Man Utd 1-2 Sheffield United: Red Devils’ defending ‘like the film Bird Box’, says Trevor Sinclair

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Manchester United suffered a shock defeat on Wednesday as the Premier League’s bottom club Sheffield United rocked up at Old Trafford and left with a 2-1 win.

The Blades put in an outstanding performance to claim only their second league victory of the season, but it’s fair to say Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side were well below par.

No one predicted this scoreline ahead of kick-off

They fell behind to Kean Bryan’s flicked header in the first half, before Harry Maguire cancelled out the opener with a header of his own against his boyhood club.

But Oliver Burke found himself in acres of space 15 minutes from time, and fired a powerful strike towards the United goal which deflected beyond David de Gea.

This turned out to be the winning goal, and it came after a bizarre period of play during which United had numerous chances to clear the ball – but failed to do just that.

On multiple occasions the ball was played into Burke in the Red Devils’ penalty area, with not a single player closing him down, and he finally took his opportunity to score the winning goal.

Burke was in acres of space when he fired past David de Gea

United’s terrible defensive positioning is clear for all to see in the replays of Burke’s goal

Unsurprisingly, the Red Devils’ defence was slammed by pundits and fans alike for the manner of Sheffield United’s winning goal – and talkSPORT pundit Trevor Sinclair also laid into Solskjaer’s backline.

And the former Man City ace even compared United’s defending to the 2018 film Bird Box, in which people cannot remove blindfolds they are wearing – or they will die.

“I do not believe what I am watching there,” ranted Sinclair during talkSPORT’s live commentary of the Old Trafford clash. “Time and time again it appeared like Sheffield United were going to put the ball into the box there, and they played a 15 yard side-foot pass on two or three occasions!

“It was almost like ‘Bird Box’ defending… it was so static. And the finish… he’s got so much room and time to get the ball out of his feet and strike the ball.

“No wonder it deflected; the defenders are nowhere near him!

“That is awful defending, and it’s been coming. Time and time again United are just too passive out of possession.

“It was crazy. I don’t know if you’ve seen the film ‘Bird Box’, but it was like that. It was like they couldn’t see and didn’t want to move and just stayed static.”