Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has criticised the club's recruitment over a number of years in a brutal assessment of the line-up beaten by Bournemouth in the Premier League on Sunday.

United lost 3-0 thanks to goals from Rayan, Marcus Tavernier and Evanilson, with defensive errors making life easy for the Cherries at Old Trafford.

The Red Devils have won two of their 12 matches in all competitions this season and have dropped into the bottom five just a few months after Michael Carrick, then interim head coach, led them back into the Champions League.

Gary Neville condemns Manchester United's recruitment

Carrick stands on the brink of the sack, with results going against a United side playing poorly and breaking ranks by making public statements of discontent.

Neville, who played for United in a very different era, has been damning in his own comments, lambasting some of the players for their standards and attitudes. He has also taken aim at the club's transfer strategy.

"Tottenham [Hotspur] have taken the two star midfield players, the two main targets in midfield. Last night at Stamford Bridge... watching [Sandro] Tonali and {Mateus] Fernandes run a football match, and they should be out there in red shirts," Neville said on The Gary Neville Podcast.

"Manchester United decided not to buy them because they can't afford them because of the debt and all the other waste of money that's been spent... it's a series of bad mistakes.

"They'd have been better off signing Tonali and Fernandes rather than signing three [midfielders] that are okay. Sign two that are better than okay."

Neville's ire is not limited to Youri Tielemans, Carlos Baleba and Andrey Santos, who played in the middle in the absence of dropped captain Bruno Fernandes.

The former England right-back believes that United should have spent £100 million on defenders. The individual and collective errors, and the team's deteriorating goals-against record, appear to suggest he has a point.

"That is absolute negligence to leave that defence out on that pitch," Neville said.

"It's not easy sometimes but Lenny Yoro should not be playing right-back for Manchester United. Diogo Dalot should not be playing left-back for Manchester United.

"Ayden Heaven is still learning his trade but he should be learning his trade, developing, in certain matches, not these type of matches. Harry Maguire and [Lisandro] Martinez have been here for years now, five years or more, and still can't keep clean sheets consistently.

"So, how could they not bring defenders in? They had to bring defenders in."