Gary Neville has described Manchester United’s performance in their draw with winless Wolves as “the worst of the worst”.
United would have moved up to fourth in the Premier League with a win at Old Trafford
on Tuesday. However, bottom-of-the-table Wolves, who started with only two points from 18 games, ended an 11-match losing streak with a 1-1 draw.
Ruben Amorim’s team had been knocked out of the League Cup by fourth-tier Grimsby in August, but Neville felt that United’s performance against Wolves was even poorer. They might have lost the match if not for two excellent saves by Senne Lammens.
“That was the baddest of the bad that,” the former United captain said on the Gary Neville podcast.
“They weren’t just booed off at full-time. The fans waited in the stadium to continue to boo them. They’ve gone backwards.”
High And Low
United managed a 1-0 win at home against Newcastle on Boxing Day, despite several injuries, including captain Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire, and Matthijs de Ligt, with three more players at the Africa Cup of Nations.
However, they failed to impress against Wolves, with Ladislav Krejci’s header just before half-time neutralising Joshua Zirkzee’s deflected shot.
Amorim’s 3-4-3 system faced criticism again after he reverted to his preferred formation, having played four at the back against Newcastle.
“This isn’t right. I’ve watched enough of United over the last five or six weeks to know what looks right and what isn’t right,” Neville said on Sky Sports.
“When I see that we go back (to three at the back) after five minutes tonight and I’m thinking, no, Ruben, why have you done that? The manager has to look at that and think, I got that wrong. I complicated it.”
Amorim substituted Zirkzee at half-time, bringing on 18-year-old Jack Fletcher for only his third senior appearance, stating the change was “just tactical”.
However, Neville insisted, “They made Manchester United worse. Every single substitution was bizarre.
“If Zirkzee wasn’t injured and that was a tactical substitution, it was a really poor one.
“Zirkzee isn’t Eric Cantona, by any stretch of the imagination, but he needed to be out there for physicality, for presence, for experience.”
(With inputs from Agencies)
