‘I’m absolutely stunned to be honest with you’
Gary Neville has admitted he was left ‘stunned’ by Manchester United’s performance in their 2-1 victory against Liverpool, on Monday night.
United delivered their best display of the season against their fierce rivals to move out of the bottom three and secure their first points of the Erik ten Hag era.
Jadon Sancho opened the scoring in the first half as he remained composed in the box to dummy James Milner before rolling home into an empty net.
Marcus Rashford doubled the home side’s advantage as he latched onto Anthony Martial’s through ball before confidently firing the ball past Alisson.
Rashford finishes off a ruthless counter-attack to double United’s lead pic.twitter.com/83XifkK6PU
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) August 22, 2022
“I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed” – Gary Neville
Mohamed Salah halved the deficit with less than 10 minutes to go but United were resilient at the back and good value for the win as they finally gave the Old Trafford crowd something to cheer about.
Given the performances in the first two games of the season, United’s display was a far cry from what people had seen so far this season and Neville was left surprised by what he had seen.
“I’m absolutely stunned to be honest with you,” he told Sky Sports.
“I didn’t think that was possible tonight, what I saw, in terms of a response because I thought the players had cemented what they do week in week out for many months at the end of last season, the start of this season.
“What’s happened this week, I don’t know, but they responded. Maybe the slight changes in personnel, making brave decisions. Obviously, you know, the captain, the star player, have both been left on the bench.
“I don’t know what it is, but I can’t believe what I’ve just witnessed.”
"I can't believe what I've just witnessed" 😮
Gary Neville reacts to a stunning performance from Man Utd at Old Trafford this evening 👇 pic.twitter.com/02PiP0M481
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 22, 2022
Gary Neville also reserved some of his strongest praise for Bruno Fernandes and the man that ultimately bagged the winner, Marcus Rashford. He commented:
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Marcus Rashford play like he did when he first came on the scene where he was running through on goal regularly. It was a big moment.”
As for Liverpool, the former United star said ‘right side of the defence was a problem’.
Related links:
- Man United record shock victory over Liverpool at Old Trafford
- Roy Keane slams two Liverpool stars for ‘sloppy’ display in Man United defeat
- “That’s your ball!” – James Milner climbs into Virgil Van Dijk after Sancho goal
