‘All over the place’: Neville praises two Reds but bemoans duo’s sloppiness as United prove to be ‘inconsistent’ again

Gary Neville gave credit where it was due to Manchester United for yesterday’s win, but admitted that it should’ve come a lot easier than it did.

The Reds were in dreamland after Rasmus Hojlund opened the scoring within 40 seconds at Kenilworth Road, making history as he did so by becoming the youngest-ever player to score in six consecutive Premier League matches.

Fast-forward just six minutes later, and the Dane added to his tally again when he cleverly adjusted his body to send Alejandro Garnacho’s wayward shot on target and into the back of the net.

It was at that point United’s dominance subsided, and Luton Town kickstarted the same problems they’ve caused so many other top-six teams this season. End-to-end play saw the Hatters eventually claim one back through Carlton Morris, who donned the armband in Tom Lockyer’s absence, and they had several other chances go astray or saved by Andre Onana across the 90-minute thriller.

Neville’s verdict on gritty Luton clash

Reacting to the night’s affairs post-match, Neville analysed (via the Express): “I think United deserved to win. I think the second-half performance was probably better and more measured than the first half. The first 10 minutes were fantastic but I thought for 30 minutes, Luton could’ve scored two or three goals themselves. In the second half Luton’s last part of the game in the final third let them down.”

“But I thought United defended pretty well,” the former captain continued. “[Jonny] Evans and [Raphael] Varane positioned themselves well on those crosses. Obviously, the four one-on-ones – [Alejandro] Garnacho had one, Hojlund had one and I think Bruno Fernandes had two big chances. Between those four, they should have taken at least one of them. I thought they were professional in the second half, a lot better, more measured.

“First half they lost their discipline. [Harry] Maguire and Casemiro had to be hooked at half time, they were all over the place at times. You think, how can they go from here (high up) to there (low down) within halves of games?”