Speaking on his own Sky Sports podcast, Gary Neville gave his assessment on Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
United competed and performed well at the Emirates as they took the lead through Marcus Rashford in the first-half before being pegged back by an Eddie Nketiah header. Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead at the start of the second half, before Lisandro Martinez scored his first goal for Man United to make it 2-2 in the 69th minute.
With Arsenal ramping up the pressure in the last 15 minutes, United could not deal with the sustained pressure that Arsenal were putting on them, and it looked as though it was a matter of time before Arsenal scored as they pinned United back and forced them to go deeper. A Oleksandr Zinchenko cross was headed home by Nketiah, who clinched all three points for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Neville said that he was “enthusiastic” about how United went toe-to-toe against the league leaders.
“There are no excuses [United missing Casemiro due to suspension]. I am sat here, enthusiastic about the fact that Manchester United are massively competitive in that match today and that is not saying that they should be, they should be but I thought that they played really well. They could have come here [to the Emirates] feeling sorry for themselves, having drawn with a late equaliser against Crystal Palace [and] Casemiro not playing” [Gary Neville Podcast].
Casemiro’s ability to use his experience and slow the game down could have helped United deal with the last 15 minutes onslaught from Arsenal, and Neville say that had Casemiro been available for the game at the Emirates then he might have helped United in those closing stages.
“You look at Casemiro, and he just brings that bit of composure [in] that last 20 minutes when United really were on their knees” [Gary Neville Podcast].
United are next in action against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup, which kicks off at 8pm UK time on Wednesday and the game will be shown live on Sky Sports for those in the UK.
