Sky Sports expert was laughing on Monday night - and not for good reasons
Tuesday 9 December 2014 20:48, UK
Manchester United may have left Southampton with three points, but Gary Neville felt their performance was laughably bad.
Two goals from Robin van Persie saw United climb to third in the Premier League after a 2-1 win at St Mary's, a result which manager Louis van Gaal later described as "lucky".
And Sky Sports pundit Neville was shocked by how poorly the expensively-assembled team passed the ball.
"I think probably he won't have managed as bad a passing performance as that in his career," he said on Monday Night Football.
"Louis van Gaal will watch the video back and think they were so bad in their passing at times. It almost got to the point where you started laughing it was so bad. I was that frustrated, I was laughing,
"I couldn't believe the amount of times they gave it away and in the first half, the amount of times they passed it back.
"You're looking at players there and there's £100million worth in central midfield and £50m or £60m up front. They're massive players.
"Forget the back. Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young are make-shift wing-backs at best and you’ve got young kids and players playing out of position. I can see why it would be bad at the back and disrupted.
"In front of that, it was so bad in terms of the passing and the accuracy of the passing. Louis van Gaal will be shocked at how bad it was. I was shocked."
Neville is convinced the team will improve in the coming weeks and said injuries in defence have made life difficult for Van Gaal.
But ahead of the Super Sunday showdown with rivals Liverpool at the weekend, he says the players must raise their game.
"They will be absolutely delighted to see themselves third in the league," he added.
"It was so bad at times. It got slightly better in the second half, but it wasn't a good United performance even if it was a great result.
"They'll think that’s all that matters but they are going to have to step it up. They keep getting injuries.
"Tonight they had to make two changes to the back four / five again in the first half an hour. They can't keep defenders fit.
"They look shaky on the ball and tonight they lacked counter-attack and any speed. Against Arsenal when they were that bad they had the counter-attack through Di Maria but tonight they didn't have anything.
"They've got away with murder tonight really with that performance. Southampton weren't very good at times and looked like a team shot on confidence.
"All in all, United will be happy with the result, but they’re going to have to play better than that."
However, the United manager Louis van Gaal believes Neville "should pay more attention to his own words" following his criticism of his former club after the game at St Mary's.
Looking ahead to the United-Liverpool match on Sunday, Neville says the game could resemble "The Dog and Duck versus The Red Lion".
And regarding Neville’s comment that United "had got away with murder," the Dutchman stressed: "That's an English expression? He can say everything because he is an ex-legend but as an ex-legend, or a legend, you have to know what you are saying.
"You can interpret: make an interpretation of that. It's not so difficult to make an interpretation, when I say he has to pay attention to his words."
Neville moved quickly to dispel any notion of a rift between himself and Van Gaal. When asked whether his comments could have sparked a feud between himself and the United manager, Neville replied on Twitter:
“What feud? One that will be created that doesn’t exist.”
