Mayhem at Old Trafford! | Arsenal still title favourites but City smell blood | Newcastle pay price for negative approach to Wear-Tyne derby

0:00Seb Hutchinson:Well, welcome to the Gary Neville podcast. There's only one place to begin, Gary. The game we've just seen between Manchester United and Bournemouth. Match of the season so far?

0:10Gary Neville:Yeah, it was a stunning watch. More for a neutral, maybe. But even for me, I was really critical after the Everton and West Ham games because of just the nature of the performance. I thought it was really bland. The Everton one where obviously he kept three at the back and against one and they were down to 10 men and there's no urgency. There's not a throwing in the kitchen sink at it. Same against West Ham. letting large parts of the game drift. Complete and utter opposite tonight. I can live with that all day long in terms of a performance and a standard because they played really intent, played the ball forward, always played at full pace.

0:41Gary Neville:We'll come on to the mistakes shortly, but I just think the way in which also when United went 3-2 down and Ruben Amorim then went to 4-4-2 and did the right thing. Forget the system. He did the right thing. He got the right players on the pitch and it looked a massive threat. But credit to Bournemouth. in the first half I thought they were really I think they were overrun by United I thought they were going to be out of the game I thought that it would be probably 2-3-0 but if you don't kill teams off United I think you said had more shots in the first half than any other team this season recorded in the Premier League which demonstrated their dominance but still Bournemouth had one or two good moments and get the goal and still are in it at half time and Jamie Carragher's words just coming out before the second half that Ruben Amarin will be thinking we should be further ahead in this game.

1:28Gary Neville:True. The second half was absolute mayhem. Absolute mayhem. But just generally in terms of sort of what would be, you know, and the fans feel the same thing. You know, there were big boos after the West Ham and the Everton game. There weren't the big boos here after this game tonight. There was disappointment. But there are a lot of fans we've just seen stayed in the stadium to clap the team because they can live with that. If you're a kid coming to United, my kids have come tonight. My two girls have come tonight. and they'll be thrilled walking back across that forecourt. They won't be happy that United haven't won, but they'll have seen a great game of football and that's what you come to Old Trafford for.

2:02Gary Neville:You come for entertainment, of course you come to see your team win and I get it, you've got to go and win games, you've got to win trophies, you've got to win titles and we can turn into sort of what would be the fact that this is not good enough in respect of what's happened. But I think getting the entertainment bit right, the performance bit right, the style right, is absolutely critical at this football club and I enjoyed what I've seen tonight from those red shirts. Defensively, I think it's to be expected when you think that, you know, Martinez came on, but, you know, De Ligt, Maguire, Martinez not playing, and you've got obviously a couple of young defenders.

2:39Gary Neville:It doesn't look like a defence that's going to keep clean sheets and that's going to keep teams out. It just doesn't look like that. So you're thinking before the game already, you've probably got to score. You know, I said at halftime, I think just after halftime, you probably have to score four to win this game. And four wasn't enough. It needed to be five because both teams look really vulnerable at the back and it was probably expected from United and obviously Bournemouth have been going through a tough patch. But I enjoyed the game so much. I can live watching those types of matches all the time.

3:05Gary Neville:I can't stand nil-nils. They happen sometimes and they're a struggle and you respect defensive sort of solidity. But it can't have bland letting games drift where teams are passing it along the back. That was a proper game of football and I enjoyed it.

3:19Seb Hutchinson:I mean, there were all sorts of goals tonight. if there was one you could pick out from all of them. Is that possible? One you liked in particular? The Fernandes free kick, of course. The Fernandes free kick was sensational.

3:33Seb Hutchinson:But this is the thing. When you have a game with so many goals in it like this, the fact you can't, something doesn't jump out at you

3:40Gary Neville:is what makes it so great. Probably the Fernandes free kick is the goal of the night. But, yeah, I just thought the Tavernier run for the goal where he then eventually scored from the free kick was fantastic as well. And Bournemouth thought it was a real threat. If you look at that front four for Bournemouth before the game and you saw the United back line, you probably thought they have been struggling. Evan Nielsen, Semenyo, Jimenez I thought was fantastic tonight and Clivert. They've got real talent that four and they've not been at it as much as you would think they should be. And Iriola had asked them before the game, I need my strikers to kick in.

4:14Gary Neville:Well, that's the big benefit for Bournemouth out of tonight because I had to thought before the game, if those four start to sort of play a little bit, United will be in a bit of trouble because they've got talent. And they did. They scored four goals. And deservedly scored four goals. They came back, but they were encouraged. They were encouraged by the fact they got to half-time and they were still only within one.

4:34Seb Hutchinson:18 shots on target, the most in a Premier League game this season. Eight goals. In stark contrast to the game you were at yesterday, the North East Derby, but one team won that game and got the victory in the end. Sunderland in what will be remembered for them in the match in which Nick Voldemort has scored the winner

4:52Gary Neville:Yeah, look it wasn't a great game in respect of quality it was a Newcastle team that were well below their best and I'll come on to a little bit of detail in a minute on them, Sunderland again I didn't think were fantastic but I thought that their two centre-halves Alderetti, Ballard, I thought the two central midfield pairs, Xhaka and Siddiqui I thought those four, and actually Brobby up front as well. I thought the spine of the team for Sunderland were really good and the spine of Sunderland's team were better in my opinion than the spine of the Newcastle team. I think in terms of the game it was always going to be about a moment and something like that happening obviously Volta Marder you don't want that to happen to anybody in a game like that.

5:35Gary Neville:I had a really bad experience once at Main Road in the last ever derby there with Sean Goethe where I dilly-dallied on the touchline and ultimately lived with me forever and he'll have one of those sort of feelings as well but I just thought to me the way in which Newcastle approached the game it was I say negative it was a tactic that I think if it goes wrong when you're a big club and you're a Champions League team it really looks bad particularly when you're playing a lesser team as in lesser quality lesser sort of experience in the Premier League so for me I think that Newcastle playing that five across midfield and it was a five like that that were really deep and I wanted to see Gordon and Langer be a little bit more in front and the three a little bit more like that when they were defending so they had a little bit more spring to be able to jump and counter attack from but they weren't they were the classic four at the back deep, they were the classic five which meant that their wide players, Langer and Gordon were pinned back and Volta Marder then becomes the isolated centre forward who to be fair, I don't think he's the type of centre forward that can play up front on his own unless he's got people around him and near him so I thought it was quite a flawed situation from the first five minutes I said it in commentary to Alanga and to Gordon get five yards further up the pitch tuck in a little bit not half cheating but you're on that half little half and half roll which means that you're nearer to Volta Marder if you win it back that you can get there but also if it goes over your head you can get back towards your full back to to double up and I just thought they were far too negative in their positions the two wide players for Newcastle.

7:09Gary Neville:I also thought the two wide players for Newcastle were really poor in their performance, the levels that they're at. Gorn's a very good player, Langer's a very good player. I thought both of them were well below the standard. They were far better when Murphy and Barnes came on after the goal went in. So yeah, there was underperformance from Newcastle, mentality from Newcastle and then the final bit for Newcastle was that Sunderland and I just felt were a bit more determined and a bit more competitive and Newcastle fans won't like that because you imagine in that derby to be able to come off that pitch and say they wanted just that little bit more than you they did they absolutely did they just had that little bit more bite that bit more competitiveness that bit more of that and sometimes it's that that wins you a football match that little edge you cannot put your finger on it obviously it's a Volta Marda header that ultimately is unfortunate with but just sometimes when you just not got that little bit of aggression they weren't authoritative on the ball.

8:05Gary Neville:They were a bit sort of, if you like, lacking in mentality in their positions and how deep they were. And then you've got to then swing the game back the other way from a position whereby it's 1-0 down. And Newcastle did play, I thought, a bit more progressively and they were a bit better, I thought, after Newcastle, sorry, after Sunderland scored. And Gimaraes has got a bit of the Bruno Fernandes about him, hasn't he? He's almost the kid in the playground that takes the goal kicks, the throw-ins, the free kicks, the penalty kicks. He's everywhere and he looks like he's trying to do everything it adds a bit of impetus but not a lot was happening around it so yeah it was a difficult day for Newcastle but for Sunderland I said from the very first game of the season I think when you come up from the championship look they spent£160 million so we need to mention that that is a hell of an investment so there should be some return but players who I think can compete players who are physical players who can run from box to box I didn't think the wide players played particularly well yesterday there I didn't think Traore or Talby were great or Le Fay I didn't think they were fantastic but I did think their spine of their team were really strong and determined and I think if you've got a good spine in the Premier League you know ultimately then you can carry the rest of the team so Sunderland deserved to win it was an incredible atmosphere before the game was sensational obviously when the goal went in was sensational at the end of the game was absolutely fantastic and at the end I was stuck in the car park for 40 minutes after which is usual thing obviously away at waygrounds and you sort of close the road still let the fans go but the Sunderland fans when I left 40 minutes after the game I could still hear them chanting and singing in the thousands so what a great day and great night for them it's the first night they've had like that for many years a great record in this game recently as well and it was great to be at my first we're tying derby we're tying derby don't get it wrong Gary I did it wrong once yesterday and that was a fatal mistake

9:59Seb Hutchinson:yeah just check who's at home Final word on the title race, obviously not for this season, but over the course of this weekend, Arsenal a little tetchy, Manchester City, are they on one of those runs? And can we discount Aston Villa, of course?

10:13Gary Neville:What a run Aston Villa have been on, but going to Arsenal and City, the two teams that look like they've got the chance to win it, or they have got the chance to win it. I wouldn't be, you know, they shouldn't be panicking Arsenal's camp. I think that they've come through a challenging set of fixtures, a little bit scrappy, well, very scrappy against Wolves. on Saturday evening. I didn't think that was a game of glory for them. But they've got to get the balance right between thinking the victory is the most important we've got over the line, but giving yourself a little bit of a slap around the face and say, look, we can't have too many of those types of performances or else we'll end up with a bloody nose.

10:49Gary Neville:So I think it's that little bit of a wake-up moment. You're coming into a period where there's lots of points to play for. City have got Haaland. They do have Pep and they have a few more players who've got real quality and experience of being round the block. So they're probably smelling a little bit of blood and thinking, we're on your shoulder, we're coming, and we're going to be there in March and we're going to be there in April, and can you handle this? But if you're going to win your first Premier League title, it's not going to be handed to you on a plate. This has to be Arsenal's year.

11:17Gary Neville:I'm absolutely convinced of that. There's nothing that's going to let me let them off the hook. They've got an incredible squad. They've got stability. I think they're a better team than Manchester City and approved that in the first few months of the season. but City are dangerous they're dangerous because they've got that manager who is a prolific winner, they've got a striker who is absolutely world class he's the player in the league that is absolutely stand out yeah, a dream, what a player so they've got really dangerous sort of what would be characteristics and sort of talent and potential to go and cause upset but I still think it's Arsenal's and this moment was probably going to come, if Arsenal had sat there now asking themselves the question, did you think it was going to be a bed of roses?

12:02Gary Neville:Did you think it was going to be plain sailing? Did you think that we were just going to sail home to shore and that Manchester City and Pep Guardiola weren't going to have a little bit of a punch at us? No, the reality is you're going to have that. And in a season of a Premier League, it's a marathon. So that's that moment. It'll happen maybe a bit more over the next few weeks. They might even lose the lead at one point and they might have to then go back. But Arsenal have got to get themselves mentally right for the next four or five months. It's such a huge moment for the club. And I still think they'll do it.

12:27Gary Neville:but they've got to make sure that they step up. And as you say, still a long way to go.

12:33Seb Hutchinson:Gary, thanks very much.

12:34Gary Neville:Thanks, Seb. Thank you.