 "Manchester United fans inside the stadium before a match. Reuters")
Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot’s high-fives after tackles have not gone down well with former Red Devils star Paul Parker, who has criticised the full-back’s performance and celebratory tendency in harsh words.
United have trusted Dalot as their right wing-back and he has played more minutes than any of Ruben Amorim’s players except Bruno Fernandes. His poor outing against Nottingham Forest, though, led to him being dropped from the starting XI for United’s last Premier League game against Tottenham .
Parker believes Dalot cannot be trusted in United’s defence and he is too eager to do celebrations that “do not win games of football”.
“Dalot’s making far too many mistakes, unnecessary mistakes. He’s more interested in high-fiving people when he makes a tackle than actually doing his job properly,” Parker told Metro. “So, high-fives don’t win you games of football.”
“By the time you’ve done your high-five, they could have actually bounced off of your great tackle and gone and scored a goal. So, high-five at half-time or after the game. So, no, you can’t trust Dalot there,” he added.
“You’re not getting enough quality in the final third from him as well. He doesn’t do enough defensively. He switches off too much, his clearances are poor, very poor, that’s one reason,” Parker concluded on Dalot.
Dalot’s take on his celebrations
Dalot is often seen sharing high-fives with his teammates after good defensive plays. He had said that such celebrations came naturally to the team.
“Us defenders, we don’t score goals too often, so these are our little goals during the 90 minutes,” he once said. “This is the goal for us so we will celebrate and I think it’s something that came completely naturally from us.”
Dalot has been with the Red Devils since 2018, and has been a key fixture in Amorim’s defence. He has proved his versatility playing at right as well left wing-back. However, he also has made his fair share of mistkaes.
United are currently seventh in the Premier League on the back of a five-match unbeaten run, their best string of results under Amorim.