Gary Neville's blunt Man Utd verdict says it all after Bruno Fernandes admission

09 December 2023 , 22:02

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Gary Neville's blunt Man Utd verdict says it all after Bruno Fernandes admission

Gary Neville quipped that Manchester United were fortunate to have only lost 3-0 against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon after the Cherries ran riot at Old Trafford.

Goals from Dominic Solanke, Philip Billing and Marcos Senesi ensured Bournemouth recorded a famous victory at the expense of Erik ten Hag, who had already overseen United's worst start to a season in decades prior to yet another sobering result.

Neville, a United icon who clocked up over 600 appearances for the club during a storied playing career, missed the match but was of the opinion that United were deservedly beaten after watching the highlights back.

In a post which quickly went viral on social media, the United stalwart said: "I’ve just watched the highlights on the Sky Sports website and 3-0 looks like a good result!"

Neville was far from the only one to deliver a frank assessment after watching Bournemouth humble United in their own backyard - a result which will only increase the pressure on Ten Hag.

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Club captain Bruno Fernandes was the player who fronted up to the media after the game, and he seemed to imply that he and his teammates were expecting an easy ride against the Cherries, who have found form under Andoni Iraola in recent weeks.

Join the debate! What did you make of Man Utd's performance v Bournemouth? Let us know here.

Bruno Fernandes and his Manchester United teammates endured an afternoon to forget against Bournemouth (Getty Images)

Speaking after the match, Fernandes told Premier League Production: "Everything was lower than the levels in the game before and that's why when you play teams like Bournemouth, who are really aggressive and on the front foot, they press you, and you think it's going to be easy, you get these kinds of results.

"Everything was underperforming. Creativity, movement and arriving with bodies into the box. Most of the time we arrived with one or two players, but in the last game we had more getting in the box to score a goal.

"Today, it was, as I said, underperforming. We just lack consistency and that's a big part of football. It's really important to be consistent every game and we're not being."

Fernandes picked up his fifth yellow card of the season against Bournemouth and will miss next weekend's pivotal showdown with arch-rivals Liverpool as a result. Prior to that, United face a huge do-or-die Champions League fixture against German giants Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.

Dan Marsh