Gary Neville has spoken about Manchester United's shortcomings, asserting that the Red Devils have failed to take advantage of their games in the Premier League as top four rivals slipped up frequently. The former-United captain also believes the UEFA Europa League campaign has had adverse effects on the squad.
United's form in recent league games has been poor. Draws against Swansea City and Manchester City put their top four challenge in serious doubt. Their 25 league game unbeaten run finally came to an end against Arsenal in a 2-0 defeat, which effectively ended their hopes of making the top four.
Now José Mourinho and team must put all their focus into the Europa League, as they hope to make it to the final in Stockholm. They face Celta Vigo in the return leg of the semi-final at home, having beaten them 1-0 in Balaídos.
Neville criticises team selection against Gunners
Neville spoke about the loss against Arsenal on Sky Sports in his podcast and said: "I think making eight changes here today was a step too far".
He went to speak about how United have been "resilient" over the past few months, remaining unbeaten during that time. However, he also pointed out the fact that United have failed to "capitalise" against teams that were "dropping points" around them.
Neville also spoke about how United were trying to keep pushing on both fronts and said, "Man Utd have been riding both horses full pelt for the last couple of months", adding that he's always felt that the lack of prioritisation would hurt United sooner or later.
Swansea draw was turning point for United according to Neville
United now sit in fifth position with three games to go in the league. However, it is now clear where Mourinho's priority lies as United look to win their first Europa League trophy.
Neville further spoke about how much the points dropped have cost United and said that "it is going to be far too much from them now". He also added that he always felt the Red Devils would "fall short".
During that time, Liverpool also dropped points in the league and United were expected to take advantage, but they failed to do so, which frustrated the fans yet again.
Neville's words echoed the same concerns, he spoke about how United's draw against Swansea cost them a potential top four place, beieving that "the big one for United was dropping points against Swansea, those are the ones that kill you really and Mourinho knows that."
Loss will not affect Thursday's game, says Neville
Mourinho's side is "short" this season in terms of their Premier League campaign and believes that the Red Devils will have to focus everything on the Celta game, this Thursday.
Neville told listeners on his podcast that United "will be okay because of the fact [the Europa League] is a completely different competition. I don't think [the result against Arsenal will have an effect on Thursday's second leg] because of the fact there will be so many changes. Eric Bailly, Daley Blind and Marcus Rashford will come in."
The 42-year-old revealed that in the press conference before the game against Arsenal, Mourinho made it clear to all that it was all about the Europa League. The Englishman believes it is because the Europa League is potentially only two games more whereas, in the league, United still have three games to play.