Football
ESPN staff 10y

Neville: United have failed this season

Manchester United coach Phil Neville says it has been “difficult to look at the league table” this season, with the club set for their lowest finish in 23 years.

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Neville won six Premier League titles in 10 years as a player at United before returning to the club to work as a first-team coach under David Moyes last summer.

However, the former defender has not been able to replicate the success of his playing days, with United currently in seventh position and heading for a finish outside of the top three for the first time since 1991.

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And Neville admits it has been difficult to take, telling BBC show Football Focus: "We have not fulfilled any levels of expectations this season. We have failed on the football pitch and that doesn't sit kindly with anyone."

"We are not hiding away from the fact we have underperformed. It's been difficult watching other teams above us do well and to even look at a league table.”

Along with the majority of of United’s coaching team, Neville returns to Everton -- where he played for eight years after leaving Old Trafford -- on Sunday, as the Red Devils chase a spot in the Europa League.

It will be Moyes’ first trip back to Goodison Park since leaving the job he held for 11 years at the end of last season, with the United boss recognising that there has been “animosity” towards him from the Everton fans after he signed former player Marouane Fellaini in August and also pursued Leighton Baines.

"I went to see Everton (play) last Saturday at Sunderland, but I've not been back to Goodison this season," he said. "It's nearly a year since I left. I've just felt that it wasn't the right time to go back at this moment in time.

“Time is a big healer. I think there was animosity at the way we would have liked to have bought a couple of the players. But some Manchester United players go to Everton, so there is reverse."

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