Gary Neville said Manchester United’s performance in their 1-0 defeat to 10-man Everton had a “smell of complacency” and would “undermine confidence” in manager Ruben Amorim’s team.
United were booed at full-time as Keenan Dewsbury-Hall’s first-half goal led to a red card following a red card for Idrissa Gueye for slapping team-mate Michael Keane, as Everton became the first team to win at Old Trafford in the Premier League.
Neville said United could have moved up to fourth place with a three-goal win, but were left in 10th place, with a five-game unbeaten run snapped, leaving them “far from good enough” and “embarrassing at times”.
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Watch for free: Premier League highlights of Manchester United vs. Everton
The Sky Sports pundit said on the Gary Neville Podcast: “I think they had it in their head that they were in the Champions League places, maybe even before the game.”
“There was just a whiff of complacency. They didn’t intend to do that from the beginning and that’s bad for United.
“I think they’ve improved a lot in the last few weeks and maybe that’ll get us back away to Brentford.
“You can’t go from fighting like they did in that particular game to being like that. It just erodes confidence, it just erodes trust.”
“We’re trying to build trust in the coach and we’re trying to build trust in the team.
“At the end, the fans booed all at once. It was loud and understandable. It was a really poor performance.
“It feels like we’ve taken a couple steps forward and everyone feels a little better about themselves and we’re back to where we started.
“You can lose a football game, but you can’t lose like that. It’s not good enough and it’s not acceptable.”
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Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim has reacted to the defeat at home to Everton.
United were without summer signings Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesco due to injury against Everton, forcing Amorim to use Joshua Zirkzee up front, making the forward’s first start for the club since April last year.
But Neville refused to accept that as an explanation, adding: “Forget[the injuries to Sesco and Cunha]. There are no excuses. I don’t find any of that funny.”
“Everton dominated them with 11 men and they dominated them with 10 men, it was a different way of governing, but they dominated them with fight and spirit.”
Kara: Bad night for Amorim.
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Jamie Carragher believes Ruben Amorim was to blame for Manchester United’s defeat to Everton 10-a-side
Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher said Amorim’s failure to adapt his approach after Everton’s red card would raise serious questions about his role in the defeat.
“It’s a bad night for the manager. There was so much time left in that game (after Everton went ahead with 10 men).
“I don’t understand how they can be so resolute and stick to something in a situation where they don’t really need three players, even though they’re basically one player up front and they’re not really up front that much.
“That was one of those moments where I think a lot of people really question the coach after that loss.
“They will look at the players and we know they have to try harder, but a lot of the blame tonight will be on the manager.”
Show is called and Amorim’s in-game judgment is questioned.
In his co-commentary, Neville criticized Amorim for introducing Diogo Dalot in place of the struggling Patrick Dawg, and slammed the efforts of Luke Shaw, who was “wobbly”.
“We have to act with urgency to make the pitch as big as possible and put as many players in the forward areas as possible.
“Behind the ball is Shaw, (Lenny) Yolo and (Matthejs) de Ligt. Shaw is more forward, but he’s wandering forward, let’s be clear. He’s been bothering me for the last 20 minutes. He’s wandering, he can’t do that. He’s supposed to be running forward every time, but I don’t care.”
“Yolo, I sympathize a little more, but the show? It’s a waste of time. I don’t care. It’s a waste of time. I’m not fooling anyone. I just don’t feel it.
“Ruben Amorim has a question to answer. Bringing Dalot in before the show? I don’t understand. Why, when there are five people behind him? They haven’t won the first ball or the second ball yet. It’s embarrassing.”
“It’s going to be like Alamo, really quick, high tempo, passing left and right, getting into wide areas, putting in crosses, getting bodies into the attack, sustaining the attack.
“United move very slowly. They don’t have any presence in the box.”
