Gary Neville never shies away from criticising teams when the former Manchester United captain commentates on Premier League matches.
It has been a hard task for the game’s biggest commentators to build any hype around the Premier League title race this season.
Unfortunately for Manchester United, who endured a difficult season of their own, Liverpool were crowned champions but hardly faced any competition for the title because Man City were non-runners.
Arsenal were the closest contenders but never really looked like putting up a battle to Arne Slot’s side.
It doesn’t help that the media haven’t been able to build up games by using United because Ruben Amorim’s domestic campaign fell apart shortly after becoming head coach.
Next season, Amorim will be aiming to improve United’s domestic form with the Red Devils destined to finish in the bottom half of the table.
Photo by Alex Livesey - Danehouse/Getty Images
Photo by Alex Livesey – Danehouse/Getty Images
Gary Neville sarcastically congratulates Mikel Arteta for keeping Arsenal job
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville claimed Arsenal’s progress in the Champions League has shielded Mikel Arteta from criticism over their collapse in the Premier League.
Neville is surprised that Arteta remains comfortable in his position as Arsenal manager despite their five-year trophy drought.
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Arsenal were knocked out of the Champions League last week, meaning their 2024/25 campaign will end without silverware and the long wait will go on.
Speaking on Sky Sports during a live broadcast ahead of Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Liverpool on Sunday, Neville said: “It’s a great achievement to not win a trophy in five years and still be the manager of a Premier League team.
“We thought those days were gone where you can have this kind of patience being afforded to you.
“I think it’s a good thing, that for five years to not win a trophy, ordinarily there would be a manager under pressure. That’s significant in the sense that you think there is progression. I’m glad that on Friday in his press conference he said ‘we’ve gone backwards in the Premier League’, because they’ve tickled our backs a little bit for the last month with the Champions League and it took the heat off them a little bit in how bad they’ve been in the league being 13, 14 points from where they were last season and the season before.
“But they’ve left themselves woefully short up top and still haven’t got a player in midfield from deep who can receive the ball on the back foot and [Martin] Zubimendi may come to Arsenal. [Thomas] Partey’s not great at it, Declan Rice was proven in the first leg against PSG he’s great at it.
“They’ve signed one striker in seven seasons as a football club. It’s ridiculous that they’ve left Mikel Arteta so short. They’ve spent £750m and bought one striker in that time. That’s not good enough.”
"It's a great achievement to not win a trophy in five years, and still be the manager of a Premier League team"
Gary Neville gives his opinion on the job Mikel Arteta has done at Arsenal 👊 pic.twitter.com/LwsoWSytZU
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 11, 2025
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Arsenal had a glorious opportunity to make the next step this season after being beaten by Man City in previous seasons. It raises questions as to whether Arteta has blown his chance to win the Premier League at Arsenal.
Neville may suggest that it’s a good thing that Arteta isn’t under any pressure at Arsenal, and while that may be the case, it shouldn’t undermine that Amorim will have greater expectations at United because it’s a far superior football club and always has been.
Amorim doesn’t want to become another Arteta
Amorim came to Old Trafford with a big reputation from his time at Sporting CP, winning two league titles.
The Portuguese coach will be mindful of not falling through the same cracks as Arteta, who has failed to take Arsenal to the top of English football, even during Pep Guardiola’s worse season at the Etihad.
There are ways to show improvement and Arteta has not done enough of that in the league over the past five years. The fact that they have nothing to show for it says it all.
United are currently positioned 16th in the league and they need to get back to challenging for the top four. That would be a big step forward next season, but United fans will believe it when they see it.