“He’s permanently making excuses for his mate.”
Jamie Carragher has called out his Sky Sports colleagues for giving Ole Gunnar Solskjaer an easy ride with their punditry.
Gary Neville and Roy Keane, both of whom played alongside Solskjaer for years at Manchester United, have repeatedly made excuses for their friend, Carragher claims.
United finished second in the Premier League last season before adding Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo to their squad in a bid to close the gap on local rivals Manchester City.
Neville had tweeted back in May that if United signed Varane, Sancho, and Harry Kane, United should win the league. But despite signing two of those players and Cristiano Ronaldo, he has since rowed back on that prediction, repeatedly saying that United still don’t have quite enough to challenge for top spot.
🗣 "Is it enough for them to challenge and win the title? I don't think it is."@GNev2 is unconvinced Manchester United have done enough in the transfer window to compete with their rivals for the title pic.twitter.com/4zr6sopQfC
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) September 1, 2021
For what it’s worth, he is probably right, but perhaps not in the sense he realises. They need a defensive midfielder to properly solidify their team, and many would argue a new manager.
But that is where the issue lies, with Carragher asserting that Neville and Keane shy away from criticising the United boss because of their long-standing friendship.
Asked what had annoyed him recently while speaking on fellow Scouser Tony Bellew’s BBC podcast, Carragher said: “It must be something to do with football…and it must be something to do with Neville.
“He’s permanently making excuses for his mate Ole, isn’t he?
“I did a newspaper column on it – I was with Gary Neville a few days before and we did this YouTube chat about the season with Roy Keane.
“The two of them just make occasions for Ole because they played with him and he’s their mate.
“They were saying, ‘they can’t win the league, they still lack this, they still lack that, the Glazers aren’t putting enough money in, they should be going for Harry Kane’.
“I’m sitting there thinking, ‘you’ve just signed a player that’s won the Champions League four times, you’ve just spent 75 million on a winger. You finished second last season, you didn’t lose a game away from home all season’, and I’m like…’there’s only one step to go!’.
“Honestly, it wound me up so much. I went, ‘that is it. I’m doing my newspaper column on it’.
“The excuses have got to stop at Manchester United, I’m sick of it. Every player is over 50 million, it’s unbelievable.”
United currently sit fourth, two points adrift of league leaders Chelsea, and are in danger of an early elimination from the Champions League, having lost to Young Boys in matchweek 1.
A last gasp winner from Ronaldo against Villarreal secured three crucial points in their last Champions League game, but he will need a better performance if they are to come away from their upcoming clash with Atalanta with anything at all.
