Premier League

'We shouldn't accept that' - Neville rages against boring Manchester derby

The former Manchester United defender didn't hold back in his assessment of what was a dreadful fixture

 
8:50pm on Saturday 12th December 2020
By
Paul Macdonald

Manchester United's former defender Gary Neville launched a rant against the quality on show in the drab 0-0 draw with Manchester City, saying that 'we shouldn't accept' a game of this type.

In what was a dreadful spectacle neither team pushed to win the contest and there were just four shots on target between the teams; the match earned a season-low 2.2 on FC's Match Excitement Rating scale.

Neville was unimpressed in particular with City's output in the contest, particularly given City are now five points behind Liverpool and Tottenham at the top of the Premier League table.

Neville said on Sky Sports: "If Jose Mourinho was the manager of either of those teams, we would be killing them.

"We would be saying it's not good enough, it's parking the bus, that it's boring.

"That was really poor, we shouldn't accept that. We put a lot of emphasis on the speed of the Premier League, the thrill, the risk to win.

"There's nothing in that game that tells me that those things took place today. I'm really surprised at City. They looked like a team that's bored. It just wasn't Manchester City, it's not Pep Guardiola. I thought it was a really poor, poor game."

The remainder of the panel, Micah Richards and Roy Keane, were equally critical, with Keane in particular criticism the intensity and the 'friendly' nature of the players talking to each other at full-time, while Richards said City should have 'went for the jugular'.

Man Utd 0-0 Man City: Player Ratings, Match Stats, Player Stats

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