Gary Neville believes have a serious issue with the setup of their midfield and has jokingly suggested his old club should hijack .
The Red Devils started the new campaign with a but were very unconvincing and conceded a host of chances, with the visitors racking up 23 shots.
A big theme of the game was and Neville is concerned by how isolated Casemiro is in the current system, even suggesting they should make a late swoop for Lavia – and even Moises Caicedo.
Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Neville said: ‘To be honest, tonight I’m hoping they go and buy Caicedo and Lavia!’
When it was pointed out that the Ecuadorian , he added: ‘Just get them off Chelsea for £170m! Ambush that deal!’
Talking more seriously about , he explained: ‘Manchester United didn’t stop the counter-attack at any point in that game and they were really fortunate.
‘Last season, when Man United got emptied in midfield, they ended up moving Bruno Fernandes up to a high position in one of the front three, they ended up putting Fred or Scott McTominay into midfield alongside Casemiro and they ended up having to be a little bit more solid.
‘He [Ten Hag] wants to try and get away from that, that’s why he signed Mason Mount, but I think he’s going to have to be forced in certain games to make sure they’re more solid, and I think that’s why he wants to bring in another midfield player to sit alongside Casemiro who can handle the ball.
‘We’d watched the games in pre-season where Mount and Fernandes were really high in those No.10 positions and when they gave it away Casemiro was on his own. That can’t be allowed to happen.
‘No team leaves that central midfield player [isolated], particularly one that isn’t the most mobile in Casemiro – as much as he reads the game well and he’s got experience.
‘Old Trafford always feels like a massive pitch even though it might not be too much bigger than some of the other pitches, and if you end up basically chasing back towards your own goal you undermine the work that you’re trying to do in attack.
‘Manchester United gave the ball away 81 times tonight, that’s a lot. Erik ten Hag alluded to that in his post-match interview.
‘So if he’s basically in that position where his team are going to give the ball away – even if you give the ball away 20 times and get counter-attacked on – you’re going to have a problem against teams of quality.’
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