Since the departure of their legendary manager Alex Ferguson eight years ago, the once dominant Man United have struggled to win silverware.
The Red Devils last won a Premier League title in 2013 and haven’t claimed a Champions League crown for more than a decade. United’s quest to end their trophy drought suffered another setback on Saturday.
Former Manchester United Defender Gary Neville has ripped into his former team as he was furious to see the English giants lose against Leicester City 4-2 in a Premier League game over the weekend.
It was United’s third Premier League match in succession where they failed to win as it came after a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa and a 1-1 draw against Everton.
Neville even accused United’s footballers of having egos as they failed to click as a unit before labelling them “babies” for behaving like immature kids.
The former England right-back even declared that United players’ lack the intensity and the work ethics of Liverpool and Manchester City footballers, who he claimed “work like dogs” to accomplish the desired success.
“United were appalling all the way through”, Neville said on Sky Sports.
“In the second half there was a massive, massive change – Leicester looked like they could score with every single attack”.
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The 46-year-old said that there was a clear division within Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side, with the attacking line featuring all the great players with big egos, and the back five, having all the youngsters, who are still trying to make their mark on the grand stage.
“United are just baggy, there’s space everywhere and they’re a pretty awful team to watch when they’re baggy. They must think they’re better than they are. You end up with two teams: the front five, the egos, the great players, and the back five”, he added.
“You’ve got individual errors, but also a disconnected team. This United team are also really poor in reacting to goals. They’re like babies. If they score, they puff their chests out. Really basic errors”.
According to him, United is looking like a disconnected team at the moment and its players are making basic errors on the field.
Neville also believes that the club’s players were not working hard enough to win trophies, like other teams.
In a way, the situation is becoming extremely difficult for Solskjaer, considering he has so far been unable to get the best out of his players.
“City and Liverpool’s players work like dogs, and they’re the best players in the world. Why is it that we accept United’s players won’t work as hard as them? Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] has to get the best out of them. If he doesn’t, he’s going to have a massive problem at the end of the season”, Neville continued.
“What Ole has to somehow prove is that he can get top players to work hard. United’s forward players are not organised, they need to put a shift in”, he concluded.
After hogging all the limelight for their acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo from Juventus in August, which resulted in an impressive start for the Old Trafford-based team, United has subsequently lost the plot in the past month and a half.
After their latest defeat, they are now languishing in sixth place in the Premier League standings with 14 points and are five points behind table toppers Chelsea who have 19 points.
