“That can’t be acceptable.”
Jamie Carragher backed Gary Neville into a corner on this one. His hesitation to answer a pointed question spoke volumes.
Monday night saw Leicester City travel to London to take on West Ham, while Gary Neville joined Jamie Carragher and Sky Sports host David Jones to set the scene for the Premier League season ahead.
Neville and Carragher both predicted Manchester City would win the league and had Manchester United players Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho as their ‘ones to watch’ selections.
It was not all cosy, though, as Carragher called out United for under-performing over the past few years while experienced pundits, he argued, kept saying they needed to spend more and more. The former Liverpool player had plenty to say on that, and on United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Bruno Fernandes, Jadon Sancho and Paul Pogba pictured during Manchester United’s drawn game against Southampton. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)“It seems whenever I listen to Gary, maybe Roy [Keane], or Manchester United fans,” Carragher began, “the answer is always, ‘Go and spend £100 million on someone’. It’s always the answer, every time I am on the show – go and blitz the transfer market.
“You’re talking about Chelsea going and buying Lukaku, and all of a sudden, on the back of [beating Arsenal] yesterday and their start to the season, it’s ‘Chelsea are going to win the league, them or City’. Manchester United finished above them last season!
“They bought Varane and Sancho. I don’t get this feeling of ‘Manchester United can’t compete’.
“I think if Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, or maybe Thomas Tuchel, had Manchester United’s squad, they would feel they could win the league. I really believe that.”
“You’re comparing Liverpool and Manchester United,” Jamie Carragher told Neville. “It’s a similar sort of trajectory and that Solskjaer has done a really good job.
“But why don’t you compare it to Man City and Chelsea? Liverpool didn’t have the revenues to compete and go for the league right away. There’s no way Thomas Tuchel goes into Chelsea and they’re accepting that he will have three or four years spending that type of money.
“United have spent the money City have done, spent the money Chelsea have done, so this thing of building? I don’t think Manchester United not winning the league this year, or finishing third or fourth, that can’t be acceptable.”
Playing devil’s advocate, Neville argued that United had tried and failed with the ‘world-class’ manager approach, in Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho, and were now going about their business with a more deliberate pace, and Solskjaer at the helm.
Carragher admitted that ‘you never want to say United can win the league’ but declared that their current squad, with ‘£50 million players in every position’, was certainly good enough to do so. They were only missing one thing.
“What’s lacking for Manchester United to really go for the league,” Carragher asked. “Is it the team, the squad or the manager?”
At this point Neville hesitated before settling on Solskjaer. The Norwegian still ‘has to prove himself’, he said, and pointed to a listing United display in last season’s Europa League Final as Exhibit ‘A’.
Still, Neville was not veering off his line that Solskjaer needs more time.
“I think Ole deserves another 12 or 18 months with building… they’ve gone with someone who has taken them back to their roots. He just has to be given time to do it.”
Time, or get Harry Kane right now.
Neville argued that United could cope without players like Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Daniel James and Anthony Martial, going forward, and the room their exits make could see room afforded to get Kane.
"If Guardiola, Klopp or Tuchel had #MUFC's squad, you'd feel they could win the league."@Carra23 and @GNev2 discuss Manchester United's spending under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and whether he is under pressure to deliver this season…
Watch #MNF live on Sky Sports Premier League! pic.twitter.com/Ae4ylaxiqp
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 23, 2021
More time and more money is needed to get a high-quality striker in, and Neville would not mind a defensive midfielder upgrade on Fred and/or Nemanja Matic.
Carragher could only roll his eyes.
