Gary Neville felt that Manchester United were “frightened to death” of Manchester City in the 2-0 defeat to Pep Guardiola’s side at Old Trafford.

The Sky Sports pundit was shell-shocked by his former team’s performance in the derby and was fearful of the result before the game had even started.

Newcastle United v Leeds United - Premier League
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Speaking after the defeat on Sky Sports, United’s former right-back, said: “I feared before the game that there was this feeling that Manchester United had to sit deep and they had to play on the counter attack, and they would forget they had to have some guts in and out of possession.

“They look frightened to death in and out of possession and they were almost crumbled up in a little ball waiting to be beat and that’s not good enough.

“You can get into your shape and you can be aggressive from your shape, but they weren’t aggressive, they were passive.

 

“A Manchester United player has to show guts and determination on the pitch and you can get beat. But they are flaky in the big games and they were fearing today what might happen before the game.

“They got destroyed today Manchester United, that was a mauling.”

Manchester United v Manchester City - Premier League
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Manchester United could go into the November international break 11 points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.

Following a summer transfer window that saw us sign Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo, being 11 points off the pace after just 11 league games, is unthinkable.

Back-to-back home defeats against our fiercest rivals is a hammer blow to United’s title credentials and there is inevitably going to be a huge inquest into the long-term future of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

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