Gary Neville claims righting Manchester United’s current slump is the ‘biggest challenge Jose Mourinho has faced’ in his career to date.
The Old Trafford club fell to a 3-0 defeat at at home to Tottenham on Monday evening – their second in a row – amid talk of infighting behind the scenes.
And in the immediate aftermath of the game, former player Neville suggested that manager Mourinho now faces an uphill struggle to turn the club’s current fortunes around.
Jose Mourinho (pictured) faces the biggest challenge of his career, according to Gary Neville
Manchester United lost 3-0 at home to Tottenham on Monday evening – their second in a row
‘This is the biggest challenge Jose Mourinho has faced,’ Neville said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show.
“He has got to come out of it because I have to say I look at the squad and the team and I’m not sure what the best XI is.
“He is going to have to back certain players and just stick with it because at the moment they are changing every game.
“The buck stops with the manager, it always does and it has to. At the moment there doesn’t look to be a balanced outfit there at all.”
‘We’ve not seen a pragmatic United team in the big games for a long time.
‘I’ve been saying the same thing for 14 months now. Tottenham away last year, Arsenal away last year, City at home, so many games now we’ve seen where United have been open.
Sky Sports pundit Neville (pictured) believes the Portuguese now faces an uphill task
‘I looked at the first five minutes, and I thought, what the hell is this? It was like a pinball machine. You couldn’t work out where people were playing.’
A brace from Lucas Moura and a header from Harry Kane condemned a sorry looking United side to a heavy home defeat at Old Trafford on Monday evening, despite tactical changes from Mourinho designed to add solidity to his team.
The second loss on the bounce, coupled with tensions with chief executive Ed Woodward behind the scenes, leaves the Portuguese looking over his shoulder for his job.
But speaking in an interview shortly after the match, Mourinho has promised to stay strong in the face of a nightmare start to the season.
‘Anyone who watched this game, one thing they know for sure is the team is united,’ he told reporters. ‘The boys don’t give everything they gave if the team isn’t united. I think it’s the time to stop with untruths.
‘The solidarity to play together for United and lose at home is hard for everyone, but the team is united. There is no union without the manager.’