Neville accuses Richards of winding him up as he reacts to Man Utd claim
Gary Neville saw the funny side after he was grilled by Micah Richards following Manchester United 's 3-1 loss against Manchester City.
The Red Devils took an early lead in the Manchester derby after Marcus Rashford dispatched a sublime 25-yard strike beyond Ederson in the eighth minute. The Premier League champions fought back, though, with a brace from Phil Foden and a late goal from Erling Haaland to seal a comfortable win.
Defeat means United remain in sixth place, 11 points behind fourth-placed Aston Villa. City, meanwhile, cut Liverpool's lead at the Premier League summit to a solitary point ahead of their mouthwatering showdown next weekend.
Despite the disappointing result, Neville was reluctant to stick the boot in on his former club. Richards, who was also analysing the game for Sky Sports, was keen to press his colleague further after Neville stressed he still fancied United to qualify for next year's Champions League.
Neville turned to host Kelly Cates before quipping: "Is he winding me up here?". He then continued with his assessment of the match, saying: "Some games after United, I've thought, 'What the hell is that?' At least today I saw that there was a plan and there was real attention to detail on how they were going to defend.
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"So today I think is something you can buy into more in terms of how they looked because sometimes in the last few weeks you think, 'What they doing? Where are they all?'"
Neville's former teammate Roy Keane, however, had a different take. The Irishman outlined how acceptance of the derby defeat symbolises just how drastically standards have fallen at Manchester United over the past few years.
Join the debate! What did you make of Man Utd's performance in the derby? Let us know here.
Neville still believes Manchester United can secure a top-four finish (Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA)Chiming in, Keane said: "But that's where the standards have dropped. You're almost praising them, they've lost. The reason you're at Manchester United is to perform in the big games and to compete against Man City and Liverpool. But no, we're sitting here going, 'I thought they done alright, better shape.' They got beaten 3-1 and the last half an hour they were just hanging in there, they couldn't get in a kick."
He was also less confident than Neville on United's hopes of securing a top-four finish, adding: "It is going to be very difficult. You look at the whole season and this team seems to be all about moments. When you have invested that money and the quality that they have, you feel like they need a bit more than that.
"The games we have looked at over the last few months, we just haven’t seen that consistent performance. We keep saying about Man United, they are digging results out, but eventually that catches up with you. For Man United and the bigger picture, you need more."
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