collectively covered 110.2km – a full 6.5km less than Fulham‘s 116.7km.
United are 20th for distance and time at high intensity, sprints, time sprinting and have spent 51 per cent of their time walking out of possession. Such is the demand for heavy metal pressing in the top-flight.
Cunha added: “We lost about 20 minutes of control and then scored. After this we played very well with a lot of character, a lot of energy. But this is the way [that we should be] from the beginning of games.”
United did come up against an inspired goalkeeper in , who made five saves and won man of the match.
Martinez, , and were all denied by the German, while Bruno Fernandes and Cunha hit the post.
Cunha insisted that United use the international break to “reset” after picking up just five points from their opening five matches and crashing out of the from 2-0 up against Brighton at .
He said: “It’s the moment to be calm, to put the ideas in the right way, to come back. [October] could be a big month. We can win more, and everyone will be calm, show how we work for the shirt.”
Cunha was not called up to ‘s ahead of the three-week international break, with Chelsea‘s Joao Pedro getting the nod instead before dropping out with injury.
Cunha said: “[The big break will be hard for me], but to be honest, I’m so anxious to play the next one. When you don’t win, you want to play the next one to win and feel everything good.”
The lack of urgency will increase the pressure and scrutiny on Carrick, who was hardly backed in the transfer window after taking the job on a permanent basis after replacing in January.
Cunha said: “Last season was my first season here, and maybe it was more crazy than this one.
“There was a lot of noise around us then, a season without Champions League, and now we’re in and we’ve won our first game in the .
“[Last year] maybe people were saying ‘Oh, United will go down to the ‘ but we finished third.
“I feel like inside of us, we still have a lot of trust, we know what we do, all the belief is inside. It’s only the beginning.
“We know we need to improve earlier, because last season we improved later, and then we finished third. So imagine if we improve earlier this season, something good can come.”
