Ruben Amorim responds to Gary Neville rant after ‘depressing’ Manchester derby | Football

Ruben Amorim says Gary Neville is ‘critical of everything’ after the former Manchester United defender blasted the ‘depressing’ spectacle of a goalless Manchester derby on Sunday.

It was largely a game to forget at Old Trafford, with neither team finding much attacking rhythm at all.

The Red Devils were happy to sit deep and try to hit their opponents on the counter-attack, but it led to a stodgy, slow-paced encounter, with neither team finding a breakthrough.

Neville did not like what he saw, saying the boring, risk-free football on display was disappointing, depressing and not good enough.

‘I don’t think there was one player from either side who walked off the pitch at the end who was disappointed,’ Neville said on Sky Sports. ‘It was really disappointing.

Advertisement

‘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.

‘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.’

Taking aim at Manchester United’s goalkeeper Andre Onana, Neville added: ‘United’s goalkeeper 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.

‘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’s comments were put to Amorim after the match and he was not surprised to hear criticism from the former full-back.

The Portuguese did accept, though, that it is hard for players from the club’s glory years to comprehend where the team is now, with the point against City leaving them 13th in the table.

‘I understand that Gary Neville is critical about everything so I understand that part,’ Amorim told a press conference.

‘Then I understand that we are in the moment that we are doing the worst season in history. Manchester City won everything in the past, (but) this season is struggling.

‘So we are not in the best moments to give the best spectacle to every fan. We are not fighting for the big things so of course it’s different but you have to look at the context of the game.

‘I understand the critical aspect of the players that played in this game in a different way because they were fighting every time for the titles so it’s a different context.’

MORE: Troy Deeney blasts ‘terrible’ Man Utd star for having ‘first touch of an elephant’

MORE: The three players Arsenal plan to sign for Mikel Arteta this summer

MORE: Paul Scholes predicts Sir Jim Ratcliffe will sell two Manchester United stars