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Manchester United centre back pretenders are rated and slated

  /  autty

Look at the goals. All three of them. Defensive mistakes cost Manchester United at Brighton and all, in some way, deriving from the centre of their fragile defence.

Victor Lindelof was flummoxed by basic movement for the first, Eric Bailly needlessly conceded a corner for the second and both were culpable for different reasons for the third.

Jose Mourinho bemoaned individual errors – although refused to name names. The Portuguese was left seething after not being delivered a new defender by Ed Woodward over the summer.

Woodward might have looked at the goals conceded column last season, which came in at just 28 (second only to Manchester City), and wondered if they really needed reinforcement.

But Mourinho saw this coming, with the disorganisation at odds with United's tradition of a strong back line. In truth, they have never replaced Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand since the pair left in 2014.

Plenty have started since but none have made a consistent claim to form a partnership worthy of sitting at the top of United's spine. Sportsmail takes a look at those who have played over the last four years – a few of them Mourinho signings.

Phil Jones – 7/10

Often unfairly maligned, the England international has arguably been United's best defender since 2014. Sir Alex Ferguson placed faith in him as a teenager and the expectation was that Jones would become a mainstay for years.

Injuries have blighted his time at Old Trafford, however, and the costly mistake in last season's FA Cup final has set him back with Mourinho. He is fit – returning to training early after the World Cup - but has failed to make either matchday squad in United's opening two games of this season.

Victor Lindelof – 4/10

United spent so long trailing Lindelof, months and months of negotiations with Benfica to land their target for Mourinho. He was dubbed the 'iceman' on joining for £31million in 2017 but, rather than appearing cool under pressure, has frozen at key moments during his 31 appearances for the club.

The worst mess came at Huddersfield last year, when he refused to head a high ball – ducking out of the way and allowing Laurent Depoitre to score. Incidentally, he replaced the injured Jones, who had been enjoying his best ever run of games for United. Lindelof was praised by Mourinho last week but has still failed to show why the club were so desperate to land him.

Chris Smalling – 6/10

Again, comes in for a rough ride from supporters in a similar way to Jones. Smalling has shone defensively for lengthy spells but been hampered by the odd daft mistake. His gangly gait is an easy stick with which to beat him but the 28-year-old has generally performed the basics well.

Mourinho has never been keen on Smalling's distribution and apprehensiveness over that was also the reason why Gareth Southgate omitted him from the World Cup squad. Smalling must have watched the Amex calamity with great interest from the bench.

Eric Bailly – 5/10

Relatively unknown when Mourinho signed him for £30m from Villarreal in 2016, Bailly's United career got off to a flyer. He was aggressive, purposeful in the challenge and confident on the ball. He was all-action and possessed the sort of gusto they appeared to have been missing.

The last-ditch tackles mask his deficiencies and the questionable decision-making has become more and more obvious. It was interesting to note that Mourinho put his lack of games after returning from injury last season down to having a World Cup to play in the summer.

Jonny Evans – 6/10

Evans struggled with a couple of knocks in Louis van Gaal's first season at United in 2014-15 and only played 14 league games that year. His penultimate appearance saw him banned for six matches after allegedly spitting at Newcastle's Papiss Cisse.

Mourinho believes Van Gaal was wrong to sell him to West Brom – where Evans excelled before a switch to Leicester in the summer – and United may now look back on his career since and rue Van Gaal's decision.

Marcos Rojo – 5/10

Just never seems to play. Rojo – a Van Gaal signing - has endured eight different injuries since joining in 2014. The cruciate knee ligament problem set him back months in 2017 and he has never truly established himself. The Argentine has looked good in spells but, like so many of the others, cannot nail down a permanent place.

He would have left the club over the summer had Woodward delivered a new centre half and his days appear to be numbered. Strangely, his profile is exactly what they need: a strong, progressive, left-sided defender who can also play at left back.

Paddy McNair – 5/10

Pretty unfair to judge McNair based on his 27 appearances – 24 of which coming in the Premier League – and was moved about along the back line too. Van Gaal also played him out of position, with McNair spending his teenage years as a midfielder. The manager complained the youngster 'thought he was a striker' after a draw against Leicester in 2015.

Played more often than Tyler Blackett, who was flavour of the month for a short time, and did impress in early games. McNair was eventually sold to Sunderland and is now at Middlesbrough.

Daley Blind – 4/10

Blind was never a central defender. Van Gaal deployed him there to reap the benefits of his distribution but the Holland international was caught out of position time and again.

He was a utility man at Old Trafford and it is no surprise Mourinho allowed him a return to Ajax after making just four league starts last season.