Man Utd legend Gary Neville
Gary Neville working as a pundit for Sky Sports.
Gary Neville hit out at the Man Utd hierarchy for failing to invest in their defence during the summer after their 4-4 draw against Aston Villa on Sunday.
The Red Devils came from two goals down twice to salvage a late point against the Villans in a dramatic encounter at Old Trafford.
Joshua Zirkzee and Patrick Dorgu both struck in second-half injury time to give Man Utd an unlikely share of the spoils against Unai Emery’s men, who went 2-0 up quickly in the first half and 4-2 up in the second.
The point could not lift Man Utd out of the relegation zone after results over the weekend dropped them into danger heading into the international break.
Neville said on NBC Sports: “The reason Manchester United have conceded four goals is because they haven’t invested in the defence in the transfer window.
“Every one knew they had to do that, they needed defenders. The current ones are making mistake after mistake after mistake.
READ: Michael Owen reacts to Man Utd 4-4 Aston Villa and makes Michael Carrick sack prediction – ‘next couple of days’
“The defenders that finished that game will get you relegated. Watch the defensive errors… we all screamed in the transfer window that they have to bring some defenders in.
“They had to bring the transfer budget forward and bring defenders in.”
‘It’s not good enough to play in the Premier League’ – Neville
Neville’s brother, Phil, who was alongside Gary, insisted that the back four of Noussair Mazraoui, Leny Yoro, Ayden Heaven and Patrick Dorgu, that finished the game against Aston Villa, would get Man Utd relegated from the Premier League this season.
He added: “The back-four that finished the game – Mazraoui, Yoro, Heaven and Dorgu – that gets you relegated.
“That back-four gets you the sack as a manager and that back-four cannot keep United, I don’t think, in the Premier League.
“That back-four gets you relegated, it’s poor. It’s not good enough to play in the Premier League.”
The pressure is once again on Carrick heading into the international break but Gary Neville doubts sacking the former midfielder would change anything.
READ: Unai Emery gives verdict on Man Utd ‘level’ after Aston Villa ‘defeat’
Neville said: “You can paper over the cracks and get a new manager bounce. When the new manager comes in, everybody’s happy for a couple of months and all of a sudden, six months later, it happens again.
“You can keep changing the manager and thinking that’s going to be the answer. But this has been proven now over eight managers in 12 years, that’s not the answer.
“Michael could leave, Michael might stay, we don’t know, the ownership don’t have a clue what to do.
“It’s rinse and repeat. Amorim, Ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Carrick, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, David Moyes, Ralf Rangnick – some of them are world class managers who have had success, there are a lot of promising young managers there, ex players who know the club as well.
“None of it has worked because if you recruit badly, if you’ve got poor performance department, poor recruitment department, you’ve not got leadership that is strong right through the spine of the football club you will fail.
“Every organisation in the world will fail if you’ve not got an aligned leadership from top to bottom – your board and your ownership right the way through to the person who is stood on the pitch trying to play football.
“There are real issues within that football club, you’ve got people doing those jobs who have never done those jobs before in senior positions.”
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