Gary Neville predicts Man Utd will line up with unusual formation that saw European giants dominate their league

GARY NEVILLE has predicted Manchester United will play in a bizarre formation this season.

The United legend says the unconventional line-up would allow Erik ten Hag to get the best out of his midfield and strikers.

Gary Neville advocated for Manchester United to play a bold formation on Stick to Football

In the latest episode of Stick to Football, Neville was joined by Roy Keane, Jamie Carragher, Ian Wright, and Jill Scott as they gave their predictions for the upcoming Premier League season.

It also saw Neville make a suggestion for United’s team going forward next season.

Neville said: “I was thinking they’ve got an interesting collection of midfield players with Mount, Casemiro, Mainoo, Fernandes, McTominay.

“It’s quite an interesting bunch, I can’t think of a team that has played four central midfielders but towards the end of last season, those two City performances that we’ve seen, book ending the end of last season and this one, they’ve all sort of played in the game and they’ve narrowed the midfield.”

Carragher disagreed with Neville’s suggestion that United could deploy the formation they used in the FA Cup final, a 4-2-2-2 going forward – saying it was a specialist tactic for City only.

But, speaking on the Sky Bet sponsored show, Neville contested: “There was a Juventus team that played with four central midfield players with Pogba and Marchisio playing that narrow [style].”

Neville was referring to Juventus’ team which involved Pogba between 2012 and 2016.

Manager Massimiliano Allegri would at times flood his midfield with Pogba, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio and Arturo Vidal with two strikers playing up front.

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Juve won the league in each of those seasons.

Keane said while he thought Man Utd had a “decent” selection of midfielders, he still had concerns over the team’s spine.

He continued: “It’s always a worry for me about competing and I still worry about the spine of that Manchester United team. For all the nice play they have and good players, I still worry about the goalkeeper and striker.

“On paper they have a decent squad, but the reality is when they’ve played games, and last year with their record in the league they were so open, If you’re on about competing, I worry about the spine of the team.”

Neville’s vision of Manchester United’s narrow 4-2-2-2 would both solve and create problems.

While it would allow United to play more of their central midfielders, and both Rasmus Hojlund and Joshua Zirkzee up front, it would mean they would have to drop wingers Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford.

AFP

Juventus had a formidable midfield during Pogba’s era[/caption]

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