Gary Neville slams Manchester derby: We shouldn’t accept that
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Updated 13/12/2020 at 10:54 GMT
After watching Manchester United and Manchester City in a disappointing Manchester derby on Saturday evening, Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville criticised the level of performance from the two sides and said that being tired was not an excuse. He also questioned Manchester City's title chances given their struggles.
Harry Maguire of Manchester United challenges Raheem Sterling of Manchester City
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Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville criticised the poor performances and lack of ambition shown by both sides in the Manchester derby.
United and City struggled to create many good chances on Saturday evening and Neville hit out at their efforts given the reputation of the Premier League for speed and attacking football.
“The fans bit I get, but generally the players have been used to that for six months.
“There was no intent there, were it from on the pitch or from the managers to win that match.
If Jose Mourinho was manager of one of those two teams we’d be killing them now.
“We’d be saying it’s parking the bus, it’s not good enough, it’s boring, it’s what Jose does. That was really poor. We shouldn’t accept that.”
Neville said the quality on show was severely lacking from both teams despite mitigating factors.
“We can say both teams played in midweek, both teams are tired, there are no fans in the stadium. But we put a lot of emphasis on speed in the Premier League, the urgency of it.
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“The thrill, the risk to win. There’s nothing in that game that tells me that any of those things took place today. I’m really surprised, not so much at United, I’m really surprised at City.”
The Sky Sports commentator questioned whether City had enough inspiration to challenge for the league title given their showing on Saturday.
“They look like a team that are bored a little bit,” he said.
“Manchester City are a team that have to go and win the league. They have no other option but to win the league.
They may come up with a good run, they might get there. It wasn’t Manchester City, it’s not Pep Guardiola.
“I’m not just talking with the ball, I'm talking out of possession. They didn’t get to the ball, close it down, try to win it back from Manchester United on the back line.”
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