GARY NEVILLE asked Micah Richards “are you winding me up” as he was quizzed by his fellow pundit after Manchester United’s derby loss to City.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring after ten minutes of the grudge match at the Etihad.
But Phil Foden’s double and a late Erling Haaland strike turned the game around for the Premier League champions.
Neville was quick to insist that United’s top-four hopes were still intact, despite falling 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa.
He even claimed the performance was “the best defensively from a discipline point of view in Erik ten Hag’s whole period at United”.
However, he added: “In a perfect world they would be 20 to 30 yards further forward up the pitch, playing as compact as that. They were really at the edge of their box.
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“Rashford and Garnacho got so deep, they couldn’t then get up the pitch.
“But there is something there today that meant they’ve addressed the carnage, gaps and chaos in midfield over the last few month.”
That’s when former City star Richards spotted his opportunity to play host.
First he quizzed Nev about his “confidence”, then about the impact of Luke Shaw’s injury absence.
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And, as actual Sky Sports presenter Kelly Cates tried to get a word in, Neville joked: “Is he winding me up here?”
Unperturbed, Neville went on: “Some games after United, I’ve thought, ‘What the hell is that?’
“At least today I saw that there was a plan and there was real attention to detail on how they were going to defend.
“So today I think is something you can buy into more in terms of how they looked because sometimes in the last few weeks you think, ‘What they doing? Where are they all?'”
But former United captain Roy Keane was no so impressed.
Keane interjected: “But that’s where the standards have dropped. You’re almost praising them, they’ve lost.
“The reason you’re at Manchester United is to perform in the big games and to compete against Man City and Liverpool.
“But no, we’re sitting here going, ‘I thought they done alright, better shape.’
“They got beaten 3-1 and the last half an hour they were just hanging in there, they couldn’t get in a kick.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
