Gary Neville has called for a “cultural overhaul” at Manchester United while also branding the squad as “mediocre” following the 3-0 defeat to Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim’s side failed to build on the dramatic 2-1 win against Manchester City last weekend and will now continue to dwell in the bottom half of the Premier League standings as we approach Christmas.
Meanwhile, Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top of the table following their impressive 6-3 win against Tottenham Hotspur, which fellow Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher referred to as a “performance of champions” from Arne Slot’s team.
Speaking on his latest podcast, Neville assessed the contrasting situations at each club…
‘United’s squad is mediocre and it has to change’
I think it’s a massive positive that Ruben Amorim is seeing what he’s got. In the past, there have been times where you can be kidded into thinking you have got a better group of players, because of decent results and moving up the league.
But they are a mile away in every single way.
Playing the way Amorim wants to play, with the 3-4-3, he’s going to have to change it. He’s given everyone a try by rotating the team and I do not think there will be many he’s watched and thought, ‘yes, I want you on the bus’.
They are all very mediocre, and I don’t know how it’s happened – they are better than what they are showing, let’s be clear. But it’s a pattern.
Well done to Bournemouth, that’s two years on the bounce and Andoni Iraola is doing a fantastic job. It’s a big positive that Amorim can look at these players in the cold light of day.
He’s got six months of a beauty parade if you like – which is more of an ugly parade. He’s seeing what Manchester United fans have watched for 10 years, there has got to be a cultural overhaul.
It is a real torrid time, there is not a lot to like about performance levels or the way they play. They are all lads trying their best, it’s not a personal assault, but they are not good enough to play for Manchester United, because this club aims to be at the top.
The same as Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea – those clubs aim to be top, but you have got to get there.
It’s quite clear watching these players, they are not good enough.
‘Liverpool remind me of Ferguson’s United’
There are maybe bits of this Liverpool side that remind me of the Manchester United team I played in.
I’m seeing David Beckham out here on the right, where Trent Alexander-Arnold is whipping unbelievable crosses in, I’m seeing runs behind and committing lots of bodies forward, but mainly I’m seeing different styles of football within a game.
We have been conditioned over these past eight years to this ideology, where you have a set philosophy of play, but I don’t see that with Liverpool.
I see them playing with three or four different styles within the same match. I see them playing long passes into forwards, sometimes on the counter-attack, sometimes deep and compact, they start with a high press and then change.
Whatever the game needs and requires they have the ability to do it.
If a team are pressing back they can muck in, dig in together, be compact and defend as a unit. If the game is there to go for they will overcommit and push up with a high line, but they don’t play any one style continuously throughout the game.
There are times where you see Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister in midfield controlling the game, slowing it down, keeping possession.
We have been conditioned to think a team has to play one way, and you can’t adapt to be a team that plays different ways in different matches.
I thought an element of that had gone, where players had become a bit robotic: ‘I will do what my coach tells me to.’
This Liverpool team have independent thinking, to know what a game needs. That’s the bit that reminds me of us, and Liverpool are a lot better than I ever thought they would be this season.
‘Tottenham do stupid things and the system is nonsense’
To play in that Tottenham defence, the demands to push as high as they do, they do some stupid things.
Overcommitting at a point where you’ve got no chance of actually winning the ball, it’s nonsense. It’s impossible to high press for a full football match, you can’t do that.
Some decisions are mind-boggling. I wouldn’t like to be a defender in that team.
They ask so much, they are so high, and there is so much space, so you’ve always got that threat of being picked off. There are things I like, the quality of football is great, but they don’t make good decisions.
I’m asking them to make better decisions. I love getting Tottenham games, I think they are a joy, you always get a great game and it’s important you are entertained.
But they have got to get players back, and then I hope the pressure doesn’t build too much. It’s a big four or five weeks for Spurs.
