Gary Neville made an honest admission to a Sky Sports commentator after seeing the Manchester United v Tottenham team sheet for the first time.
United suffered a dismal 3-0 defeat to Spurs at Old Trafford on Sunday, sparking serious speculation over the future of under-fire manager Erik ten Hag.
Tottenham were ahead inside four minutes as Micky van de Ven was allowed to storm into the United box from his own half and put it on a plate for Brennan Johnson at the back post.
Manchester United were second best for almost the entirety of the opening 45 minutes and their task got that bit harder when Bruno Fernandes was sent off for a late tackle on England midfielder James Maddison.
Spurs doubled their advantage almost immediately after half-time through Dejan Kulusevski before Dominic Solanke added a third for the visitors.
Old Trafford legend Neville was optimistic about Manchester United’s chances in the days leading up to the match but says his confidence drained after seeing the team sheet.
‘I got the team sheet before the game and I was confident about Manchester United coming to the game today,’ Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast to football commentator Peter Drury.
‘But I got the team sheet and I think I said it to you actually in the Sky Sports truck, I looked at the teams and I thought, Tottenham’s team is better.
‘I said that before the game. I know it’s a simple thing but you’ve got these ideas about the game beforehand but then you look at teams and think Tottenham’s is better and I’d actually rather that team than United’s.
‘That’s a worry. Ange Postecoglou has had nothing like the money to spend that Erik ten Hag has. But they’ve got a good team. Spurs fans will have loved that today and so they should do.’
Neville described Manchester United’s performance against Tottenham as ‘absolutely disgusting’ and said he was ‘shocked’ by the display.
The defeat leaves United just 12th in the Premier League after six matches, closer to the relegation zone than the top-four.
‘The first half was as bad as it gets,’ said Neville during Sky Sports’ commentary of the game ‘This is a shocking day, a sobering day.
‘This is a really bad day for Ten Hag. It’s one of the worst performances I have seen under Ten Hag. And that is saying something. It is really bad.
‘Today has shocked me how low they’ve gone. It was a really bad one.
‘I know that David Moyes had some bad ones in the early days, so has Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] along the way, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and Ralf Rangnick, but that felt like one of those days today where they sank really low.’
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