Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the former Manchester United defender says: "I felt they were near last season but now I feel they are as far away as they've ever been from winning the league"
Thursday 17 February 2022 23:38, UK
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville gives a damning reaction to Manchester United's latest setback in the Premier League following the 1-1 draw at home to Southampton.
In an explosive podcast, Neville dissects the "nonsense" emanating from Old Trafford following a weekend in which the opposition manager questioned the team's work rate and further points were dropped in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League.
Speaking after Newcastle's third win on the bounce - the 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on Super Sunday - Neville also reflects on the shifting momentum at St James' Park...
Read on for the former Manchester United defender's verdict or listen to the podcast below...
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Manchester United were terrible chasing the game and chasing a goal against Southampton. They were giving fouls away, they were stopping the game. They were forcing it and crossing from poor areas.
You can't put your finger on one thing when you watch United nowadays. Every day feels like a soap opera. You hear the players want Mauricio Pochettino, then Cristiano Ronaldo's going to leave.
The last few weeks have been terrible in terms of off-the-pitch incidents. On the pitch, I saw Ralph Hasenhuttl's quote after the game which I think is the biggest criticism you can have levelled at you as a sportsperson or an athlete - saying that you don't work hard enough.
I felt they were near last season but now I feel they are as far away as they've ever been from winning the league.
He said essentially that not everyone mucks in when the reverse gears are put on. If I was a Manchester United player and had that said about me by a respected opposition manager, that would bite deep.
The reason I don't think it's disrespectful is because it's coming from someone with authority and it's the feeling in the league.
If you speak to anybody about playing Manchester United, it's a case of staying in a game. It's about getting through the first half an hour. If you make sure you defend well, you will work harder than them and you will create chances.
David de Gea will then have to make lots of saves and every team is thinking they can get at United. It's a really poor reflection and it has been all season.
It now gets to a point where you don't feel it's down to the manager anymore. Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] was getting a lot of criticism at the start of the season and loses his job and it's now being suggested that Ralf Rangnick isn't good enough because he's a sporting director and he's not a coach.
There's a confidence issue but there's also an issue of excuse mentality and of looking after themselves and not looking at the bigger picture which is creating a brilliant team and trying to get back up that league.
Tottenham have lost for a third time and there are teams dropping points around them so they can still finish in fourth and they can still get into the Champions League but that would paper over the cracks at this moment in time.
They've got a really big job to do, and they're going to have to start doing it quickly. Last season I was really complimentary of the spirit and togetherness of the team.
It wasn't a successful season having lost the Europa League final on penalties but you felt in finishing second in the Premier League, the players were together. They were tight. They were a group of people that I started to like.
I'm now going away from that again because I look at them on the pitch and there's definitely a number of them who are lacking in confidence. There's also a few of them who are not putting a shift in. The hard yards.
That I can't forgive because as a United fan all that you can ask is that they give their all on the pitch. At United, it looks lethargic and they don't look like they have the quality to chase games. Something has got to change there very quickly.
You put that many ingredients into a soup, you don't know which one in the end is making it taste bad. You lose your sanity over what's good and what's bad.
I felt they were near last season but now I feel they are as far away as they've ever been from winning the league.
Maybe the right appointment in the summer and a little bit of a shuffle with someone who is calculated, ruthless and knows where the problem lies could change things again, but right now I'm looking at a broth of 100 ingredients and I don't know which of them I want to get rid of to make it taste better.
It's a bit of a mess and United fans have to take their medicine.
I used to think the worst that United fans could give you was silence because 75,000 people being quiet is eerie, but now we're starting to see those boos appear more and it's because the fans feel disappointed. They feel let down, and someone has to sort it out quickly.
If Pochettino is the choice of the board then they should appoint him, but they shouldn't appoint him based on the players wanting him. I'd hate to think for one second that they were listening to the players in the dressing room.
They've got big PR machines and big social media machines and their agents are active. They have been for a good few months and I've not liked it for a few months. At the moment, they're all looking after one another, thinking who they want in next.
All that nonsense is happening behind the scenes at Manchester United.
I remember Newcastle when they were right up there challenging for the title and their 1-0 win over Aston Villa was probably the best I've seen St James' Park in the 10 or 11 years I've been working for Sky.
The feeling and the energy inside the stadium after a performance that was really good. The work rate of the players was really good and it feels like St James' Park is back.
I've got goose bumps as this place has been absolutely depressing. In fact it's been awful and I've not enjoyed coming up here at all. There's been woeful football and it's been spiritless in terms of the club being disconnected from the fans.
Now, this feels like something. They're still down the bottom of the league but watching that performance against Aston Villa, I've got no doubts they'll get out of relegation trouble this season.
Obviously, they've got to continue to play like that. With the new ownership, the new manager and the new signings, things have changed. The big thing is the old owner leaving.
He [Mike Ashley] had to get out of the club but they're now producing team performances. I've seen individual brilliance in the past from Newcastle over the past 10 or 11 years but today they felt connected on the pitch. They've got a good spine of experience.
This felt like something they can build on. The crowd are such an asset here but if you flip that, it can be an absolutely terrible place for Newcastle to play if they're not with you.
That has been the case a lot over the past five or six years because the manager hasn't been right or due to the owner, but it just feels completely different.
