Evra wants shored-up Man Utd defence

Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has urged his team-mates to get back to basics and stop allowing their opponents so many goalscoring chances.

United are top of the Barclays Premier League after seven games, but they were considered fortunate to keep a clean sheet at home to Norwich last weekend and conceded three at home in the Champions League against Basle.

They also somehow only conceded one goal at home against Chelsea in September during a 3-1 victory, with the Blues wasting several clear chances.

United's next two opponents are Liverpool and Manchester City, and French left-back Evra has called for greater stability in their rearguard.

"I want us to go back to the way we were playing before the Chelsea game," said Evra. "We have to defend together, but very compact and not give our opponents too many chances.

"I was disappointed after the Chelsea game because they created a lot of chances and if it had finished 4-4 no-one could have said anything."

United have suffered injuries to defenders all season, with captain Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Rafael all missing games so far.