Pranav Nair
Gary Neville believes Manchester United do not perform well as a collective unit
Speaking on the Sky Sports podcast, Manchester United legend Gary Neville believes the club is lacking in one major aspect that could eventually derail their title aspirations this season.
The Red Devils have enjoyed a brilliant summer that saw them make three key additions to the first team. Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane are all first XI additions and exponentially amplify Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s options.
While there have been moments of magic, the team is yet to click together as a collective unit. Neville believes this will cost them dear in the title race.
“They don’t play well enough as a team.”
United were shocked by Aston Villa at home last Saturday, handing them their first loss in the Premier League this season. While one could point to Bruno Fernandes’ missed penalty, Villa were comfortably the better team.
Matt Targett and Ollie Watkins among others had glorious chances to put the visitors well and over. However, poor finishing and David de Gea’s alertness kept us in the game.
“You need patterns of play, you need a way of playing, and at this moment in time I still see a group of individuals playing in moments.”
Neville’s comments may seem heavy-handed given that we are just a point off the Premier League summit. But closer introspection will show that the former skipper is right. He has urged United’s players to come together and link up well with each other. Only then can the club move ahead and challenge for the big trophies.
“They’ve got to come together as a team and start to define a style of play. Then you start to get results when you don’t play well.”
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Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea all perform admirably well as a team. Responsibility should also go to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who has to come up with a system to get the best out of his resources.
The Norwegian could be a deft hand at football manager, but sport in the real world is not the same as just assembling the biggest names on paper. Either we come together as a team soon or risk falling away as individuals.
