'A disease in the game' - Gary Neville blasts 'robotic and micromanaged' players in Manchester derby draw in passionate rant from Man Utd legend

The United legend did not hold back while slamming players from both clubs as the Manchester derby ended in a boring goalless draw on Sunday at Old Trafford. Neville questioned the players' attitude after the draw as he labelled them 'robotic and micromanaged'.

In a passionate rant on Sky Sports after the match, the pundit said: "I don’t think there was one player who walked off the pitch disappointed about drawing the game 0-0, from either side. I think they all sort of walked off thinking: ‘We’re okay here we got away without making a mistake’. It was really disappointing, I apologise for my co-commentary, I think I let it get to me, I was boring on there as well. That was drab.

"I get what he [Ruben Amorim] is saying about it being that point in the season, with City and United being in a difficult moment. But this robotic nature of not leaving our positions, being micro-managed within an inch of our lives, not having any freedom to take a risk to go and try and win a football match is becoming an illness in the game, it’s becoming a disease in the game."

Neville added: "Ultimately, when you think about Pep Guardiola and his teams over the last 10 years, that’s what his teams do but we are seeing poor imitations of that across the board now. United’s goalkeeper rolling his foot on the ball and waiting for things to happen. That’s not it. That’s not what this club is and not what we do here. Liverpool don’t do that. You’ve got to be a top team with tempo in your play, rhythm in your play."

Amorim's side will now shift their focus to Europe as they are scheduled to face Lyon next in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final fixture on Thursday in France.