Gary Neville’s grim Man Utd prediction backed as faith in Erik ten Hag wanes

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Football Digest: Man Utd urged to give Ten Hag time he needs

Manchester United icon Gary Neville has been backed by Premier League football fans after claiming that Erik ten Hag’s side will not finish in the Premier League’s top five places this season. The Red Devils have endured a miserable start to the campaign, suffering five defeats from their first 10 matches.

A terrible Manchester derby display saw Manchester City ease to a comfortable 3-0 triumph at Old Trafford on Sunday. United were woeful and a tepid performance summed up their season.

Ten Hag is facing pressure to build on last term, in which United finished fourth, won the Carabao Cup and reached the FA Cup final. But his side are eighth after 10 matches and face a huge battle to get back among the contenders for the Champions League places.

Even before United’s defeat by rivals City, former defender Neville was predicting that the club would finish outside the top five. That would see them just about scrape Europa League football for next season.

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And in a poll of Express Sport readers, an overwhelming majority believe the Sky Sports pundit is correct. A whopping 85 per cent of 11,215 voters believe United will finish sixth or lower come May, in what is a significant lack of faith in Ten Hag and his squad.

“I don’t think Manchester United will finish in the top five this season,” Neville said on October 9, two days after a late Scott McTominay brace helped United scrape past Brentford at Old Trafford.

“I think they are way off it. And I’m surprised because seven or eight weeks ago, I had them third, But honestly from what I see at the moment, I don’t think the goalkeeper is settled in, I think he should have saved the one yesterday so that is a problem.

“If your goalkeeper is not settled in and there is a bit of instability around that, it does create a big problem. I’ve had that at United. So United, not for me.”

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Neville places the majority of the blame for the club’s woes at the feet of the Glazer family, absolving under-performing head coach Ten Hag.

The 48-year-old said his own United team-mate, who enjoyed huge success at Old Trafford, would have failed if they walked into the club today.

“These are not bad lads in this dressing room, but there is a real feeling of low [morale] at the club. If we [the Class of 92] had come into the club at this moment in time, in this environment, we wouldn’t be successful,” Neville said after the Manchester derby.

“As talented as the group I came through with – Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Paul Scholes – if they came into this environment today, they would be set up for failure. So I don’t blame these players anymore.”

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