Gary Neville hits back at Ruben Amorim as Man Utd row deepens – ‘Excuse mentality’

Gary Neville has responded to Ruben Amorim after the Manchester United manager claimed comments from prominent pundits were negatively affecting his players this season

Gary Neville has slammed Ruben Amorim for fostering an “excuse mentality” at Manchester United after the manager suggested negative comments from pundits was affecting his team.

Amorim said his players were susceptible to taking media criticism to heart before the 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday. Neville and other high-profile ex-United players like Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes have been open in their concerns about Amorim’s lack of tactical flexibility.

The United manager has stubbornly stuck to his 3-4-2-1 formation and is convinced it will work out. But the 3-1 defeat by Brentford last weekend saw many openly questioning his job, which has been eased with the Sunderland victory.

Neville has now responded to Amorim’s comments with a scathing rant about the culture at the club. “I’ve not got a lot of time for that. For a start, if pundits are getting in your head, you shouldn’t be playing for Manchester United. Simple as that,” he said on the Gary Neville podcast.

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“Do people not remember Alan Hansen criticising us, saying we’d win nothing with kids? That was the greatest and most successful centre-back of all time at that moment. Do they not think we got criticised during our careers? I’m sorry, you’re playing for Manchester United, it comes with the territory. You’ve got to step up.

“Look, they’ve been hopeless in the system. Absolutely hopeless. Alright, it’s not the system, it’s you, the players, we can just start battering the players. I’ve mentioned the system because I’ve not liked certain things that I’ve seen, for instance Mason Mount playing left wingback. That can’t happen. Changing the back three all the time. Having two in midfield means that Bruno has to play in midfield. I don’t like that aspect of it.

“So there are parts of the system that are a problem in the sense that they haven’t got the right players, or it’s meaning that Bruno’s not in his best position. The system does create problems, but he’s right in what he says, it’s not the entirety of the problem.

“The players are a problem. The manager is a problem. The whole thing is a problem if you’re losing football matches to the level that Manchester United have been doing then… I don’t know, I never blamed anybody else when we lost football matches.

“I played in a dressing room that when you lost there was accountability. Why would you blame other people when you’re losing matches? That’s a pretty big problem itself. I’ve not got any time for it, excuse mentality, short cuts, blaming other people, it’s the worst thing you can do in life. I think they need to concentrate on doing their jobs, doing it well and winning matches, it’s the only thing that’s going to shut people up.”

Goals from Mount and Benjamin Sesko gave them their third win from seven Premier League games on Saturday and moved United up to ninth place going into the international break.

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