GARY NEVILLE reckons Man United have a very slim chance of winning their first Premier League crown since their 2012/13 triumph.
And the Old Trafford hero reckons the Red Devils are not playing ‘well enough’ as a team to be the top-flight’s top dogs.
After an impressive start to their hunt for silverware, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s stars have faced some hurdles in the league and in Europe this term.
The Manchester giants fell to a surprise 1-0 loss to Aston Villa on their home turf with Villans defender Kortney Hause netting a late goal for Dean Smith’s side.
Bruno Fernandes missed a stoppage-time penalty with United dropping to fourth ahead of clashes with Villarreal and Everton.
But while the Red Devils are just a point behind leaders Liverpool, Neville reckons the team have not gelled well enough to wrestle the Prem Crown from Manchester City.
Neville, 46, told the Sky Sports Podcast: “They don’t play well enough as a team. I said it even when they were winning, even when [Cristiano] Ronaldo scored, they don’t play well enough as a team to win this league in my view.
“I think you have to be a unit in and out of possession, and when you only deliver in moments, those moments won’t go for you in certain games.
“You need patterns of play, you need a way of playing,
“And at this moment in time I still see a group of individuals playing in moments, with some patterns and combinations at times, but still a team where some are pretty new together – Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho – but they’ve got to come together as a team and start to define a style of play.
“Then you start to get results when you don’t play well.”
Neville believes the challenge now facing Solskjaer is finding a way to mould his current crop of stars into a team of players in sync with each other.
The team have fallen to three narrow losses in five games across all competitions with West Ham ending their run in the Carabao earlier this month.
The club also fell to a surprise 2-1 Champions League group stage defeat to Swiss outfit Young Boys after going down to ten men in that clash.
And Neville is not convinced his old club, who are challenging for the Prem title and Champions League, will be able to keep pace with Chelsea, Liverpool or their neighbours City this term.
The Sky Sports pundit added: “I look at Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City, they are teams. They put team performances in.
“That’s not to say United never do, but Ole now has to get United into a team.”
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
