Gary Neville accused Manchester United’s defenders of ‘melting’ against Brighton and questioned his old club’s summer transfer strategy.

Fellow TV pundit Graeme Souness was just as scathing after United were totally out-played and out-fought by Brighton.

‘The centre backs melted and you can’t do that in the Premier League,’ former United defender Neville said on Sky Sports.

Eric Bailly (right) and Victor Lindelof came in for fierce criticism by Sky Sports pundits

Graeme Souness and Jamie Redknapp slammed Manchester United's performance at Brighton

Gary Neville made his feelings known after the game from up in the gantry at Brighton

‘When Manchester United are so publicly in the transfer window looking for defenders, what belief does that give them?

‘They know they’re on borrowed time and I have to say (Eric) Bailly and (Victor) Lindelof were poor. They are the ones Jose has signed.

‘It has been poor recruitment. That back four aren’t good enough to win the title. The five centre backs they’ve got are second centre backs. They’re not authoritative or leaders.’

Souness’ appraisal was just as withering, saying: ‘Bailly kicks it out of play, he doesn’t know where he is and his head has gone at this time.

‘He’s in trouble here today. He doesn’t know if he’s in New York or New Year. United have been weak, losing individual battles.

‘(Andreas) Perreira and Fred, what kind of midfield players are they? They’re just happy to keep possession and go square all the time.

‘Prior to Fergie going to United, this is the most average group of players I’ve ever seen at the club.

Redknapp blamed David De Gea's distribution as the catalyst for Bailly giving away a penalty

Souness called United 'the most average group I've seen since Sir Alex Ferguson took over'

David De Gea looks dejected after conceding a third goal in the first-half from a penalty

Jose Mourinho can't believe what he's watching as United slip to a shock defeat

‘They’ve got absolutely nothing about them. They’ve got no presence or anything and there just doesn’t seem to be any leaders out their pointing fingers.

‘They look like a team with zero confidence, dispirited. Top teams have two or three angry men, they get upset very quickly. I never saw one United player like that.’

Liverpool legend Souness also had his say on the latest spat between Jose Mourinho and Manchester City.

Mourinho said City ‘couldn’t buy class’ when asked about the fly-on-the-wall documentary All or Nothing which captures Pep Guardiola’s side in last year’s title-winning season.

But Souness accused Mourinho of hypocrisy, saying: ‘I think it’s rich coming from Jose, talking about class. I am specifically thinking of some of the spats with Arsene Wenger that weren’t very classy. But I think it’s where we are, we’re in a different media age.’

Gary Neville also hit out at Bailly and Lindelof for their rashness when making challenges

The ex-United defender said Mourinho's team are missing a leader to shore up the back line

The former Scotland midfielder did praise Paul Pogba for questioning United’s attitude, adding: ‘Fair play to Pogba. He’s come out and admitted he wasn’t up to it.

‘Football has never changed too much for me. I think modern players go out there with a head full of tactics and you forget the basics of football. Get to the ball first, be aggressive, put your foot on the ball and then you’ve got a chance if you do that. United started like they were waiting to see what Brighton were going to do.

‘This is Manchester United, they should be setting the tempo and giving Brighton a tough afternoon.

‘They made everyone nervous, handed the initiative to Brighton and from there, there was only going to be one winner.

‘We saw City earlier, pick 11 players from both squads and how many United players get into that team?’