Phil Neville believes Marcos Rojo was to blame as Manchester United threw away a late lead against Liverpool at Old Trafford.
The Argentine was a late call-up into the starting XI as Axel Tuanzebe pulled up in the warm-up.
United defended resolutely against Jurgen Klopp’s side and had something to protect following Marcus Rashford’s first half strike.
But the Red Devils couldn’t hold on for what would have been an important win and, as well as criticising Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s substitutions, Neville lamented a lack of focus from Rojo for Adam Lallana’s equaliser.
‘The momentum did change,’ Neville told Optus Sport.
‘I thought the substitutions of [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana and [Naby] Keita just gave them a bit of impetus in terms of energy and United didn’t make the substitutions.
‘They brought Martial on… I thought maybe just five or ten minutes too late to change the momentum. You could see that United were camped in.
‘I don’t know what Rojo was doing for the goal. He had no need to go ahead of the other centre-back, he stays in his slot and he picks up Lallana. But I thought it was an outstanding performance from United. Full of energy, they played a more direct style and at the end the fans were dead because of the effort the players put in. They didn’t get their just rewards.’
The result means United are just two points above the relegation zone but Metro.co.uk understands Solskjaer was delighted with his side’s display.
The Red Devils now face four games in a row on the road and play Partizan Belgrade in Serbia on Thursday.
