Manchester United can return to the Premier League’s top four if they can avoid injuries, according to Gary Neville.
Previewing the upcoming Premier League campaign on Sky Bet’s Stick to Football podcast, the former Manchester United right-back described the run of injuries United had last season as “horrific” and said it will be the key factor in their push for the top four this year.
The Red Devils started their season with a penalty shootout loss to rivals Manchester City in the Community Shield after drawing 1-1 in normal time.
Neville noted that in this game, and in their victory over City in last season’s FA Cup final, United played with four central players in midfield.
He said: “I can’t think of a team that’s played four central midfield players, but towards the end of the season they narrowed the midfield and they looked a little more compact. They’ve got an interesting collection of midfield players in Casemiro, [Mason] Mount, [Bruno] Fernandes and [Scott] McTominay.
“Last year they put Casemiro sitting on his own with no one alongside him. That is not what they’re doing now. They’re putting Mainoo alongside Casemiro and then they play narrow with Mount and Fernandes. I’m not saying it’s a system but it’s got an interesting four players and I think [Ten Haag] might try it with some sort of split strikers. I think he’ll like what he’s seeing in the City games in the sense of how they can play with each other. They play some good stuff and it can also be a bit more narrow and compact.”
Neville’s fellow hosts Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane questioned the logic of playing such a system stating that it would leave the side open defensively.
Keane also added some concerns he has over the spine of the side as they push for success this season.
Keane, who played over 300 games for Manchester United, said: “The worry for me around competing for the top four is the spine of the team. For all the nice players they have, and they’ve got really good players, I still worry about the goalkeeper and you’re talking about the striker straight away.”
Premier League Predictions
Towards the end of the episode, the hosts offered up their predictions for the upcoming season.
Collectively they decided that the top four will be Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool. They also all unanimously agreed that Erling Haaland will be the league’s top goal-scorer for the third straight season.
When asked for their surprise team or result, Ian Wright predicted that West Ham will qualify for Europe while Neville, much to the dismay of Carragher, said that his surprise result is that Liverpool won’t finish in the top 6.
