Gary Neville explains what Sir Alex Ferguson’s Man Utd teams were so good at that today’s Premier League sides struggle to do

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The Manchester United team of 2023/24 are nowhere near to being as good as Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous teams. And nor are many of the sides from today’s era.

Sir Alex Ferguson‘s Manchester United dominated English football in the 1990s, 2000s and early 2010s.

Gary Neville was a key player under Ferguson, the club’s fifth highest appearance maker of all time, picking up countless trophies along the way.

There were many secrets to the team’s successes, and Neville believes one of the keys to dominance was their adaptability.

Neville on Manchester United success

Gary Neville made reference to his great Manchester United teams during Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football coverage last night.

He referred to the legendary United sides’ ability to switch tactical approach being something which is lacking from many Premier League teams he sees today.

Neville explained: “When I played at Old Trafford we adapted from being a possession team to a high-pressing team to a counter-attacking team.

“We would do whatever it demanded in the game, we could change.

“Football is different now where we don’t see too many teams changing their ways of play week in and week out.

“We see the same things appear from the same teams.”

Manchester United did it all so well

The different approaches Neville referred to were conducted by Sir Alex Ferguson’s great United teams so expertly.

Today’s Manchester United team may try to press, try to counter attack, and try to hold possession, but they can’t do any of them with any real conviction.

And that’s true of so many teams in England’s top flight today, even those sitting above United in the table. They may be good at one thing, but are they good at all of them? Do they have an effective ‘Plan B’ when their first tactic does not succeed?

Adaptability creates unpredictability, which makes teams difficult to play against, and makes football teams so enjoyable to watch.

One complaint many fans of all clubs have today is that the game has become robotic, with statistics and analytics used as commonplace, sometimes inhibiting the individual uniqueness of players, who would have succeeded in a different era.

Erik ten Hag‘s Manchester United have a long way to go to become successful. Mastering one aspect of performance would be great, let alone becoming good enough to win games routinely in different ways.