Former Manchester United team-mates Roy Keane and Gary Neville locked horns in the Sky Sports studio after a chastening defeat for the Red Devils at Anfield.
After a relatively quiet first half, Liverpool scored six times in the second period to run out 7-0 winners. It was United's heaviest defeat to date under Erik ten Hag and their heaviest against Liverpool under any manager.
Keane and Neville were left to pick apart a loss which brought United back down to earth just seven days after their Carabao Cup final victory over Newcastle. However, while Neville attempted to dismiss it as a freak result, his one-time Old Trafford team-mate was having none of it.
"We lost six and five in the same week and still won the league, my point is it can happen," Neville said on Sky Sports' Super Sunday broadcast, referring to losses against Newcastle and Southampton in the 1996-97 season. "It can happen in one season or within a week, it does happen."
Neville was then asked by fellow pundit Graeme Souness whether he considered it a freak result. "It was. It was a disgraceful result, but it’s been out of character for this manager and this group of players over the last few months," he said.
Souness then made reference to two other heavy defeats this season, 4-0 at Brentford and 6-3 at Manchester City, before ex-United star Keane delivered a harsh truth. "You said we won the league Gary, but this team won’t be winning the league."
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Neville then admitted: "They won’t. Erik ten Hag needs another couple of transfer windows, he needs other investment. What he’s getting out of the players in this squad, we’d written most of the players off. Rashford, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw, Varane, Fred, McTominay, they’re all still playing, those players, and he’s achieving unbelievable things with them.
"I’ve got faith with what he’s doing at this moment in time and he deserves a little bit more backing than what he’s got today. That second half, that is out of character for what we’ve seen in the last few months. They’ve lost one game in the last 25, that is out of character. That is not the norm for the players out there today - they’ve improved enormously."
Man Utd are still in control of their European fate, sitting seven points ahead of Liverpool in the battle for a top-four finish. Newcastle are a further point below Jurgen Klopp's fifth-placed side, but have a game in hand on both them and Ten Hag's men, while Spurs still sit fourth despite losing to Wolves on Saturday.
"Erik ten Hag needs another couple of transfer windows, he needs other investment," Neville said, while accepting Keane was right about United's chances of winning the league. "What he’s getting out of the players in this squad, we’d written most of the players off.
"Rashford, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Shaw, Varane, Fred, McTominay, they’re all still playing, those players, and he’s achieving unbelievable things with them. I’ve got faith with what he’s doing at this moment in time and he deserves a little bit more backing than what he’s got today.
"That second half, that is out of character for what we’ve seen in the last few months. They’ve lost one game in the last 25, that is out of character. That is not the norm for the players out there today - they’ve improved enormously."
