Edinson Cavani rescued a point for the Red Devils, whose post-Christmas lethargy was met with criticism from their former player

Gary Neville blasted Manchester United’s performance in their 1-1 Premier League draw with Newcastle on Monday, calling the Red Devils a “bunch of whingebags” as Cristiano Ronaldo and company endured a frustrating night at St James’ Park.

Edinson Cavani’s second-half finish cancelled out Allan Saint-Maximin’s superb first-half strike to ensure Ralf Rangnick maintained his unbeaten start to life at the Red Devils, but the visitors found themselves often mired in post-Christmas lethargy following a two-week-plus Covid-19-enforced break from action.

Another point-saving performance from David de Gea between the posts was the greatest highlight of an otherwise uninspired group showcase against their relegation-embattled hosts – and ex-United defender Neville did not pull his punches when dissecting their overall mentality.

What has been said?

“There’s no pressing, there’s no urgency,” the former England right-back stated on Sky Sports at the interval. “The basics of the game, every single battle, they’ve lost. That’s been a really poor performance.

“There’s not one single thing that’s gone right as a team. There’s not one single player who can go in at half-time and say that they’ve done their jobs, or even done themselves justice.

“They’re a bunch of whingebags. Watch them on that pitch. Arms in the air, complaining about everything. They got the last manager the sack [and] they’ll get a lot of managers the sack, that lot, if they carry on like that.”

Rangnick mulls physical battle

Reflecting on his side’s performance, Rangnick pointed to their inability to dominate the game on a physical level, adding that he was less than impressed with the overall game.

“Today was not a question of body language, it was a question of body physicality,” he told Sky Sports. “If you want to be competitive here you have to get physical and this was not the case in many parts of the game.”

“I didn’t like the performance at all. Today we didn’t control the game apart from a few moments. It’s all about energy, physicality and who wins the second balls. In all those areas we weren’t at our best. The good thing is we got a point but the performance needs to be better.”

Ronaldo endures frustrating night

While his team-mate Cavani came off the bench to spare United’s blushes in the second half, it proved to be a misfire of an evening for the Red Devils’ star man up front.

Ronaldo was seen frustratedly gesturing towards team-mates throughout the game, scenes that seemed to bother Neville.

In addition, the Portuguese failed to deliver in front of goal when it came to efforts on target, with United managing just four to Newcastle’s eight.

The bigger picture

With a draw on Tyneside, United remain seventh in the Premier League and trail rivals and table-toppers Manchester City by a whopping 19 points.

With two games in hand over several of their rivals, however, they will know that they can still close the gap on fourth-place Arsenal, seven points ahead of them, with a good run of form into the new year.

They will host Burnley on December 30 in their final game of 2021.