According to Gary Neville, Manchester United’s lack of professionalism during games could potentially cost them a place in the Champions League next season if they are not careful.
In a match in Bedfordshire, Rasmus Hojlund made a quick start for United, scoring two goals in just seven minutes. However, things started to go wrong for the team after Carlton Morris scored a header in the 14th minute, causing them to lose their momentum.
After regrouping during halftime, Erik ten Hag’s team managed to see out the rest of the match, bringing United within three points of fifth-place Tottenham and five points of the top four.
During his podcast on Sky Sports, Neville acknowledged that there are some problematic aspects of United’s gameplay.
“United seem to struggle to deliver a truly… professional, if you will, performance,” he explained. “In the second half, they were more composed and disciplined, but in the first half, for 25 minutes, they lost their focus and started committing fouls. Two players were booked and were so close to receiving red cards that they needed to be substituted.
“So the first half was messy after such a fantastic start, and I’m not sure why we see such drastic ups and downs, not just from game to game, but within games and even within halves of games. We witness significant fluctuations in performance, and that’s frustrating because they can be really impressive when they’re on form and play breathtakingly well for five or ten-minute periods, but then their performance seems to decline.”
United has shown improvement since the beginning of the year and things are looking positive. However, they need to work on managing the game and adapting their playstyle after taking the lead.
The performances of Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho, Kobbie Mainoo, and Harry Maguire have been a major positive for United, and if they can maintain this level of performance, reaching the top four is definitely achievable.
According to the Source caughtoffside.com