Rio Ferdinand says he was “fuming” at Aaron Wan-Bissaka over his role in the build up to Everton’s injury-time equaliser against Man Utd on Saturday.
Having thrashed nine-man Southampton by a Premier League record-equalling 9-0 scoreline last Tuesday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men left Old Trafford on Saturday evening reeling from a late gut punch.
After Abdoulaye Doucoure and James Rodriguez cancelled out Edinson Cavani’s header and Bruno Fernandes’ exquisite effort, Scott McTominay looked to have steered Man Utd to victory.
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But it wasn’t to be as Dominic Calvert-Lewin popped up deep into injury time to grab a last-gasp equaliser for Carlo Ancelotti’s men.
David de Gea has been heavily criticised for his role in the late goal that saw the Toffees snatch a point but Ferdinand picked out Wan-Bissaka.
“I was fuming before that free-kick,” Ferdinand said on his FIVE YouTube channel. “Aaron Wan-Bissaka… he’s got to understand game management at this time of the game.
“Passing the ball inside like that to be cut out is criminal. I would have been going nuts in the changing room, screaming. Then obviously [Axel] Tuanzebe, just come on, a young player, gives away a needless free-kick as well. Then it’s backs against the wall.
“But even from there you’d expect us to hold out and defend it, but it didn’t happen. David [De Gea], obviously, when the ball goes through to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, his arm was in the air so early for an offside. Do that after, get the situation sorted then put your arm up and ask the ref what’s going on.
“He didn’t do that and the ball’s in the back of the net, drop points and really let ourselves down. The problem is there aren’t enough leaders in there for me at the moment.
“It’s okay when you’re winning, it isn’t important then, it’s when you’re losing, when you’re dropping points, you’re in a position where you need level-headed people, people who think and see clearly amongst all the noise.
“When your back is against the wall, people who remain calm and can navigate through situations like that. At the moment I don’t see it.”
On United’s title chances, Ferdinand added: “I would put us out of the title challenge, I would. Unless we go on a run and we change the habits I’ve seen throughout the season, the lack of consistency, if that changes it means we’d be back in it.
“But I haven’t seen enough to suggest that we’re going to be able to go on a 10, 15-game winning streak because we’re tripping ourselves up all the time. So I’d say top-four spot, I reckon we’ll finish second or third.”
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