Gary Neville has seen it fit to come down hard on a Manchester United flop as the Red Devils were trolled 3-0 by Newcastle United and made a hasty exit from the Carabao Cup.
Fresh after a humiliating 3-0 trouncing at the hands of Manchester City in the local derby, Erik ten Hag’s men were desperately hoping to pull up their socks on Wednesday night and rebound with a victory as the defending champions in the Carabao Cup against last season’s finalist Newcastle.
Sadly that wasn’t to be as they were reduced to a whimper, producing a limpid performance as goals from Miguel Almiron, Lewis Hall and Joe Willock sealed their miserable fate with a comfortable 3-0 win against the Red Devils.
It had been confirmed ahead of kick-off that Ten Hag had again handed a start to forward Anthony Martial, who has been under heavy scrutiny and criticism for his underwhelming performances during his 9-year tenure at United.
SkySports pundit and former United defender Neville blasted the Frenchman just before kick-off, commenting on Sky Sports: “Sometimes I ask myself the question, when you walk away from a broadcast like Sunday, ‘are we being too harsh?’.
“But when you hear that stat that a guy has been at the club nine years – a goalscorer that cost £50m, £60m, £70m – has scored basically 89 goals in nine years and we still can’t get him out of the club, I don’t think we are being too harsh. I don’t think we’re being harsh enough.”
Neville went on to say: “The failings of the football department and recruitment is just absolutely incredible. Look, they’re human beings at the end of the day and Martial, no one wants to go on the pitch and play badly or not achieve their standards. Nobody wants to be injured.
“So I accept all those factors, but the reality is there is no way he should still be at Man United leading the line in any competition, even the Carabao Cup. It’s just where the club is at the moment, they don’t have a centre forward apart from [Rasmus] Hojlund who I think has real promise but he needs some experience up alongside him.”
Former United striker Andy Cole said: “It is a tough one, he has been here for nine years now. When you are playing for Man United and he has not got enough goals.
“I think to myself can he take themselves to where they need to be. He has been here nine years and hasn’t done it, so there is little chance of him doing it now.”