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24th Sep 2016

Gary Neville uses a very creative food analogy to describe Manchester United’s squad

He was speaking before United's tasty performance...

Robert Redmond

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” is evidently a proverb Gary Neville subscribes to.

The current Manchester United squad has been assembled by four different managers.

There are those left over from Alex Ferguson’s reign, such as Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick and Ashley Young, and the players recruited under David Moyes’ brief tenure, such as Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata.

Then you’ve got the players who joined the club when Louis van Gaal was manager, like Daley Blind, Ander Herrera and Anthony Martial, and the new recruits such as Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly, who were signed by Jose Mourinho.

It’s a squad constructed by four different managers, each with different views on the game and as such it’s arguably no surprise the team struggled to click on the field – until their thrashing of Leicester City in the early Premier League game on Saturday, that is.

Ahead of kick-off at Old Trafford, Neville used a clever food analogy to describe the construction of United’s squad, and offered an explanation as to why Mourinho’s side, until the 4-1 win over Leicester, had yet to play well this season.

“The last 10 transfer windows have been overseen by four different managers, so what you’ve got is four different managers’ players,” Neville said.

“You’ve got a plate that’s got Bolognese on it, a chicken tikka masala, a roast dinner with a load of curry and gravy thrown over the top. Individually they’re quite nice, but together Jose Mourinho’s got to find which bits of that plate he doesn’t like.

“That’ll take time, but it’s ridiculous to criticise him after five or six games.”

United’s tasty performance against the Premier League champions shows the ingredients are there for a very good team (sorry).

Catch up on the first episode of Football Friday Live…