"I actually think Manchester United are going to win, maybe that’s just blind faith," Gary Neville said before Manchester United's trip to Leeds. The line came after Lisandro Martínez's comments following United's 2-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night had dominated the build-up. Neville also said the club would have had a serious team meeting after Martinez's outburst.

Neville's call after Martinez's outburst

Neville's view was simple enough, even if he undercut it himself. He backed United to win and said, "this is it now", while also admitting, "Maybe that’s just blind faith." The point was not that the noise around the squad had vanished, but that he expected a reaction rather than another flat outing.

United did at least give him a performance worth arguing over in the 1-1 draw at Leeds vs Manchester United. They are still 13th in the Premier League, with 7 points from 7 league matches and a 1-4-2 record, and their winless run across all competitions reached 6 games.

Maguire's role in the draw

Jamie Carragher's post-match view was more pragmatic. "But in isolation, getting a point at Leeds is a decent result. I thought Harry Maguire was fantastic, especially in the second half," he said. He also described a spell after Leeds equalised when it felt like United could go under, before Maguire held it together.

That praise fits the numbers. Maguire has already played 7 Premier League matches this season and has 639 minutes in the league, with a 6.99 rating across those appearances. The display was not enough to turn the result into a win, but it did explain why Carragher focused on him when United were under pressure.

Carragher still called the game a point in isolation and then added that United's results have been so poor that it felt like two points dropped. That is the fairer reading of the night, because the draw at Elland Road did stop the bleeding a little without changing the fact that United still need wins quickly.

Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →