Man Utd legend Gary Neville has strongly praised Ruben Amorim for dropping Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho for the Manchester derby.
Ruben Amorim’s side scored in the two late goals to earn a comeback victory over Premier League champions Man City on Sunday.
They were 1-0 down for 52 minutes before Bruno Fernandes’ penalty, with Amad Diallo scoring a superb winner in the 90th minute.
City were leading until the 88th minute, the latest into a game a reigning champion has led in a Premier League match and lost.
Man Utd head coach Amorim boldly dropped attackers Rashford and Garnacho from the squad, which was a huge talking point after full-time.
The 39-year-old has received lots of praise for leaving them out and Neville, Roy Keane and Micah Richards had a lengthy debate over Rashford in the Sky Sports studio.
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Richards was quick to defend the England international but Red Devils legend Neville says Amorim was correct to leave him out for more energy and effort in his frontline as the Portuguese said Rashford and Garnacho had not shown enough on the training ground and around the club to deserve a place in Sunday’s squad.
“I don’t know about their long term future,” he said. “But what is really clear is that [Amorim] mentioned engaging with team-mates, he’s mentioned standards.
“He’s giving us clues, in fact, emphatic clues, about the last few days that they’re moping and not doing their bit around the training ground.
“It’s standards in training and he’s thought, ‘No, I’m not having it, I’m not accepting it’. Good on him.
“For far too long we’ve seen players mope around that pitch and still continue to get a game or on the bench. No. It’s got to be non-negotiable. If you don’t give your all in your job, you’re gone, you’re out. That’s it.”
Neville added that he hopes Amorim’s statement shows that the tide is turning at Old Trafford, with a lack of effort on the pitch now a non-negotiable.
“We’ve been sat in this studio for years as ex-Man United players saying ‘give your absolute all’ and players haven’t been running back,” the former England right-back continued.
“We’ve seen Rashford and Garnacho stand on that left and right wing and not chase back when full-backs have gone past them and still stay on the pitch. No more.
“I want Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho to come back stronger, take the message that they’ve been given by training at the training ground this morning on a Sunday with no-one else there.
“I want them to take this in the right spirit and become the very best players for Manchester United
“I don’t care who you are, whether you’re Andrei Kanchelskis or Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Nani, whoever you are as a wide player at Manchester United you’ve got to run this way [forward] as fast as you can and run that way [backwards] as fast as you can.
“They have got the talent, they’ve got the ability, but if they don’t do that there is no place for you in the club, there is no place for you in the team.”
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