Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville has pulled no punches towards the current Manchester United first-team squad after the Red Devils’ lacklustre 2026-27 campaign so far.

Manchester United are sitting in the Premier League relegation zone after their opening 10 league matches under Red Devils boss Michael Carrick this season.

Gary Neville ruthlessly slams the state of Man Utd’s defence in the Premier League this season

Manchester United have not kept a single Premier League clean sheet in the 2026-27 campaign at Old Trafford so far. The only time that the Red Devils have completed a match this season without conceding came in United’s 4-0 demolition of Sabah in the Champions League clash at Old Trafford in September.

According to OptaJoe on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, last Sunday, United have conceded more times (30) across all competitions than any other side in Europe’s top-five leagues this season. However, United have conceded fewer times than 20th-place Crystal Palace in the Premier League alone, as opposition teams have scored 24 times against the Eagles in 10 matches.

Gary Neville tears into ‘worst’ part of entire Man Utd team

Speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast, Gary Neville was deeply critical of the United defence against Aston Villa ahead of the start of the November international break.

“I mean, look, the back four that he finished with on Sunday was [Patrick] Dorgu at left-back, [Noussair] Mazraoui at right-back, Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven,” he said.

“That is probably the worst back four in the Premier League. I don’t know a back four that is worse than that in the Premier League right now, if I watch it.

“I can’t believe Manchester United have ended up with that back four. So, Michael, to be fair, I’ve got a bit of sympathy in the sense that he obviously has had injuries to [Luke] Shaw, but that was predicted and he should have signed a left-back.

“They should have signed a left-back. Maguire and [Matthijs] De Ligt and [Lisandro] Martinez can get injured. We know they can. He’s been left woefully short in defence.”

According to Transfermarkt, the Red Devils are now joint-second for the team to have conceded the most times in Europe’s top-five leagues after all matches were played before the November international break. Only Ligue 1 side Lens have conceded more times (31) than United after 15 matches across all competitions this season.

Man Utd are level with the likes of La Liga side Getafe and Serie A side Sassuolo for how many times they have conceded under United manager Michael Carrick so far. Carrick has struggled with injury issues in his defence this season and the Red Devils did not sign an additional left-back option under Ineos back in the summer transfer market.