FANS were left fearing for Manchester United icon Gary Neville after he APOLOGISED for his commentary during Sunday’s drab derby.
Neville’s former side United and rivals Man City played out a dull 0-0 draw at Old Trafford, sending supporters of both sides to sleep.
The encounter lacked the kind of excitement usually found in one of the league’s biggest matches.
And even Neville sounded like he was dropping off with some unenthusiastic remarks from the commentary box.
However, the Sky Sports pundit left fans stunned as he said sorry for his dreary commentary.
Neville explained that his mood merely mirrored the lack of enthusiasm on the pitch.
And he even labelled the modern-day style of “micro-managing” players a “disease in the game.”
Neville first said: “I don’t think there was one player who walked off that pitch disappointed about drawing 0-0, from either side. They all walked off sort of thinking, ‘We’re okay here, got away without making a mistake’. It was that type of game.
“It was a real disappointment. I apologise for my co-commentary actually, I think I let it get to me. I was boring on there as well. That was drab as well.”
On United’s lack of progress under boss Ruben Amorim, and their tactical “disease”, Neville continued: “I get what he (Amorim) is saying about it being that stage of the season, United and City are in a difficult moment.
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“But this robotic nature of [players] not leaving positions and being micro-managed within an inch of their lives, of not having any freedom to take a risk and try to win a football match, is becoming an illness in the game. It’s a disease in the game.
“You think of Pep Guardiola over the years and that’s what his teams do. We’re seeing poor imitations of that across the board now. United’s goalkeeper rolling his foot over the ball and waiting for things to happen – that’s not it. That’s not what this club is, it’s not what we do here.
“Liverpool don’t do that. You’ve got to be a top team with tempo in your play, rhythm in your play, get the ball moving, shift it quickly. From a United perspective, I get why he (Amorim) has gone deep, back into a structure, he called it a low block.
“But that’s what we’ve seen from Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag. They’ve all come in with the intention of playing high-press, high-energy football, but always go back to playing in a low block in big games.”
Fans were quick to react to Neville’s spectacular rant.
One said: “Neville’s having a proper meltdown.”
Another declared: “It’s a huge number of Prem games, it’s dull.”
One noted: “He’s spot on, modern football is boring, it’s all robotic tactics.”
Another added: “I agree, the league has been getting steadily worse.”
