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Gary Neville labels Manchester United star a “waste of time” in Rúben Amorim’s system

United most recent defeat has seen Gary Neville furious at one Manchester United star after his poor decision-making contributed to the Reds’ unbeaten run coming to a close.

Manchester United saw their five-match unbeaten streak ended by Everton on Monday, with the Toffees managing to slip one goal past Ruben Amorim’s side.

Despite Everton going down to 10 men in the early stages of the match, the Reds were still unable to capitalise on this advantage, with Everton honing in on United’s lack of control and intensity throughout the 90 minutes.

With Amorim sticking to his 3-4-2-1 formation and Luke Shaw playing in a left centre-back position, former Utd defender Gary Neville criticises the 30-year-old’s performance.

The 34-capped England international is often under scrutiny from the media for being injury-prone and not performing to the same standard he once did, with Neville not shying away from sharing his far from positive thoughts about the defender’s impact on Utd’s backline.

Neville critcises Shaw’s ‘smbling’

Whilst the United head coach has praised Shaw during their time together at the club, going as far as to say he’s “world class”, however, his most recent game for the Reds didn’t back the Portuguese manager’s opinion.

Whilst commentating for Sky Sports during the game, Neville criticised Shaw for staying stagnant in his position, being too idle and letting Everton through too easily.

Neville said, “Shaw is ambling forward. It has been bugging me for the last 20 minutes, and now I’m just going to say it.

“He is ambling. Look at him. You can’t do that. That is a waste of time. Honestly, it’s a waste of time. It’s not conning anyone.”

At the same time, Neville critiqued Amorim’s instructions to keep Shaw as a left centre-back rather than him playing high and wide on the left, with his “waste of time” comments suggesting the former United captain feels there is little need to keep Shaw at centre-back.

Is Amorim becoming too sure of his own decisions?

Utd’s most recent fixture marked Amorim’s first anniversary since coaching his first match for the club, and one thing that has become apparent is that he is very adamant about his own decisions, as seen in the Everton game.

Read More: Three Manchester United XI decisions Rúben Amorim must make vs Man City, “strange” situation has to be avoided

With Shaw’s performance against Everton poor, some people have turned to blaming the coaching staff, arguing his faults stem from the formation Amorim played.

Many people shared Neville’s stance that defensive players should’ve been given the chance to work their way up into attacking positions; however, Shaw stayed glued to his own half, unable to react to Old Trafford’s chants of encouragement, telling the left back to “attack”.

United will travel to face Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, and Amorim will be hoping his side can play a more urgent brand of football.


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