Gary Neville: Manchester United still ‘don’t look like team who can challenge for title’
Manchester United would have „snapped everybody’s hand off“ to have the chance to move two points off the top but „have not played“ like title challengers, says Gary Neville.
United moved up to third – the first time they have occupied a Champions League-qualifying spot all season – with a 6-2 thrashing of Leeds at Old Trafford on Super Sunday,
with a game in hand over second-placed Leicester and leaders Liverpool which could lift them within two points of the top of the table should they win.
Ex-Manchester United captain Roy Keane told Sky Sports the result, and United’s recent run of six wins from their last seven games, showed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side could prove real title challengers this season, but Neville believes his former club still don’t look like a side capable of competing for the Premier League trophy.
„For Manchester United it was about closing the gap, no one ever thought they would be in a position to go so close,“ he said on the Gary Neville podcast. „They’re going to go second in the league if they can close that gap. It doesn’t feel like Manchester United have played like that.
„There has been talk of the manager’s job, going out of Europe was a big problem, the performances at times have been horrible.
„You just watch them and think there isn’t a team emerging there who can challenge for the title. My gut feeling is to still say I don’t think Manchester United are going to win the league.
„But I am surprised, it’s bizarre where they are considering a couple of weeks ago you were thinking this could be difficult, a challenging period coming into Christmas, but it’s looking a little bit rosier.
„Their form’s really good. They’re scoring goals, coming back in matches, today they’ve played well, it’s a big game against Leicester on Boxing Day, but there’s something not right.
„But then when you look at where they are in the league, and they can go two points behind Liverpool, if you’d said at the start of the season they’d be in a position to do that, coming into Christmas, you’d have snapped everyone’s hands off.“
Leeds thrashing ‘the game we thought we’d see’
Manchester United had scored only three goals at Old Trafford in six home league games prior to demolishing Leeds on Sunday night, trebling their home scoring record in the process to record only their second win in Manchester this season.
Despite such a contrasting result and performance compared with the rest of their home season to date, United’s day’s work was no surprise to Neville, against a Leeds side who had already shipped 24 goals in 13 matches coming into the game.
„It was a game we thought we would see, I was excited waking up and thinking about it,“ he said. „I just thought Leeds would be perfect for Manchester United, I couldn’t see how the players Manchester United have couldn’t cause them big problems on the counter-attack.
„Not just on the counter-attack, they’re good one-on-one. Martial, Rashford, Greenwood – or James as it was – fed by Fernandes, they were always going to create big chances, but it was McTominay who was outstanding in that first few minutes.
„He was like Keane and Scholes rolled into one. It was a breathtaking start. They were right at it from the first 20 seconds Manchester United. They were quick in the passing, running forward, really committed to scoring goals knowing they couldn’t sit back and take this Leeds team on this way.
„We know they can be poor when they have to break teams down sometimes, teams can counter-attack on them, particularly at Old Trafford, but Leeds don’t do that. The minute you get in behind them and can win the ball back, you’re in serious business if you’re Rashford.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
bet365 reserves the right to amend, cancel, reclaim or refuse any promotion at its own discretion.
