Gary Neville picked on one Man Utd player as he highlighted why watching some Premier League matches has become “depressing”.
The Red Devils played out a goalless draw against rivals Man City in the Manchester Derby on Sunday with neither side making much of an effort to win the game.
It was a disappointing spectacle that does little for either side’s season and Neville hit out at the “robotic nature” of some games that is becoming a “disease in the game”.
Explaining the problem in the aftermath of the Manchester Derby, Neville also used a Man Utd star to demonstrate his point, the Red Devils legend said on Sky Sports: “I don’t think there was one player from either side who walked off the pitch at the end who was disappointed. It was really disappointing.
“I apologise for my co-commentary. I think I let it get to me. I think l was boring on there as well.
“This robotic nature of not leaving our positions, of being micromanaged within an inch of our lives, of not having any freedom to take a risk to go and try and win a football match, it’s becoming an illness in the game, it’s becoming a disease in the game.
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“Pep Guardiola and his teams over the last 10 years, that’s what his teams do. But we’re seeing poor imitations of that across the board now.
“United’s goalkeeper [Onana] rolling his foot on the ball and waiting for things to happen. That’s not it, that’s not what this club is, that’s not what we do here.
“Liverpool don’t do that. You’ve got to be a top team with tempo in your play, rhythm in your play, get the ball moving, shift it quickly.
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“The game today really was quite depressing for me, because I think we’ve seen a lot of these types of games.
“And the Premier League is about excitement, it’s about thrill, it’s about risk. And there was nothing like that in that game, so that’s not good enough.”
Neville added: “The game today was quite depressing. We are seeing a lot of these type of games.
“The Premier League is about excitement, thrill and risk. There was nothing like that today – and that’s not good enough.”
Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim reckons his side are improving game by game despite their lowly 13th position in the Premier League table.
Amorim said after their draw against Man City: “You can see it, [same] as me, the team is more comfortable. The positions, we can make better connections, we are pushing the opponents sometimes to the last third. We are defending and blocking the talented players like Manchester City have.
“I think we blocked most of the chances; they didn’t create much. They had the ball, but without danger, so we are improving.”
