After a 1-0 loss to Arsenal, Gary Neville has given his opinion regarding Manchester United’s attack, as well as hailing the Reds as ‘the better team’.
Manchester United’s opening game in the Premier League didn’t get off to the start that their fans would have hoped for, although there were many positives to draw from proceedings.
Ruben Amorim’s side were narrowly beaten 1-0 by Arsenal at Old Trafford due to a corner being tapped in by Riccardo Calafiori at the back post.
United weren’t without their chances. The most notable chance being when Patrick Dorgu’s long-ranged drive clipped the post. The hosts were also unfortunate not to receive a penalty when debutant Matheus Cunha was brought down.
On the bright side for Amorim’s team, they were able to witness their new-look front three in action, as Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo started, with Benjamin Sesko making a 20-minute appearance off the bench.
Speaking on the front three, Gary Neville gave his verdict on the fixture after the game, including a bold statement regarding the fluidity of United’s attack.
Neville’s post-match thoughts
Speaking on Sky Sports after the match at Old Trafford, the former United legend told United fans to look at the positives, including a bold statement about them being ‘the better team’.
Neville said, “I actually thought that they played well. I thought they were the better team in the game in terms of performance, but we know that performance sometimes obviously isn’t enough, and that Arsenal have got real resilience.
“There were some positives, I thought Cunha and Mbeumo, probably Mbeumo more in the first half, Cunha more in the second, but I think they showed that they can handle sort of a big game at Old Trafford.
“They showed they’ve got the quality and the ability. I thought Cunha looked like a really good player. We obviously know that from Wolves.”
United’s best attack
With Sesko only having a couple of training sessions under his belt, the Slovenian was kept on the bench until the 65th minute, when he replaced Mason Mount.
Regarding this substitution, Nevill commented, “It’s interesting. I actually thought that when Mount was on the pitch, they actually looked a little bit better up front in terms of connecting it.
“Now obviously, Sesko had to come on, and he was only on for twenty minutes, and to try and get that goal, but I thought when Mount and particularly Cunha were on that side of the pitch, they looked like they did combine well with each other.”
It’s still very early days for United’s new forward, so hopefully that fluidity and connection comes with time, but it can be seen as a positive for Amorim that he now has these talented options at his disposal.
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