“Bad reflection” to “terrible” – what Gary Neville, Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher and more pundits have made of Manchester United

Man Utd started the season poorly with 6 points after the opening 4 matches Premier League

Manchester United did not start the season very impressively.

Erik ten Hag’s team has many problems to solve after 4 matches in the Premier League, with a record of 2 wins and 2 losses. Their problems were highlighted at Arsenal before the international break.

United’s midfield balance is a major concern, with Ten Hag hoping the arrival of Sofyan Amrabat can help resolve the issue. In defense, there are also weaknesses, injuries do not help them.

So what do the experts think of United’s debut? It’s a pretty grim read after a difficult opening season.

Gary Neville

So far, Neville’s early predictions have looked about right. He told FourFourTwo in July that United wouldn’t build on their third-placed finish last year and the evidence so far has shown that looks likely.

“Under the owners the club [Manchester United] has had, I think they’ll probably still finish in the top four, but I don’t think they’ll improve on it,” he said.

“If they got new owners and had £250m or £300m to spend, they’ve got a chance of going up to second. I do think they’ve got a chance of taking that spot off Arsenal – that’s up for grabs – but they’d have to spend well.”

Roy Keane

United players failedtoimpress the former captain, especially after the defeat against Arsenal. He made the listwitha terrible away record against their opponents.

Keane told Sky Sports: “[Their away record] 100percent is a bigconcern. When you look at the statisticsitdoesn’treflectwell on the numberof players you have because Manchester United clearly therearemany talented players…

“But it shows that they onlyrely on their talent and lack those personalities.Their away record needs to improvegiventhestandard of the other teams around you. I don’t like watchingthis. If you want to be a top team and compete [for the title], they have to improve significantly.”

Jamie Carragher

Carragher has been focused on United’s issues in midfield. He believes they need to redress the balance, something Sofyan Amrabat may do.

“I think they have big problems in midfield,” Carragher told Sky Sports. “The set-up of their midfield is not right for me. I think there are a few things wrong.

“The manager’s set up, what he is asking them to do in terms of the profile of players, is not right. This guy [Casemiro] in midfield, as we saw last Monday night and as we saw constantly on Saturday night, is being left exposed in the middle of the pitch on his own and he cannot cope.

“James Maddison runs off the back of him, gets away from him and is right at Manchester United’s back-four.”

Alan Shearer

Like Keane, Shearer was not impressed with United’s display at Tottenham, nor their start to the season. Again, the midfield was honed in on as the source of their issues.

He told The Rest is Football: “They were terrible at the weekend Man United. Until he (Ten Hag) sorts that conundrum out in midfield then they are going to continue to have problems because clearly, those three in Casemiro, Mount and Fernandes hasn’t worked in the two games. They have been battered in both games in that department, overrun, out-fought and out-thought. There is big, big work there for them to improve.”