Old Red Nev’s not shy is he? Give him a mic and he will literally talk until you tear it off him again. But, the important point is that he makes a lot of sense.
He’s clearly one of the more highly regarded old generation of English footballers and, as such, has been made a coach for England. He’s also the leading pundit on Sky Sports and he has today given his take on Manchester United’s defence. He reckons the players like Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have the potential to become greats. But they are still not top players as yet and he’s waiting for the penny to drop with the Manchester United youngsters.
with the likes of Smalling, Jones and Evans we still have great hopes for that penny to drop.
‘There is no doubt that Jones, Smalling and Shaw have talent but they need experience, maturity and injuries to stay clear and they will fly.’
‘When I look at the United defence what it lacks is control.
‘I see players that have talent but they’re all individually working, not having controlled movements together or in-sync. That comes through understanding and from playing together.
‘The reason that Chelsea have the best back four in the league is because they have good players, they play every week without many injuries.
It’s so true that Manchester United have barely been able to retain the same back 5 from one game to the next this season. Chelsea possibly have better defenders but they have had the advantage of getting to know each others’ movements as they play together week in week out.
When Manchester United’s defenders gel the unity will improve. But we still think that one really top addition to the centre of that defence would help everything fall into place a lot quicker. United have talented players at the back but they need a leader – a natural who is so good that he can organise others as well as doing his own job admirably.
