The Red Devils squandered the chance to go back on top of the table after suffering a shock defeat to Sheffield United this week, but remain within touching distance of table-toppers Manchester City.
Although the Citizens have a game in hand, there is only one point separating the two Manchester clubs as the race for the Premier League title heats up.
However, former Premier League star Dunne is of the view that Manchester United’s central defensive partnership is not good enough to win them the league this term.
Dunne has his doubts about the abilities of Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly, who he believes are not as reliable and secure as Manchester City’s Ruben Dias.
“Their problem is that they don’t have a central defensive partnership good enough to win a Premier League“, Dunne wrote in his Sunday World column.
“It’s been two from Victor Lindelof, Eric Bailly and Harry Maguire but they never look secure.
“United have improved and you can see there is something happening there, they are going in the right direction.
“But the aim has to be to buy a centre half they can rely on, as City have done with Ruben Dias.
“In the United defence right now, neither Maguire nor Lindelof is particularly quick.
“Bailly has that bit of pace about him but he is too erratic, and that causes its own problems.
“They need to find a central defensive pairing who complement each other really well – two players they can trust to defend, calm defenders who can lead and organise the rest of the team.
“It should be a case where the midfield and attacking players can look to the back and just think, ‘yeah, we’re alright today’ – instead they have a unit they just can’t rely on.“
The defeat to Sheffield United saw Manchester United’s 13-game unbeaten run in the league come to an end and it remains to be seen if they can bounce back from the setback when they visit Arsenal on Saturday.
