Manchester United legend Gary Neville has launched a scathing attack on four key players at his former club, despite their recent upturn in form under Ruben Amorim. The Red Devils have been enjoying a resurgence of late, extending their unbeaten run in the Premier League to four games with a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Saturday afternoon.
However, Neville remains unimpressed and has singled out Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt, Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes for criticism. “I think your spine of a football team is critical,” he declared on the Overlap and Betfair’s Stick to Cricket show. “When I first came into Man United, our spine was (Peter) Schmeichel, (Steve) Bruce, (Gary) Pallister, (Roy) Keane and (Eric) Cantona and so we were all scattered around it.
“We literally were able to be cushioned by this unbelievably strong spine that delivered reliably every single week. I think Maguire and De Ligt should be doing a lot better than they are. You know, you look at the experience that those two have got.
“De Ligt’s played a mountain of games at sort of different levels, the highest level. Harry’s played so many times for England. You’ve got the midfield, Casemiro and Bruno have got massive experience.
“Up front, they haven’t got the experience. But to me, that spine of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Maguire and De Ligt is ageing, but should be doing a lot better at holding it all together than they do.
“That’s why I think Liverpool are good because they’ve got Alisson, [Virgil] Van Dijk, they’ve got [Alexis] Mac Allister and [Ryan] Gravenberch in midfield and then they’ve got, obviously, the centre-forwards that they’ve got.”
The former Red Devils defender spent his entire playing career at Old Trafford, racking up 602 appearances – 400 of those in the top flight. The eight-time Premier League champion believes his former captain is the most influential player he’s ever witnessed.
“I think people see the real Roy Keane on Stick To Football, which is more of the real him,” he said. “He’s a compelling storyteller, funny, loyal, great morals, family man, everything that you would want, but fiercely competitive.
“For me, he was the Sir Alex on the pitch. If you’ve got the coach that’s basically unbelievable, you still need a player on the pitch that’s going to replicate that.
“Think about how important you were as a captain on the pitch. You’re massively influential on the game and he was massively influential to us.
“I mean, without him, I always used think without him, we were half the team. He was that important. He’s most influential football player I’ve ever seen.”