Man Utd lack 'energy, spirit and effort' in Fulham draw as Neville slams 'worst 15 mins in 40 years!'

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0:39Two bros on different sides of the fence. Burgers or pasta tonight. Why can't we have food without the fire? With Wonder, you can combine 20 restaurants in one delivery, so no one has to settle. Use code MEALTIME for 50 % off your first Wonder order. Terms apply. See wonder.com slash new customer. Hello, everybody. It's a beautiful, bright evening in West London. Craven Cottage is gradually emptying beneath us as we bring you another Gary Neville podcast. Off the back of a game here which finished Fulham 1, Manchester United 1. Manchester United were within a couple of minutes of what may have been a pretty grim defeat.

1:18They got away with it, Gary, and there were times in that game sitting next to you when you were getting a little bit angry.

1:26Gary Neville:Yeah, I'm actually angry with both teams. I think if both sets of fans, if both managers, both sets of players watch that game back, I've never seen a team in deep defence walking as much in my life, and both of them. And you can't walk on a football pitch, I'm sorry. That's why I sort of got angry 15 minutes into the second half, because I'm not going to watch a group of players walk around. Particularly not in that shirt, I'm not. And I actually think at times I understand confidence, I understand belief, I understand that things maybe aren't going well and it's been a difficult week. But you can run.

2:06And they weren't running, I'm sorry. My eyes weren't sort of kidding me. In possession, started to look a little bit bright, but then were really awful in possession in the first 15, 20 minutes of the second half. But as a football player, you're alert, you're on your toes, you're always thinking, your head's moving, the body language is sort of being in defence and you can be deep. I love defences being deep. I love teams being deep and compact and, you know, closing it up and then sort of going on the counter-attack. And that we've seen many, many times. But what you ordinarily see is teams shuffling across.

2:37When the ball gets passed back for them, you shift up two or three yards. You see that alertness. You see the centre-backs talking to each other. Absolutely nothing. Nothing. And you watch that 15 minutes back at the start of that second half was an absolute disgrace. I don't usually get this angry. But my eye's not kidding me. My eye's not kidding me. And then the stats come in that Manchester United have been outrun by 6K, 60 minutes in or 65 minutes in. So I think I've softened in the last 15 years since I've left Manchester United. And sometimes you can depress your standards. And I'm all for the fact that, you know, quite early into Michael Carrick's managerial career and coaching career.

3:16But that they will cause him a big problem if they carry on doing that. they will cause him a big problem if they carry on doing that because it was so easy to play against. Fulham had a chance in the first part of the game where they had 46 passes. I don't know how many times Fulham have kept the ball today, more than 10 passes. It felt like so many times. So if you're going to let the other team continually keep passing, this is a team at the bottom of the league. This is not Manchester City. This is not Arsenal. This is not Real Madrid or Barcelona or a big Champions League game where you're up against it and you sort of, what would be compact, you'd 30 % possession.

3:54It's Fulham away and Fulham, to be fair, decent on the ball. But really? Honestly, the game 15 minutes into the second half was a shocker for both teams. They were both walking around. I said they were like mannequins. And like I say, alertness, energy, enthusiasm, work ethic, that everything in your life, everything in your life, if you don't have that, you're finished. Nearly said something else then. you're done absolutely done if you don't have energy, enthusiasm and the spirit to sort of go and make it difficult for people I'm not saying that you have to be amazing at football but there are basics that you have to get right and for 15 minutes I think what we saw out there didn't only let down both teams and both sets of fans the fans weren't engaged I mean Manchester United fans I think started to try and get the team going they're an amazing away sport one of the best you'll ever see and even they were struggling with it a little bit just like sort of like the the lethargy just everywhere and that is just not right and I think it was zero shots zero shots zero goals zero touches in the box after 15-20 minutes 15 minutes in the second half nothing and you can't play football that's the opposite of football and I'm not saying that basically if it was brilliant defending you were seeing teams urgently getting to people but yeah it made me really angry

5:15Gary Neville:and then when Fulham scored I mean the goal was It was an embarrassing goal, really. But that can happen. But it sort of typified the game. It actually livened up a little bit after that. But both these teams are going to have big problems. Big, big problems if they carry on defending like that. They can see chances. They're easy to play against. They don't work hard. They don't run as hard as they should do. Fulham were better than United in the running department. But, yeah, I'm not withdrawing my statement. I think that was as bad a 15 minutes as I've seen in 40-odd years. Just the lack of anything.

5:54There wasn't anything. Nothing. No fight. There wasn't a tackle. There wasn't a booking. There wasn't anything. There was nothing that you could say. And Michael Carrick must have gone in at half-time and said, lads, we need more urgency. That must have been the message. We've got to get up the pitch quicker. We've got to shift up quicker. We've got to be more aggressive in our defending. We've got to make sure we try and win the ball back quicker off Fulham. That must have been the message at half-time and obviously them being ruthless with the finishes because we have created some chances. And I suspect our blow was saying something similar

6:22Gary Neville:because they were like mannequins out there on the pitch. But yeah, I just didn't think that was representative of a Premier League game at all that today. I thought it was a bizarre match, strange. It then sort of spilled over into the crowd because the crowd, to be fair, buzzed off the actual energy of the players and the crowd tried to get the game going. But yeah, really poor quality. Two teams coming into the game with struggles and question marks and scrutiny. So I get that, but you've got to work your way out of it and I didn't see that today. So at the end, 1-1 is probably a fair result.

6:58Gary Neville:I mean, all hell would have broken loose, I think, around United if they'd have lost that game 1-0. I think the Cunha goal at the end, which is deflection, both goals a little bit scruffy and fortunate either way, has probably meant that going into the international break, there will be questions, but there'll be an element of neutrality and let's just see what happens after. But it's a good time for the international break to come, I think, for those Manchester United players to get away, different environment for Michael Carrick to reset, look at what they can do, because that's his best team out on the pitch.

7:30Maybe Belieber would come in, some would argue Sesko over Kunyemey, but that's Michael Carrick's best team, and that's the team he's been picking. and yeah it is what it is how do you but trying to be positive and put a kind of spin on it how if it's going to be a line in the sand game because we've got this big break now and maybe in in your words that is perhaps as poor as it can get how when they all return from their various places around the world how do you how do you how will he go about turning that into a line in the sand game and as it were kicking on and going again?

8:07Gary Neville:Well look it's been a difficult start to the season hasn't it and every game has been slightly different in some ways you know the Everton game was not managing the game late on when they were in front the Manchester City game is not managing the game when you're chasing a goal or you know when you're against 10 men so there's a different circumstance in that match and they didn't handle it particularly well, accepting that they should have drawn the game because the goal shouldn't have stood. The Brighton game in midweek, outplayed in every department. Just Brighton head and shoulders above Manchester United.

8:46Gary Neville:Hull outfought because I think Hull were a bit more gritty, a bit more determined, a bit more aggressive. So in every single game there's been a different problem really. Even Ipswich had chances to score in the first half. There's a lot to look at in all, there's not a pattern that I see. And today, I don't know what I've seen today. I have to say what I've seen today is a mixture of not good enough quality in the final third, walking around the pitch defensively, no urgency whatsoever, no enthusiasm to make it difficult for Fulham to play. Fulham must have had a million passes in that match.

9:20Gary Neville:You know, they didn't find it difficult at all. and yeah he's got to try and find the balance I think there is a question about the physicality of the team and maybe Belieber I mean Belieber's definitely going to come in I think after the international break, you know he's got another three weeks, which will be three weeks of work in his legs and he's going to have to come in because they need more force out there they need more power, they need more aggression they're too nice too easy to play against there's not enough players who think about playing without the ball and a lot of them are playing with the ball and they want to get on it and sort of look good and that's fine because you want players who can light up a game at Old Trafford in a red shirt or a blue shirt as it was today but you've got to do the dirty bit the ugly bit, the horrible bit of the game and you need players who are going to dig in and fight for you and scrap for you and you need the balance and that team's not got the balance and I think that maybe maybe do they have to go to a 4-3-3 you know you think about Rashford's on the left you've got Mbermo on the right you've got Kunja up top and then you've got Bruno so you've got four players are any of them really good defensively and I'm talking about putting a real shift in no you've then got Tielemans and Manu in midfield who I think are a little bit one paced so is there a case here for playing Belieber here you know and having Kobe Manu and Bruno in front as a two and having a three in midfield and maybe then you just play the three up top whoever that three would be, Rashford, Ahmad, Embermo, Sesko, Cunha, you could pick any three of those, but maybe does he think about just slightly changing it to get a bit more something here because they're too easy to play against Manchester United.

11:06Gary Neville:They're going to concede goals every single week. Fulham could have scored four or five, Manchester United could as well, but if we're talking about the defensive side of things, Manchester United could have conceded four or five in that game, and better teams will just pull them apart. So, there's a lot to think about for Michael Carrick, but I think what he's going to have to do is rebalance the 11. And I think the 4-2-3-1 currently, which I'd love to think we could play that way because that's the way I like Manchester United to play. But we're too open. The two wide players are too wide, which means the two in midfield get exposed.

11:35Gary Neville:If Bruno doesn't get back in, you've got a 4-2-4 effectively. And then you've got problems, particularly with Manu and TaylorMans who haven't got the legs to get across. So you might try it with Belieba and Manu and see how that goes. But eventually, I think he'll have to go to the three more solid in midfield. We're playing, I think United play against Atletico Madrid, don't they? Play against Tottenham, play against Leeds, away. I think just getting a bit more physicality and experience in that team is going to be a necessity. And maybe going to a, not 4-5-1, but 4-5-1 defending and then 4-3-3 attacking.

12:09Gary Neville:He may have to consider that. You could argue it's 4-3-3 with Bruno in front, but I think people will know what I mean. Bruno just coming back a little bit and having a three there. and then the two wide players connect. So you've got a five in midfield when you're defending rather than a four. And it's not really a four because Mbamo and Rashford don't tuck in narrow. They don't do what Beckham and Giggs used to do. They just don't put the work in that them two used to do. I mean, them two are better players and used to run back and get tucked in and double up everything that you would want. You know, I have to say Rashford and Mbamo are different players as well.

12:38Gary Neville:They're more centre-forward wingers than midfielder wingers. Do you understand what I mean? Different type of wingers in the day. So, yeah, there's a big rethink. It's the right time for a break. Michael Carrick will need the break mentally, I think, just to be able to come away from things, just to have a, you know, come away from it, assess the games, sit down with his coaching team. He's been left short in defence, but he's got that now. And, you know, he should have had other options in defensive positions, but he hasn't. So there's always going to be an issue there. Lahman's made some good saves today.

13:07Gary Neville:I think that now he's going to have to think about how he protects that defence and gets a more solid structure throughout the whole of the team. I don't think it'll be the system that we've currently got or it'll be the players that are currently playing in that system. It's going to have to be slightly different or else they'll get beat a lot because teams now are organised.

13:28Gary Neville:They're analysing the opposition with a meticulous level of detail. They work out your weaknesses and they punish them. So, yeah, he's going to have to, I think, interfere. he's going to have to interfere and do something slightly different he's obviously getting interviewed now and I think what I would say about the positives you said Peter didn't you that they got something out of the game that counts for something you get something out of the game you get a point you don't lose the match that does change and shift thinking a little bit because if it was 1-0 now you know I'm going in even harder because it just was really bad that it was it wasn't good It really wasn't a good performance.

14:13Gary Neville:And maybe in a few days' time, you can put that down to lack of belief. The difficult week, the scrutiny that's on the club, just generally things haven't been right at the start of the season. The ball not going their way with obviously the decision against City. Just those things. And maybe just them feeling sorry for themselves a little bit. And that's me being kind. But it doesn't excuse that first 15 minutes after the second half. I'm not letting them get away with that because that will get a manager in massive trouble, that will. just to summarise Fulham in a sentence or two notwithstanding what you said about Manchester United they did pass nicely they've got some nice ball players and interestingly their next three games after the international break are the three promoted sides they play Ipswich, Hull, Coventry all in a row so in that context how do you read their situation?

15:00Gary Neville:The moment of reckoning really for them isn't it they've had a start to the season where they played Liverpool Chelsea Manchester United they had a bad defeat here didn't they against Crystal Palace yes 3-2 yeah so I'm worried about Fulham I said after the first game of the season and I've seen a bit here today use the word nicely and nice I mean I never will be described as nicely and nice but it's the last thing I would want to be described as a football player or a football team they play nice football You're inherently there just instinctively criticising them, Peter, whether you like it or not.

15:40Gary Neville:You know what I mean? Because it is nice and they pass back to the goalkeeper and they're trying to start everything from deep. I just feel like that will cause them a problem. If I was Hull, I mean, I know they call the Tigers, but I would be literally like Tigers. I'd be like aggressive. I'd be like animals waiting for them. And Manchester United today should have seen that Fulham team in that first 20 minutes. and they should have been like, there's none of that. I think you do that against them, I think you'll get some joy. So I do fear for Fulham. I think that the young players up front are talented.

16:15Gary Neville:Oscar Bob, Josh King, Garcia, then the boy that came on, Placios. They're talented. Iwalbe does a good job. But is that going to get them the goals? I'm not sure. And are they going to have enough at the back? And are they going to concede goals? now they're going to have teams that press against them better than Manchester United, 100%. So I think that Hull, Coventry, Ipswich, they're big games for them, and I'm hoping that they're competitive in those games. You see Abelho's face at the end, couldn't you, when one-one, it was a big moment for him to go to four points, wasn't it? Particularly after Coventry winning last night, obviously Hull and Ipswich have won games, so that was a bad one for him at the end, and he'll be devastated.

16:56Gary Neville:but yeah they've got a big chance if they can get six points five points minimum out of those games then you say okay they've got a chance but they need to win definitely need to win one or two of them don't they I think really and uh or else we'll be saying that Fulham will be in big big trouble and I think they are in trouble there's two other headline games we want to cover in this week's edition of your podcast Gary and obviously the first of those is the champions getting a whack down at Brighton. Well, a proper whack. I watched Brighton play at Manchester United in midweek. I mean, what a team they are.

17:32Gary Neville:They lose managers, they lose players. They replace them with players that you've not heard of. You're checking your sort of team sheet. Who's that? I've never seen him before. And then all of a sudden, they just play and they have this system of playing it. And it actually sort of defies logic because what we sometimes say, don't we, when lots of the managers at the top clubs have changed this summer or in the last few months, And we say, oh, they need time to embed a system. They need time to be able to... But Brighton seem to be able to continually do that, lose their best players, lose their coach.

18:02Gary Neville:And obviously, Herzl has been there a bit now. And then just continually keep replenishing and playing great football and looking like they know what they're doing and have a system of play and a belief and a work ethic. And by goodness, they give Arsenal a bloody nose. I mean, it's very rare you see Arsenal. I've only seen the highlights because the game wasn't on television. and very rare you see Arsenal with that level of space in front of their back four, their back four not pushing up and getting close to shots. Raya not saving them from distance. We've seen Leno and Lamon say they make good saves from distance.

18:34Gary Neville:The second one was a great hit, wasn't it? But you just expect that Raya will save shots from distance. And there's an element of that Arsenal back four that will be thinking, we're all in situ almost, we'll just let him shoot almost, that's the best thing we can do. And to score two from distance and then obviously concede a set-piece goal, just so rare to see them so open and pulled apart but I watched Brighton at Old Trafford on Wednesday night sober Manchester United and humble them and be far better and more intelligent in knowing what to do and if you're just not quite there against these teams we would go in the dressing room sometimes and because we were very very experienced and we got some bloody noses we didn't get bloody knows at times.

19:21Gary Neville:You just knew if you get to certain grounds, if you weren't quite at it, you'd say to each other in the dressing room before a game, if you're not quite at it today, by the way, these will do you. By the way, don't think this is going to be, you know, they're the messages you're sending to yourself and Arsenal probably didn't do that enough before the match. It's going to be a massive slog to get through that game for Arsenal and they didn't treat it in that way. They didn't get the details right that they always do and look, you can have a blip. Arsenal have been so reliable and consistent over this last 12 to 18 months that they're allowed a moment like that but they've got to get back on the bike quickly when you're a top club and you've and you're a champion team and you've you've had that yeah humbling that they've had yesterday do you suspect and it's impossible for you to know this i appreciate but do you suspect brighton might be a little bit better than one of what you call these teams as in could they genuinely win week on week and and keep punching at that sort of level well peter what we've seen in this first few weeks of the premier we quite often don't we think maybe for 20, 30 years that everyone can beat everyone in the Premier League the bottom can beat the top and it's that entertainment sort of what would be circus, that festival every time it's a festival of football but there was a few years when Pep and Klopp and it felt like there was inevitability every time you saw the top teams play like they had no chance the teams near the bottom or in the half, halfway up I think because the top teams are not as good they're not as good as they were five, six years ago, seven years ago, when we had Jurgen Klopp, Mourinho at United, I think Pochettino at Tottenham, Tuchel at Chelsea, and I've probably not got the right years, but those managers, there was a real seriousness to the top of the Premier League, and teams were getting to Champions League finals year on year.

21:08Gary Neville:I know Arsenal did last year, but that's not now. The top teams are not at the level that they were five, six years ago. So they've come down and the other teams have come up by the fact they've got great investment. They're well coached, they're well organised, they recruit well. I'm talking about five or six teams in that middle. You know, Bournemouth and Brighton and Brentford and teams of that ilk that you think, tell you what, if you're not quite right against them, they will shock you. So I think there is an opportunity for Brighton to shock everybody and get into the top four, top five.

21:41Gary Neville:because United are not right, Liverpool are not right, even though they've won today. Tottenham are not right. Villa aren't right this year compared to what they were in the last couple of years. Chelsea, the question marks. So all these teams that have spent hundreds and hundreds of millions over the last three, four years, you would be kind, you'd say they're in transition, finding their way, or not delivering if you're being unkind. And those teams are solid as a rock. they've got good managers they've got good systems of play they know what they're doing they've got each player knows where they're going to pass it next I watch some of the top teams they haven't got a clue where they're going to pass it next it's almost like they're playing in moments the lot of them and yeah that's what we're seeing at the moment so well done to Brighton they deserve massive credit and what a great start to the season Hey man you hungry?

22:34Let's order delivery Yeah I was thinking Italian burgers? Oh Game night just got tense Two bros on different sides of the fence Burgers or pasta tonight Why can't we have food without the fight? With Wonder, you can combine 20 restaurants in one delivery So no one has to settle Use code MEALTIME for 50 % off your first Wonder order Terms apply to wonder.com slash new customer Now this is in no sense meant to be at the expense of Nottingham Forest but anyone who's a football fan and understands how it feels when your team wins will have identified with Coventry City supporters yesterday evening at City Ground because just purely as a human exercise, the joy they exuded in embracing that win was actually a kind of beautiful thing to behold, was it?

23:25Gary Neville:It was. I mean, were you there? I was, yeah. How good for you because you were experiencing it. I was watching it with my daughter and wife at the kitchen table. And I got home from Salford probably about quarter past five. So I've missed. No, I got home from Salford. I actually stayed after the game for a little bit. So I got home just, it was 15 minutes into the game. And I was sort of half watching it a little bit. You know what I mean? Because I thought Brandon Thomas Asante's playing. He's playing up top. He's playing centre forward. So I wanted to watch him. Very well, didn't he? He did very well.

23:58Gary Neville:so I'm wanting to watch the game but I've sort of had the sound on a little bit but I'm being told to sort of turn it down a little bit I mean one of those moments and by the end of the game we're all sat there 20 minutes all of us I mean look to be fair we love football but absolutely amazing you know Brandon was jumping everywhere he was getting fouled and we were sort of willing him on and they scored the great goal obviously which was fantastic and those Coventry fans in that far corner seeing them score that goal and then obviously the goal the disallowed one the one that what did you think of that?

24:33Gary Neville:I thought it was a foul did you think it was a foul? I thought it was a foul I thought if you're a defender going back into the box and you get your foot kicked you are going to sort of it did just make him stumble didn't it? I mean if you're Nottingham Forest you're going to complain and you're going to think you're hard done to but I did think it was a foul I think that he definitely stumbled and then he lost his footing along the way but that added to the drama didn't it? and everything that could go on was going on. And then just the line at the end that it was Coventry's first win in the Premier League for 25 years.

25:04Gary Neville:And I remember at the end of my first season playing at Highfield Road, what year would that have been? 1995. I got booked against Peter Unlove. Yeah, and I always had a really hard game at Coventry, whether it was Huckabee, whether it was Unlove, whether it was whoever else it was, they were a handful. And that Coventry were... FA Cup winners back in the day. Coventry were in the Premier League. Coventry were a team you played against and I played in my first season. So you're always at Coventry. The idea that this club's not been there for 25 years and it's their first top flight victory for 25 years and maybe it's because Brandon was playing as well and I just enjoyed the fact that, you know, ultimately someone who I've seen and got a great relationship with and he's playing up top in a game like that and he went to the left in the last 10, 15 minutes.

25:51Gary Neville:Yeah, but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was a... in terms of a comparison between today and watching Fulham versus Manchester United and then watching Nottingham Forest versus Coventry yesterday that is just night and day that that is what we saw yesterday is what Premier League football is all about and was it Laminia Miles said earlier on in the week that he loved watching Premier League football and he watched as many games as he possibly could because he loved the entertainment of it and the thrill of it and that made me feel quite proud you know that one of the greatest players in the world that's sort of like up here, he loves watching Premier League football and I thought, Joseph, if he's watching Nottingham Forest and Coventry City, which is not the most sort of glamorous game on paper, he's right.

26:33He's absolutely right and even the Tottenham Villa game earlier on that day which was 3-2, there's a drama about it. So when you see a game like today, it really does sort of just pull you back a little bit and make you think that's not what we do. We don't not sprint out, we don't not challenge each other, we don't all, we don't not put energy your enthusiasm into the games. And if there's a lack of quality, maybe we'll live with that. Football fans in the stadium, those United fans and those Fulham fans will live with a lack of quality at times, but they won't live with a lack of endeavour and effort and fight and scurrying and harassing and tenacity and all those things that make the English game great.