Fulham midfielder Tom Cairney has revealed Marco Silva identified two Manchester United players to target last week.
The Cottagers were able to come away from Old Trafford with all three points after Alex Iwobi scored a last-gasp winner.
Since the defeat, Erik ten Hag’s side have come under criticism for the space left between his midfield and defence.
Cairney exposes Manchester United weakness
Jamie Carragher has hit out at the United manager since the game last weekend for his tactics against Fulham.
The Red Devils’ midfield came under scrutiny after leaving a sizeable gap in front of the defence.
Speaking on the Footballer’s Football podcast, the 33-year-old midfielder revealed his manager actually picked this out as an area to target.
He said: ‘Our manager is very in depth. We had a good game plan. I don’t know if you saw Jamie Carragher on Monday Night Football. He was on about the gaps between the back four and midfield four and we worked in training trying to exploit that, in behind [Kobbie] Mainoo and Casemiro and I think when you are away from home and you get confidence in the first five or 10 minutes from them starting slow, we kind of built from there.
‘I think they are a fantastic team on the ball but if you take the ball off them you can hurt them.’
United’s top four hopes
Just as United were beginning to pick up some form, the defeat against Fulham set them back in the race for the top four.
Aston Villa have now opened up an eight point cushion on them after the results on the weekend.
And Tottenham Hotspur now have a game in hand on the Red Devils.
Next up for United is the task of overcoming their Manchester rivals who are looking to return to the top of the table.
With the issues between their midfield and defence highlighted across various platforms now, it will be interesting to see how Ten Hag approaches the game at the Etihad.
As the gap could open up to 11 points over the next few days, this feels like a huge weekend for United’s top four hopes.