Neville names four Man Utd stars who ‘should be doing a lot better’ in ‘ageing spine’

Man Utd legend Gary Neville has named four Red Devils players who “should be doing a lot better” for Ruben Amorim despite their age.

After an inconsistent start to the season, which mirrored much of their form from the previous campaign, Man Utd seem to have potentially turned a corner under Amorim.

The Red Devils have won three and drawn one of their last four Premier League matches as they have moved up the table into eighth and one point behind defending champions Liverpool, who occupy third position.

Following some encouraging performances and results, Man Utd can now look ahead to the January transfer window and potentially continuing a rebuild under Amorim, who was rumoured to be on the verge of being sacked in early October.

Despite their recent good form, Neville still reckons four players “should be doing a lot better” to hold the Man Utd team together.

Neville told The Overlap and Betfair’s Stick to Cricket show: “I think your spine of a football team is critical. When I first came into Man United, our spine was (Peter) Schmeichel, (Steve) Bruce, (Gary) Pallister, (Roy) Keane and (Eric) Cantona and so we were all scattered around it.

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“We literally were able to be cushioned by this unbelievably strong spine that delivered reliably every single week.

“I think (Harry) Maguire and (Matthijs) de Ligt should be doing a lot better than they are. You know, you look at the experience that those two have got.

“De Ligt’s played a mountain of games at sort of different levels, the highest level. Harry’s played so many times for England. You’ve got the midfield, Casemiro and Bruno have got massive experience.

“Up front, they haven’t got the experience. But to me, that spine of Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, Maguire and De Ligt is ageing, but should be doing a lot better at holding it all together than they do.

“That’s why I think Liverpool are good because they’ve got Alisson, (Virgil) van Dijk, they’ve got (Alexis) Mac Allister and (Ryan) Gravenberch in midfield and then they’ve got obviously the centre-forwards that they’ve got.”

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A report came out in The Athletic which claimed Thomas Tuchel and Roberto De Zerbi were the two prime candidates, alongside Amorim, to take over at Old Trafford before the Portuguese head coach was appointed.

When asked for his thoughts on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand said: “Who cares?

“We’re in the moment where Amorim is starting to find a bit of positivity, and then we’re writing about someone who could have or should have taken the job over a year ago.

“It’s just nonsense, really. I just think it’s the… I knew that ages ago, but there’s no… What’s the point?”

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