Gary Neville issues cynical Man Utd reality check after Man City win as two stars blasted

Gary Neville has backed Ruben Amorim's decision to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho during Manchester United's dramatic derby win at Manchester City on Sunday. But the Red Devils icon also believes he will have to treat several players who contributed to the 2-1 triumph at the Etihad Stadium in the same way to succeed.

United stunned City, trailing in the 87th minute, to inflict an eighth defeat in 11 games on Pep Guardiola.

Amad smartly drew the foul on Bruno Fernandes' equalizing penalty to cancel out Josko Gvardiol's first-half opener.

Moments later, the 22-year-old winger provided the golden touch to latch onto Lisandro Martinez's long ball, round Ederson and past the hosts' defenders.

Amorim caused a frenzy before kick-off by leaving Rashford and Garnacho out of his squad, a decision justified by the end of United's 15-match winless run against their 'Big Six' rivals in the Premier League.

Garnacho is United's top scorer this season with eight goals, while Rashford is second with Rasmus Hojlund on seven goals.

Yet after the final whistle, Neville backed Amorim's bold call, pointing out that neither striker had recently met the required standards.

“They were both bad on the pitch. That's a fact,” he explained on Sky Sports' Gary Neville podcast.

“And Amorim said the selection issue was about performance, performance and engagement with teammates.

“That means if they weren't good in the group. That's why they weren't there. What he did was a bold move.”

Neville expressed his delight at one of United's big derby victories, but quickly dropped his assessment from seventh heaven.

The former right-back wants to see Amorim's ruthless streak progress, stressing that he cannot allow himself to be “scammed” by players who have let his predecessors down.

Neville continued: “What he needs to do is shake this club to its core. I'm a United fan tonight, and I have a smile on my face because something happened which I didn't expect.

“I had no confidence in these players to come here today and win, even though City are bad.

“But Amorim has to make even bolder decisions because there are a lot of players on this team who are not good enough to get Amorim to where he wants to be and keep him in a job.

“Don't think for one second over the next few years that the players who won you this game today are going to be able to win you games and get you to where you need to be to keep you employed.

“Because others in the past were cheated into finishing second, winning an FA Cup, and they eventually lost their jobs.

“What he needs to do is put together a group of players who can fit his idea. We know his idea, we've seen it now.

“It’s the 3-4-3, he plays the two close to the striker, he plays the two in the sitting midfield, and he plays the two full-backs with the three at the back.

“He's got to make sure he's brutal, really brutal. And he was brutal today. I mean, the easiest thing to do would be to put them on the bench and not let the press pose questions.”

Neville then returned to the subject of his reaction to Rashford and Garnacho, blasting both strikers' work rate.

And he hammered home the importance of spirit over quality, using himself and some of his ex-teammates as examples.

“But he made a very difficult choice, which paid off because he won, and these two are sitting at home,” Neville added.

“I think he will try harder now and realize that team spirit, togetherness and ethics are more important than anyone with talent.

“The reason I stayed at this club for 19 years, and why John O'Shea stayed for a long time, and Nicky Butt, Wes Brown, Tom Cleverley, Darren Fletcher, was because of the spirit.

“Honestly, it takes everyone, every day, to run as hard as they can and do everything they can.

“That's what Manchester City have done over the last four or five years, with quality as well. But the work ethic has been poor from Garnacho and Rashford.

“We watched them in those two wideout positions for two, three seasons, not looking back, thinking they could play the game without doing any work.”