Gary Neville: 'Manchester United in a better place to win title under Solskjaer'

By Ben Knapton, Senior Reporter | 28 February 2021

Gary Neville believes that Manchester United have a "far better chance" of winning the Premier League title under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer than they did under Jose Mourinho.

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has claimed that the Red Devils are in a better place to win the Premier League title under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer than they were under Jose Mourinho.

The 20-time English champions last lifted the prestigious trophy during Sir Alex Ferguson's final season in 2012-13 - and since then they have witnessed Chelsea, Manchester City, Leicester City and Liverpool finish at the top of the pile.

United's best finish since Ferguson's retirement was second place in the 2017-18 campaign when Mourinho was at the helm, but Neville believes that Solskjaer could possibly guide United to the top domestic prize within the next couple of years.

Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the former right-back said: "Over the last 12 months, Manchester United have put an incredible run of results together. The points tally has been big, year to year.

"Their away form is outstanding and that that takes some resilience, to go 20 games unbeaten away from home. It takes some. I come back to my time at Manchester United, if I came to Stamford Bridge, and we kept a clean sheet and we came away with a point.

"We quite often lost to Chelsea at Old Trafford, let alone at Stamford Bridge, we had a poor record against them. You always want to win every single game - but this is a tough place to play.

"So those Manchester United players going back on that bus tonight can say that they've taken part in those 20 matches away from home, they deserve great congratulations for that.

"There'll be some criticism from United fans saying why didn't they go and win it, why weren't they more positive, and rightly so. United should always strive to do that.

"But to actually go 20 games away from home needs applauding because it's hard to do that. What do you use to demonstrate teams that have got good character and personality? They're good away from home, they're good on set pieces, they look like they want to play with each other.

"That's why I think this Manchester United team is better suited than the one from two or three years ago under Jose Mourinho that finished second. I actually feel there's a better spirit. I think they've got a far better chance of winning the league in the next two or three years than they were under Jose a couple of years ago.

"I thought it was a strange bunch of lads, they just didn't seem to like each other. They didn't really appeal to me as a fan. I think they're going in the right direction.

"Whether they get there or not, that's another matter; we'll know in the future. But they're certainly going in the right direction."

United's 0-0 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday means that they sit 12 points behind leaders Manchester City with 12 games left to play this season.