Micah Richards claims Manchester United 'played with 10 men' against Liverpool due to 'lazy' summer signing 

Micah Richards has called out Manchester United star Antony after the 7-0 loss at Liverpool. The pundit claims the Brazilian was lazy and almost made it seem like the Red Devils were playing with ten men.

Liverpool produced their best performance of the season by thrashing Manchester United 7-0 at Anfield. The Reds have been in poor form this season prior to the game, while the Red Devils were on a winning streak and had just lifted the Carabao Cup last Sunday.

Speaking on 'Match Of The Day 2' on BBC, Richards claimed that Antony was of no help to Diogo Dalot, and there was no communication between the two. He said:

"There was no communication between Diogo Dalot and Antony. At times, it was like they were playing with 10 men because Antony wasn't doing his work at all down that side. I didn't know if it was tactical at first - Antony's position - but we all know how good Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are so you would think someone would try and get closer to Antony."

Richards added:

"He didn't track him to begin with - he was eight metres away - and that was just a little taster of what was to happen. Antony needed to come back into that position but he just doesn't do it. I was confused as to whether he was just being lazy for his team or his manager was just telling him to stay up there and be a threat on the counter-attack. Either way, it just kept happening and happening. As soon as they lose the ball, he just walks. We are talking about one of the biggest games for Manchester United."

Antony won only 20 percent of ground duels during the game and non of his aerial duels, allowing the Liverpool attack to swarm Manchester United's box on multiple occasions.

Manchester United's 'worst performannce of the year' at Liverpool

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has claimed that the performance at Anfield was their worst of the year. He went on to label it an unprofessional performance, which has now left them 14 points behind Arsenal with a game in hand.

He told the media:

"It was a really bad performance and the worst of the year. We lost the game at the end of the first half and at the start of the second but you have to keep your head up and we didn't. It's a really unprofessional performance and unnecessary."

The Red Devils had a miserable day at Anfield, holding only 40% of possesion during the match and winning only 67 percent of tackles. Their passing accuracy was low too, at 71 percent.

Manchester United do not have a whole lot of time to work on their performance as they face Real Betis in the Europa League on Thursday, March 9.