Manchester United star slammed for having first touch of a 'baby elephant' by Troy Deeney

Former Watford striker Troy Deeney has criticized Manchester United left-back Patrick Dorgu for his first touch in the Manchester derby last weekend (Sunday, April 6). Manchester United hosted Manchester City at Old Trafford in what turned out to be a rather dull, goalless draw. Neither side posed a serious attacking threat, and both City and United seemed happy to settle for a point each.

Alejandro Garnacho started on the left wing but was switched to the right flank later in the first half. The Argentine international made a dangerous run into the box, latching onto Bruno Fernandes' pass, and pulled it back to the edge of the box from the right.

Patrick Dorgu sprinted towards the ball to receive it, but his first touch was rather heavy, and the chance was lost. Speaking on BBC's Match of the Day coverage, Deeney praised Garnacho and said (via TEAMtalk):

“Garnacho was the only shining light. It was a bad game of football, let’s be honest. I think you’re starting to see now Amorim’s work. What Amorim wants from his 10s is running in between the full-back and centre-back."

Criticizing Dorgu for his first touch, Deeney added:

“Garnacho’s willingness to run in behind is what United need going forward. And this is what Amorim’s talking about. This touch from Dorgu is like the touch of a baby elephant, it’s so terrible. If they want to score goals they need to do better."

"It all comes from him [Garnacho], his willingness to run. They’re starting to build a nice connection down this left-hand side, Garnacho and Dorgu," he concluded.

Manchester United will next face Lyon in the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals on Thursday night (April 10).

"He is critical about everything" - Ruben Amorim responds to Gary Neville's criticism of Manchester United's display against Man City

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has hit back at Gary Neville after the club legend laid into his former side's performance against Manchester City last weekend.

The pundit had questioned the quality and intensity displayed by both sides, opining that this Manchester derby could not be considered a 'Premier League game of football.' Speaking on Sky Sports, he said (via OneFootball):

“I get 0-0 draws can happen but that wasn’t a Premier League game of football. That wasn’t representative of the Premier League. Seeing them walk around the pitch together at the end shaking each other’s hands and smiling together, where was the disappointment that they’d played like that and drew 0-0?"

While acknowledging that 13th-placed Manchester United are experiencing one of their worst seasons in history, Amorim believes Neville tends to be overly critical.

He said (via GOAL):

"I understand everything. I understand that Gary Neville is critical about everything, so I understand that part. I understand that we are in the moment that we are doing the worst season in history. Manchester City won everything in the past, this season, is struggling."

"We are not in the best moments to give the best spectacle to every fan. When we are not fighting for the big things, of course, it's different. But you have to look at the context of the game, and I understand the critical aspect of the players that played in this game in a different way because they were fighting every time for the titles, so it's a different context," he added.