'Odd Bunch': Man Utd Doesn't 'Play Well Enough as Team' to Win Premier League, Pundit Warns
© REUTERS / ARND WIEGMANN
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At this time, Neville said referring to Manchester United, he sees a "group of individuals playing in moments".
As Manchester United ended up suffering a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa last Saturday, English football pundit Gary Neville argued that Man Utd has "got to come together as a team".
As Sky Sports points out, Man Utd has now lost "for the third time in four games in all competitions", with Neville noting that, even when the team was winning, he suggested that they "don't play well enough as a team to win this league".
"I think you have to be a unit in and out of possession, and when you only deliver in moments, those moments won't go for you in certain games," the pundit said on his Sky Sports podcast. "You need patterns of play, you need a way of playing, and at this moment in time I still see a group of individuals playing in moments, with some patterns and combinations at times, but still a team where some are pretty new together - Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho - but they've got to come together as a team and start to define a style of play."
They way things currently stand, Neville said, Manchester United will "always have days like Saturday against Villa", with the team likely having "patches of four or five games where they only win two" only to proceed to "win 15 on the bounce and be unbeaten away from home for a while".
"That's the type of team they are. I have called them the odd bunch, because I still look at them and think of them as a team who win games in moments," he remarked. "I look at Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City, they are teams. They put team performances in. That's not to say United never do, but Ole now has to get United into a team."
Noting how he previously described Man Utd signing Cristiano Ronaldo as "make or break", Neville stated that the team, with its current roster, now has to win a trophy in the coming months.
"If you sign Edinson Cavani, Bruno Fernandes, Ronaldo, Varane and Sancho, you've got to then win a trophy at some point in the next 12 to 18 months," he explained. "This season or next, when Ronaldo is here, that's why it's a make or break signing. They have to win a trophy."
