Gary Neville has praised Liverpool and Arsenal for being ‘well-run’ clubs after Manchester United suffered a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday at Old Trafford.
The former right-back was noting how there is a ‘thread of negativity and toxicity’ that runs through Manchester United, as he proceeded to praise what is going on ‘from top to bottom’ at the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal, as he told The Gary Neville Podcast from Old Trafford.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are unbeaten after ten Premier League games after thrashing sorry Sheffield United 5-0 on Saturday – Mikel Arteta was blown away by Eddie Nketiah’s hat-trick.
In the meantime, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool saw off Nottingham Forest 3-0 to already open an eight-point lead on Erik ten Hag’s side.
That is already putting Manchester United on the back foot in terms of the race for the Champions League places this season because a decent gap is already emerging.
And Neville believes the issues firmly lie with those at the top of the tree at his former club, as he used the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal as examples.
Manchester United lose to Manchester City
“I know this won’t be fixed whilst this is in place,” said Neville. “We have had ten years now of this and it isn’t going away. It’s repeat. Rinse, repeat, rinse and repeat.
“We are now getting to a point whereby every manager that comes to Manchester United, start to think they are the problem at a certain point and start to think that the players that are being bought for £50, 60 and 70 million, even though other clubs want them on the way in and they choose Manchester United or Manchester United offer them a better deal, it ends up being a graveyard for them here.
“There is a cultural thread of negativity and toxicity that runs right through this club that isn’t going away – Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Tottenham, Villa and Brighton. They are all pretty well run now. They are well-run clubs from top to bottom. Manchester United aren’t a well-run football club. And the owners are the problem.”
Liverpool and Arsenal owners
Are the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal well-run clubs? Or do they just have top-quality managers at the helm?
It wasn’t so long ago that Arsenal fans were protesting against Stan Kroenke, yet fast forward to the present and things couldn’t be better for those inside the Emirates Stadium.
And have the Liverpool owners FSG and their club’s supporters ever seen eye to eye? Yet, Jurgen Klopp has won the lot on Merseyside and is looking to go again.
They are proving that there could be issues at the top, yet they can be ironed out by the main man in the dugout.
It might paper over the cracks, but Manchester United managers haven’t been able to do that, over the long run, since Sir Alex Ferguson’s exit.
Either way, it’s looking highly likely that there are already four teams – Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City – who will finish above Manchester United this season.