“Changed my mind” – Gary Neville explains how Liverpool made him reassess Man Utd’s problems

Manchester United legend Gary Neville has made it clear he’s changed his mind about the problems at his former club after seeing how well Liverpool recovered after Jurgen Klopp left.

Man Utd haven’t been the same since Sir Alex Ferguson called time on his legendary career at the end of the 2012/13 season, going through a long list of different managers and expensive signings who’ve all struggled.

Although it’s hard to compare the two situations, Liverpool bounced back immediately after Klopp left, with Arne Slot winning the Premier League title last season.

Neville says this has made him question if there was always going to be such a drop-off from United, or if better decisions could have prevented it.

Ferguson had been at Old Trafford for 26 years and totally transformed the club, so the comparison with Klopp isn’t entirely like-for-like as he’d only been at Anfield for just under nine years.

Still, there’s no doubt that the German tactician also majorly changed Liverpool in that time, giving them their first league title in 30 years and winning a sixth Champions League title.

Speaking on the Overlap on YouTube , Neville discussed what United should have done differently when Ferguson retired.

“There was always going to be a drop-off, wasn’t there?” Roy Keane said in response.

Leny Yoro, Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

However, Neville replied: “Was there, Roy? To be fair, I say that, and then I look at what Slot’s done after Klopp, I know it wasn’t quite the same dynasty …that changed my mind a little bit.

“After (Arsene) Wenger (at Arsenal) there was a drop-off. After Klopp I was expecting there to be a drop-off, but there wasn’t. So what could’ve been done there, in terms of this massive problem that’s been created for the club?”

Fans will no doubt point to a number of different factors, and it’s bound to be a combination of things that made it difficult for the Red Devils to bounce back like Liverpool did.

It’s probably fair to say that Ferguson didn’t leave quite as good a squad, with some ageing players like Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand clearly past their peak at that point, as well as arguably other key players like Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Patrice Evra.

But then, the new signings that eventually came performed very poorly, with the likes of Angel Di Maria and later Paul Pogba not performing anywhere near like they were capable of.

That’s probably down to a series of poor managerial appointments, with David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho not quite looking right for United.

Slot entered a more settled club at Liverpool and didn’t have to do much to change things when he first arrived, such was the quality he was inheriting from Klopp.