Manchester United must focus on their second-half comeback against Atalanta rather than worry about their woeful opening 45 minutes ahead of this weekend's clash against Liverpool, insists Rio Ferdinand.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men were rocked in the first half of their Group F fixture when Mario Pasalic and Merih Demiral took advantage of sloppy United defending to help the Serie A side take a two-goal lead into the break.
But the hosts produced a stunning second-half comeback, with Marcus Rashford and Harry Maguire restoring parity before Cristiano Ronaldo scored yet another winner at Old Trafford, just as he had done in their previous European outing against Villarreal.
Manchester United must focus on their second-half comeback against Atalanta ahead of their game against Liverpool, insists Rio Ferdinand
United went two goals down at home in a woeful first-half display against the Italian outfit
Solskjaer bluntly responded 'don't disrespect the players' after he was asked post-match if the performance showed that his squad are playing for him.
But speaking to BT Sport after the game, former United centre-back Ferdinand insisted the players demonstrated they are ready for the 'hustle and fight' and must build on the emotion of the evening against Jurgen Klopp's Reds on Sunday.
'You have to look beyond the first half,' Ferdinand said. 'You would address it in the changing room but you would focus more on that second half going forward ahead of that game against Liverpool at the weekend.
'No one could sit here and tell the public the problems are cured, and that everything is fine and rosy now, because it is not. But you have to grab on to a result like that. The emotion that you have, you have to carry that forward to lift the spirit of the changing room.
But they produced a brilliant second-half comeback with Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the winner
'Ole got prickly about the question about whether the players are working for him, but that was something that
