Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has insisted that he isn’t too concerned about his old club and has backed Jose Mourinho to turn it around.
The Red Devils fell to a 4-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday, leaving Mourinho with plenty to think about after one of the heaviest defeats of his managerial career.
With little time to reflect on the loss before facing rivals Manchester City in the EFL Cup this week, both the Portuguese tactician and his players will be under pressure to produce a response as they look to avoid another early dip in form.
It’s been a difficult start to life at Old Trafford for the 53-year-old, with his side stuck in seventh place in the Premier League table and six points adrift of the league leaders having now suffered three defeats in nine games.
However, Neville believes that Mourinho requires patience and faith from the club and supporters alike, as he continues to shape his squad into his own and tries to figure out his best starting line-up.
“There will be a massive over-reaction to the game, Jose Mourinho will come under huge pressure and it will be ramped up ahead of the derby on Wednesday. I am quite relaxed,” he said on his Sky Sports podcast.
“They have got a fantastic manager who has been proven in every league in Europe nearly, and they have to allow him to do his job methodically over the next two to three years, get it right.
“They have got to continue to do that and they have got to move away some of the previous, which will be difficult because they are on big contracts, but he doesn’t panic in the transfer market.”
Neville makes plenty of valid points, but ultimately Mourinho has had plenty of time now to figure out his best starting line-up including who should form the key midfield pairing.
Fortunately, other teams around them continue to drop points and so the points difference is still manageable, but he’ll want to figure it out sooner rather than later to avoid the pressure building further.