- Man United have endured a miserable first half of the season
- Gary Neville has spoken about what surprised him about his crisis
- LISTEN NOW: It's all starting! New line-up, some new faces, but optimism has faded at Old Trafford
Gary Neville has admitted he cannot believe how poor his former club Manchester United have been this season.
The Red Devils had their worst result in the Premier League last season, but optimism was high that they could turn things around after spending big over the summer.
United spent around £200m on Manuel Ugarte, Leny Yoro, Matthijs de Ligt, Joshua Zirkzee and Noussair Mazraoui while backing up Erik ten Hag, but a disappointing start to the campaign meant the Dutchman was sacked in October.
He was replaced by Ruben Amorim, but the new manager lost five of his first 10 games at Old Trafford, with United currently 14th in the table.
Ahead of United's clash with Newcastle on Monday night, Neville revealed that he was baffled by how poorly the club's new signings had played since arriving at the club.
“I'm surprised at how bad those players have been in their first few months at this club,” Neville told Sky Sports.
Gary Neville has criticized how poor Man United's summer signings have been since his arrival at the club.
Neville has attacked United's summer signings including Noussair Mazraoui (left) and Matthijs de Ligt (right).
Rubén Amorim has struggled to get the best out of new players and has lost five of his first 10 games at United.
And it has happened again. I've said before that this club has been a kind of graveyard for players with a decent reputation. But when they signed players like Ugarte, De Ligt, Yoro, Zirkzee, I didn't hear anyone say “they signed a bunch of bums”.
They've signed some half-decent players who you thought would improve the team. The problem is that when you see them play here in a red shirt, it seems that Manchester United are actually worse than before.
“That's the strange thing, that's the strange thing that I'm going to keep working on because these players haven't suddenly become bad players overnight when they come to Manchester United. But it seems like that is the case and it's happening again against our eyes.'
Of United's five summer signings, three have been named in the starting XI to face the Magpies, with De Ligt, Mazraoui and Zirkzee receiving the nod from Amorim.
Yoro is only on the bench as he continues to work to regain fitness after breaking his foot in pre-season, while Ugarte is suspended.
United have lost their last three games in all competitions and will have to try to win again without captain Bruno Fernandes after he was sent off last time out against Wolves.
Their task promises to be difficult as they face a Newcastle team who have won four in a row to climb into the top half and advance to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup.