Gary Neville has identified a comment by a senior Manchester United player that may point towards issues in the Old Trafford dressing room.
United’s poor start to the Premier League season got worse on Sunday afternoon when they lost 3-0 against Tottenham at home to leave them 12th in the table with three losses from six.
Brennan Johnson, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke were all on the scoresheet while captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off for the first time in his Red Devils career to make matters worse.
While manager Erik ten Hag has pledged that things will improve, many others have suggested that time is up for the Dutchman, who last season also delivered United’s worst-ever Premier League finish (eighth).
But Neville, speaking on the latest episode of his Sky Sports podcast, pointed towards his former dressing room and suggested that one player may have inadvertently revealed the issues behind the scenes at the club.
Gary Neville (pictured) has identified worrying comments from a senior Manchester United player
Christian Eriksen (left) suggested that Twente’s players wanted the result more during United’s Europa League game last week
Erik ten Hag’s side suffered another defeat on Sunday as pressure continued to mount on the Dutchman
‘It was a disgusting performance, I think that is the word I used at the end,’ the ex-United defender began. ‘But do you know something? All the words I’ve used – you might see headlines around, Neville calls Manchester United disgusting – I think back to Christian Eriksen’s comments after the game on Wednesday night (against Twente).
‘From someone who is around the dressing room, someone who is a very senior player who should be trusted, he has had a long successful career, when he says they didn’t want it and don’t want it as much as another team in a game of football, that matters more than anything anyone else can say, because he is inside there, he is seeing it with his own eyes.
‘We know what’s happening in there can’t be great because it transmits onto the pitch. The old adage of what happens in training translates onto the pitch is very true. The detail of everything has to be absolutely prefect.
‘There is no doubt that something is going wrong in that United dressing room.’
Eriksen had said in the week after the 1-1 draw with Twente in the Europa League: ‘It’s been said also in the changing room, I think they looked like they wanted it more than us and that can’t be right. Everyone is looking at themselves.
‘Everyone is a professional footballer. They know what to do and know what can’t happen in a game like today. We don’t lose but it feels like a loss and that’s something that at home against Twente can’t happen.’
Ten Hag is under increasing pressure to deliver success after his side were booed off by an empty-looking Old Trafford after the defeat by Tottenham.
Neville had previously described the performance as ‘an absolute disgrace’ and said that ‘pub football’ would have been better.
Neville said Eriksen’s comments suggest that ‘there is no doubt that something is going wrong in that United dressing room’
United captain Bruno Fernandes was sent off against Tottenham to add to his side’s misery
United chiefs, meanwhile, have reportedly set Ten Hag a deadline to turn around the club’s sinking fortunes after the defeat by Tottenham.
Red Devils top executives apparently still back Ten Hag but have acknowledged that a ‘swift reaction’ is needed from his players.
According to the Telegraph, the Dutchman is to turn things around this week or face the sack, just months after being backed by new minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe.Â