Neville lays into Man Utd "individuals" and sends warning to Solskjaer

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has explained how days like the recent shock defeat at home to Aston Villa will continue to happen until they address their tactical problems as a unit.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end in spectacularly dramatic fashion, as Aston Villa centre-back Kortney Hause glanced his header beyond David de Gea, sparking wild celebrations in the away end - only to handle the ball inside his own area minutes later and gift United a penalty.

Surprisingly, Bruno Fernandes stepped up to take the spot-kick ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo and subsequently fired his effort high over Emi Martinez's cross bar.

Bruno Fernandes smashed his penalty way over the crossbar late on against Aston Villa ( Image:

PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)

The late penalty miss capped off what was a miserable afternoon for United, but had Fernandes found the net from 12 yards, it could have potentially papered over some rather glaring cracks in the way Solskjaer had set up his team.

Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the former United stalwart all but quashed his old side's hopes of a title tilt this season.

"I said it when they were winning and when Ronaldo was scoring, they don't play well enough as a team to win this league in my view," Neville explained.

"You need to be a unit in possession and out of possession - and when you only deliver in moments, those moments won't go for you in certain games.

"You need patterns of play, you need a way of playing and I still see a group of individuals playing in moments, with some patterns and combinations.

"But still a team that's new together, but they've got to come together and find a style of play. Then you get results when you don't play well.

"The way they are at the moment, they'll always have days like that yesterday (Saturday vs Aston Villa)."

The defeat saw United drop from table toppers to fourth placed, leapfrogged by a number of their title rivals - including fierce rivals and 'noisy neighbours' Manchester City.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Is Neville fair in his assessment of United's title hopes? Comment below.

Gary Neville has explained how Man Utd do not play well enough as a team to win the title this season (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) ( Image:

2020 Getty Images)

The result also ensured United have lost three of their last four games in all competitions after the recent defeats in the Champions League and Carabao Cup.

Solskjaer kept his cards relatively close to his chest when asked if the run of losses were beginning to cause panic, explaining: "When you lose games it's a concern of course it is."