Gary Neville highlights ‘weakest’ area Erik ten Hag and Man Utd must address

Gary Neville has not held back in his criticism of Manchester United’s front three.

The Red Devils slipped up again over the weekend as they suffered a 3-1 defeat to Aston Villa, with Unai Emery making a stylish debut on the Villa sidelines. United were two down by the break, and even after getting back into the game with an own goal, they conceded a third four minutes after half-time.

The Red Devils are now 11 points off top spot and three points off the top four, though they do hold a game in hand over fourth-placed Tottenham. Erik ten Hag’s men have just one more Premier League game to play until the World Cup break, and it looks as though they will go into that break looking up towards the Champions League spots.

Scoring has been an issue for United so far this season, with Ten Hag’s men managing just 18 goals in 13 games, one fewer than they have conceded, and that’s something Neville has highlighted.

“Manchester United’s front three, they are the weakest out of the top six,” he said on Sky Sports. “United’s front players aren’t as good as they should be. Ten Hag is getting the maximum out of them, I don’t know where the money’s gone again.”

United were without big-money summer signing Antony, who was brought in to improve the front three, but it was Cristiano Ronaldo, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford who started in the front line against Villa.

Defensively, United are now much better, conceding 19 in their first 13 games, but Neville feels injuries are having a big impact.

“They keep getting injuries to the pairing. You can’t keep a steady pair,” he added. “Varane gets injured and Maguire came in last week and Lindelof is in midweek and today, so that’s a real problem.”