Mind games are already dominating ahead of the weekend’s much-anticipated match between both the clubs in the Manchester Derby as Gary Neville and Micah Richards enthusiastically lock horns over which Manchester United players – if any – would make it into a combined hypothetical XI.
Former Manchester United captain Gary Neville has proffered strong arguments against suggestions that Cristiano Ronaldo should be part of a combined United-City XI based solely on this season’s form when the former was asked by fellow pundit Micah Richards whether he would include his former teammate in a combined XI, However, the 47-year-old former United skipper was adamant in having no room for the Portugal star in his preferred combined XI when looking for a player from Ralf Rangnick’s team.
United fans should understandably be worried, having seen their team comfortably beaten by their neighbors at Old Trafford in the autumn and now face an immediately oncoming fixture against Pep Guardiola’s able men.
The LadBible video showed Neville and Richards animatedly debating whether any singular, current United player could break into a combined XI based on current form, and the Old Trafford legend firmly answered in the negative, suggesting that the one who came closest would be Bruno Fernandes. Even then, he argued that based on the form of the last 12-18 months, City’s largesse of attacking riches would still render it impossible to include the Portugal midfielder.
As for Ronaldo, Neville was unflinching in his assessment after Richards brought up the former Juventus forward.
“You can’t put Ronaldo in at the moment,” Neville said.
Richards retaliated, saying:
“If Ronaldo was in City’s team, he’d already be on 20, 25 goals,” and suggesting he’d have the 37-year-old in his XI.
“Who are you dropping? “Foden? Sterling? Mahrez? De Bruyne?” Neville immediately retorted, accusing Richards of ‘bottling it’ when the former City defender suggested switching to 4-2-3-1 to accommodate Ronaldo in his combined side.
“Pep’s played 4-3-3 for the last 25 years, and Micah’s bottled it and changed his system on him,” he said.
Former City player Richards isn’t alone in believing that Ronaldo’s output would have surely been greater if he had opted to join City instead, with former United and City player Peter Barnes suggesting the much better-heeled and more refined supporting cast at Guardiola’s disposal would have made a polar difference.
“His goal record is great for a 37-year-old, but I think if he had come to City, he’d probably have 25 goals now, because the good players there would have found him a lot easier,” Barnes told Mirror Football.
“They would have had the vision and the technique to put him in, whereas I think some of the players at United simply don’t have that vision to put him in on goal.