Gary Neville suggests Manchester United should ‘ambush’ Chelsea’s move for Romeo Lavia

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has joked his old club should ‘ambush’ Chelsea’s deal for Romeo Lavia, as he believes the Red Devils have a serious issue with the setup of their midfield.

United started the new Premier League campaign with a 1-0 victory over Wolves, but were very unconvincing and conceded a host of chances, with the visitors racking up 23 shots. A big theme of the game was how easily Wolves dribbled through United’s midfield and Neville is concerned by how isolated Casemiro is in the current system.

Speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football, Neville said: ‘To be honest, tonight I’m hoping they go and buy Caicedo and Lavia!’ When it was pointed out that the Ecuadorian has already completed a £115million move to Stamford Bridge, he added: ‘Just get them off Chelsea for £170m! Ambush that deal!’

Manchester United’s midfield issues

Talking more seriously about United’s midfield struggles against Wolves, he explained: ‘Manchester United didn’t stop the counter-attack at any point in that game and they were really fortunate. Last season, when Man United got emptied in midfield, they ended up moving Bruno Fernandes up to a high position in one of the front three, they ended up putting Fred or Scott McTominay into midfield alongside Casemiro and they ended up having to be a little bit more solid.’

He added: ‘No team leaves that central midfield player [isolated], particularly one that isn’t the most mobile in Casemiro – as much as he reads the game well and he’s got experience. Old Trafford always feels like a massive pitch even though it might not be too much bigger than some of the other pitches, and if you end up basically chasing back towards your own goal you undermine the work that you’re trying to do in attack.’

Neville concluded: ‘Manchester United gave the ball away 81 times tonight, that’s a lot. Erik ten Hag alluded to that in his post-match interview. So if he’s basically in that position where his team are going to give the ball away – even if you give the ball away 20 times and get counter-attacked on – you’re going to have a problem against teams of quality.’

Conclusion

It’s clear that Manchester United have some serious issues with their midfield setup and need to address them if they want to challenge for silverware this season. Gary Neville has suggested they should ‘ambush’ Chelsea’s move for Romeo Lavia, but it remains to be seen whether or not they will take his advice.

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