Gary Neville’s former Manchester United teammate Luke Chadwick has said the Sky Sports pundit is being “cautious” by playing down the Red Devil’s Premier League title chances.
As reported by the Independent earlier this week, Neville waxed lyrical about Cristiano Ronaldo, but insisted that his view on Man United has not changed. The former Red Devils skipper does NOT expect them to win the Premier League title.
The reigning Premier League champions Manchester City will be considered favourites again by many, with Thomas Tuchel’s European champions Chelsea and a resurgent Liverpool also in the mix.
With the level of expenditure at Old Trafford to bolster Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad, including the return of Cristiano Ronaldo, there is an increased level of pressure on the Man United manager to deliver the league title.
Neville does not believe that his former employers will have enough to beat the opposition to win it, but a former teammate of his and Solskjaer’s, Luke Chadwick, suggests that the Sky Sports pundit is merely being cautious.
“I think it’s just the recent history,” Chadwick said, speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside. “The club has fallen short over the many years since the manager [Sir Alex Ferguson] left and I think that’s where the club has fallen down.”
“They’ve never had any sort of structure in place. David Moyes came in and was seen as the long-term successor and it was always going to be a more or less impossible job for him following Sir Alex.”
“Then came Jose and Louis Van Gaal, probably as short-term fixes, great histories as managers but probably not at the club for any great length of time.”
“I do think now that Ole is putting the foundations in place. Last year the club found themselves in a good position around Christmas without playing particularly well.”
“I can understand Gary’s cautiousness being a huge Manchester United man himself and desperate to see the club do well.”
Chadwick recognises the mounting pressure on former teammate Solskjaer to deliver silverware. He’s been let off the hook in his Man United tenure to date, but that is not expected to be the case going forward.
“He’s [Neville] playing it down a little bit,” Chadwick continued in an interview with CaughtOffside. “You do believe that Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] needs to win something this year, some sort of silverware.”
“Even before Cristiano [Ronaldo] came in, it was probably as high expectations we’ve had as fans. Sancho, Varane, the missing pieces of the jigsaw, still talk of a central midfielder to finish it off but then Cristiano comes in.”
“In my opinion it’s as good a chance we’ve had of winning it for many a year. I can understand why Gary is cautious about it but it does seem to be that the God’s are smiling down.”
Man United were not a million miles away last campaign, but to win the Premier League nowadays you need to be almost flawless, something that the Red Devils have never been under Solskjaer’s stewardship.
After a draw at St. Mary’s, a tough game against Wolves and the defeat to Young Boys, you just wonder if Man United really are good enough to beat Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool to the league title.
You can certainly understand why Neville has his doubts, although he would also never publicly criticise Solskjaer, who is a friend and former teammate of his, as well as a follow Man United man.