'Always critical' - Amorim hits back at Neville criticism of Man Utd vs Man City (2025)

Gary Neville was critical of Manchester United and Manchester City being too nice on derby day and Ruben Amorim has responded by defending both teams.

Ruben Amorim has hit back at Gary Neville's criticism of the Manchester derby being a "love-in" at Old Trafford and accused the former Manchester United right-back of being "critical about everything".

Neville said on the Sky Sports broadcast of the game that it was a derby lacking "blood" and "thunder" and that it summed up the "robotic" modern game. Neither team created many chances and a goalless draw was the right result.

"The love-in that I'm watching tells you that both teams feel happy with a 0-0. I think the best City teams and the best United teams would be very disappointed at the end of that game with the way they approached it," said Neville.

"I mean, it looks like it's Sunday afternoon - they're gonna go for a roast dinner now. They're micromanaged within an inch of their lives - so robotic, that game - and quite symptomatic, actually, of a lot of games that we're watching nowadays.

"It's not good enough. I feel disappointed. It's a Manchester derby and it should have more blood, thunder, and risk, and courage involved in playing the game and trying to win the game than that."

Amorim hit back at the pundit and former United defender, saying: "I understand everything. I understand that Gary Neville is critical about everything, so I understand that part."

The United head coach added to the context by pointing out the difficult season both sides are having, insisting the context should explain why the game wasn't as good as some of the previous contests in this fixture.

"I understand that we are in the moment that we are doing the worst season in history," said Amorim.

"Manchester City won everything in the past, this season is struggling. We are not in the best moments to give the best spectacle to every fan. When we are not fighting for the big things, of course it's different.

"But you have to look at the context of the game and I understand the critical aspect of the players that played in this game in a different way, because they were fighting every time for the titles, so it's a different context."

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