Gary Neville: Struggling Manchester United players think they're better than they are, don't work hard enough
/dnl.tntsports.co.uk/sd/img/placeholder/tnt_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
Updated 19/10/2021 at 08:50 GMT+1
Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has suggested that United manager, his former team-mate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, needs to turn the team into a cohesive whole if they are to succeed, but he has accused the players of not having the right mentality to perform as well as Manchester City or Liverpool.
'It says everything when your best player is De Gea' - Solskjaer
Gary Neville has accused Manchester United players of "thinking they are better than they are" after their 4-2 defeat to Leicester City on Saturday.
United were 1-0 ahead but slumped to a heavy defeat against Brendan Rodgers’ side as they lost their way. It is not the first disappointing result suffered by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team, who have already lost to Young Boys, Aston Villa and West Ham this season.
Speaking on Monday Night Football, Neville said: “The performances this season have not been good enough.
“I think the great mistake [against Leicester] was picking Harry Maguire. He was not fit enough...just generally he was nowhere near it.
“I think [Eric] Bailly should have played with [Victor] Lindelof. The first problem was picking Harry Maguire - he’d not trained for four weeks.”
Neville picked out the second half as the worst period for United, saying: “Manchester United were appalling all the way through it.
“There wasn’t too much difficulty for Manchester United [in the first half], they looked like they did a half decent job. It wasn’t brilliant defending
“Second half, Leicester looked like they would score from every attack. In the second half there was a big change. I don't know if at half-time Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said, ‘get higher,’ or the players have gone a bit rogue and gone disorganised. They are baggy, there are spaces everywhere.”
/origin-imgresizer.tntsports.io/2021/10/02/3230310-66123473-2560-1440.jpg)
Solskjaer defends decision to bench Ronaldo in United's draw with Everton
The former United defender and, briefly, Valencia manager, suggested that there were problems with the players’ attitude.
“They think they are better than they are,” stated Neville.
“United are more disconnected. You end up with two teams, the front five - the egos, the world class ones - and the back five. You end up with a not compact unit that Leicester City find it really easy to play against.
“This Manchester United team is really poor at reacting to goals. If they concede they do their own things, if they score a goal, they puff their chests out and think they’re going to score.
“Solskjaer has brought these talented players in. What he needs to prove is that he is a top manager that can get top players to work as hard as other top players can in the top half.
Manchester United’s forward players are not organised, but they also need to get a shift in.
"Manchester City and Liverpool players work like dogs, like non-league players, like [Mohamed] Salah and [Phil] Foden. So why won’t United players work as hard?”
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement