GARY NEVILLE HAS called on Manchester United to support manager Jose Mourinho in the transfer market, insisting you “cannot leave a house three-quarters built” after Sunday’s shock loss at Brighton.
Mourinho was left frustrated by a lack of transfer activity before the Premier League deadline after only Fred and Diogo Dalot arrived, and his concerns were laid bare as United crashed to a 3-2 defeat.
A new centre-back was Mourinho’s top priority amid links with Tottenham star Toby Alderweireld and Leicester City’s Harry Maguire but neither were signed, and United’s partnership of Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof were exposed at The Amex as defensive errors contributed to the Red Devils’ first loss of the season.
Dissecting United’s result on the road, former captain Neville said Ed Woodward and the club’s hierarchy must back Mourinho financially if they are to make up for the mistakes of the past following Alex Ferguson’s departure in 2013.
“He is in his third season and I think he will feel extremely disappointed that he wasn’t supported in the transfer market,” Neville said on Sky Sports. “You can’t leave a house three-quarters built. You have to finish it and complete the build. Then you can think about selling it or renting it because nobody is going to pick it up off you half-built.
“Manchester United have had a problem since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in the transfer market with David Moyes and then Louis van Gaal.
“You could argue £350 million to £400m of the £700m that has been spent has not been wasted, but it’s not value for money.
“He needs further investment. It’s obvious that he does and the club should support him in that because you can’t withdraw part way through a process. They have to go for it.
“It will get better and Manchester United will get stronger and won’t be easy to play against. I do think they will finish in the top four, but the top four historically has never been the benchmark of what Manchester United are. They have always judged themselves by Premier League titles.
“At this moment in time, that looks unlikely. Obviously it is still early in the season, but it does look unlikely that Manchester United are anywhere near good enough, as we sit here today.
“Forget everything else, that back four is not good enough to win a Premier League title. Let’s start and finish with that.
“The goalkeeper is the best in the world, the midfield is strong with Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Fred and up front there is Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and a lot of good players. But that back four looks like it will always cause problems and always concede goals. It doesn’t have authority and that is a problem.”
- Omni
Obvioulsy never heard of Ghost Estates.
He inherited smalling, Jones and rojo. Then spent 30m on bailly and same on lindelof and has written them off already. He can’t expect the board to just throw money and stock pile defenders until he finds one that he is happy with.
@dublindamo: only two of the players available to him in the defense department where bought by him. You can be sure that some would have departed if he got someone in
@dublindamo: what I don’t understand is why didn’t he sell the dead wood?. How could Manchester United not sell the likes of Jones, Rojo etc?. On a positive note they do have Dalot back from injury soon, he could make a big difference at right back.
@Dan Finlay: if he had sold 2 of Jones smalling and rojo then i have no doubt he would have been given a big cheque to buy a centre back.
Did he not buy Bailly & Lindelof?
@Derek Peyton: yes but don’t think they have started with each other much. A partnership needs time
I getting to like Neville more (as a pool fan) . He is also shouting for #josein like every other rival supporter. Jose is clearly not fit for the job , attacking his own players , rival managers to deflect attention from himself. He usually has 3rd year syndrome and De Gea has conceded 10 goals in his last 14 shots- thus Madrid went for Courtouis
@Damo McCormick: Fair points except Madrid went for courtois because he was on the last year of his contract and was 3 times cheaper than de gea would of been.
@Damo McCormick: I’m sure Madrid have bought all their keepers down through the years based on their last 14 shots faced.
@Stephen Lyons: ha ha classic Stephen
What a joke. Does he hear himself speak when he says back the manager and then talks about hundreds of millions wasted! UTD have one of the best squads in the league. Imagine what Klopp, Pep, or pochettino would get from that UTD squad.
Stevie Wonder could have seen this was never going to work out from early on last season. Then they reward him with a new contract. Utter madness and so incompetent for an organization of that stature.
@Eric Djemba-Djemba: He couldn’t of seen it. He’s blind.
That’s some house Mourinho is building, so far he has spent 350m and still not finished. Seriously has he got the best out of Sanchez Pogba the 2 center halfs? The buck stops with the manager. Tottenham will steam roll them next weekend, José will be gone before international break.
@mr lanister: Klopp has spent 500m and hasn’t won a thing !
@mr lanister: Klopp has spent 500m and hasn’t won a thing ! So pipe down
@Ragman: 500 million? Could you detail that spending please? He spent 150 million this year (players still to be sold) and had a transfer surplus last year.
@David Carino: what has Klopp got to do with a united article?
@mr lanister: Everything it’s called giving my view Jamie. Just like you have a view on every Utd story
@mr lanister: make up your mind ! Your other account wants him to stay
@David Carino: I’m a united fan u tit. I want Mourinho gone..
@Ragman: if that’s the case are you and Dave the same account too?
@mr lanister: Double bluff well done mutton head
If you employ a poor builder , well the house will have a lot of problems .
coming from Neville, well that’s rich !! get’em out, zidane in
@Vince Vega: I know it’s Monday. But that is an exceptionally lazy comment. Read the article, especially the last few paragraphs and you will see where Neville is coming from.
Ah the Premier League solution, just throw more money at it.. Does Gary Neville forget the most successful era ever in Man Utds history was built on youth.. They even made a documentary on it which he featured on.. Unfortunately these days young English/Irish/Scottish lads don’t get a look in with the top four in the EPL.. They just throw stupid money at foreign players instead of giving young talent a chance..
@David Garland: That era wouldn’t have been possible without massive spending. It’s not like they only used players from the academy.
@Hugh Jass: Are you mad? Half that team came through the academy. Even the Man Utd team that came before the treble winning team of 99 was made up of academy players. The team that won the FA Cup of 1990, Cup Winners cup of 91 and Ferguson’s first title win were thanks to his youth policy. It’s well know a young academy player by the name of Mark Robbins saved his job and from that FA Cup win he never looked back.. Alex Ferguson like the rest of the most successful British mangers always had young players coming through the academy. That doesn’t happen anymore because club’s would rather spend stupid money on players rather than giving youth a chance
@David Garland: Man Utd were the league top spenders for a 5-6 year period of the late 80s through to early 90s. Some signings were baffling and a waste of money at the time too, the academy kids saved the management some embarrassment in a big way.
Credit Sir Alex for being stubborn enough to carry on with the young lads and he rightfully benefited.
Id agree with most of your statement except the last line, because they were still spending stupid money on players.
@David Garland: the “youth” thing has long since been disproven as an urban legend. Utd regularly broke the British transfer record during that era. Pallister, Keane, Ince, Irwin, Sheringham, Cole, Yorke, Cantona , Stam etc etc etc. Fergie spent big too and had his hits and misses like any other manager.
I think United’s defensive issues are largely down to uncertainty from their full backs and the lack of a centre back who can pass out from the back. Even Valencia, who is United’s most trusted full back option, is a right winger who was converted to a defender. Too much depends on the likes of Darmian, Shaw and Lindelof improving dramatically on last season’s form.
Mourinho is like one of the 3 little pigs as regards to building a house. History proves with this guy that every project is short term and therefore his house will be blown apart by the big bad wolves of City and Chelsea
Expect the cranky wonker to be gone by Xmas….
You can leave the house if it isn’t built at all