Neville slams Man Utd duo after ‘ultimate Rangnick put-down’

Gary Neville slammed Manchester United duo Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard after their cameos in the 4-1 defeat to Manchester City, claiming Ralf Rangnick dealt Rashford the “ultimate put-down”.

The England international’s were both introduced shortly after the hour mark with United trailing 2-1 at the time.

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City extended their lead shortly after their introduction through Riyad Mahrez, before the winger added his second of the game in the closing seconds.

Rangnick deployed Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba in attack in the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Edinson Cavani.

And while Neville was not a fan of Rangnick’s unconventional system, he admitted the side were better before Rashford and Lingard entered the fray.

“I thought they (United) were better with Pogba and Fernandes up front than they were when Rashford came on,” Neville told Sky Sports.

“I thought they were even worse when Rashford and Lingard came on. I thought they were terrible.”

Neville added: “What I would say is when he changed it to a more traditional system and brought Rashford on put Lingard out on the right and Sancho to the left, that was worse.”

Lingard has started just one Premier League game this season, while Rashford has struggled for form.

And Neville believes Rashford starting from the bench was the “ultimate put-down” from Rangnick, given Ronaldo and Cavani were unavailable.

“That’s got to be the ultimate put down for Marcus Rashford today,” Neville said.

“With four other centre forwards he started the season with not here and he still can’t get into the side. It tells you where Rashford is at, where Rangnick thinks he is at.”

Despite the defeat, which Neville described as “embarrassing”, the former Red Devil still believes United can clinch fourth spot ahead of Arsenal, despite being a point behind having played three more games.

Neville said: “I still think United could do it.

“I just don’t trust Arsenal fully. I think it would be brilliant for Mikel Arteta and Arsenal if they did it those young players it would be fantastic.

“But, I do think they have got some big games still to play. I think Manchester United have still got to go to Arsenal as well, there is a long way to go and United could still do it.”