Manchester United salvaged a late draw with Aston Villa but their defensive woes continued as Gary Neville hit out at their options in the back four

Gary Neville says the backline that finished Manchester United's draw with Aston Villa - which included Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven - could see the club relegated.

The Red Devils scored twice in added time as they staged a late comeback to salvage a 4-4 draw having twice trailed by two goals during the game. Their equaliser may well have bought Michael Carrick more time in the dugout, but their defensive flaws were again exposed.

United have now conceded more goals than any team in Europe's major leagues in all competitions and Neville has taken aim at the defenders who finished the contest. Yoro and Noussair Mazraoui played the 90 minutes with Heaven and Patrick Dorgu coming off the bench.

It is well documented that United have failed to invest in their defensive options with no major signing made in that area of the pitch for more than two years - and Neville fears their current options could land them in the Championship.

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He said on NBC Sports: “The reason Manchester United have conceded four goals is because they haven’t invested in the defence in the transfer window. Every one knew they had to do that, they needed defenders. The current ones are making mistake after mistake after mistake.

“The defenders that finished that game will get you relegated. Watch the defensive errors… we all screamed in the transfer window that they have to bring some defenders in. They had to bring the transfer budget forward and bring defenders in.”

United chose to spend the entirety of their £155million summer budget on their midfield, landing Youri Tielemans, Andrey Santos and Carlos Baleba. That decision is already backfiring on the team, who have shipped 19 goals in their 10 Premier League games.

Lisandro Martinez, who did not play and was signed by Erik ten Hag back in 2022, has already publicly called out the board for their failure to equip the squad. He name checked Jason Wilcox only weeks ago and criticised him for not adding to the playing group.

The draw with Villa, whose manager Unai Emery was left seething at their late collapse, means that United go into the international break sitting in the relegation zone. Their 18th-place position is their lowest after 10 top-flight games since 1986/87, when they were 20th.