“I don’t use that term lightly but he is not a Manchester United player in any shape or form”, he wrote in his Daily Mail column.
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United next heads on Tuesday to West Ham, which was beaten by Swansea 4-1 in the penultimate game at Upton Park before the east London club moves into the Olympic Stadium.
Jack Colback and Aleksandar Mitrovic went close for the Magpies in a game they needed to win but Villa put up an unexpectedly competent defense given its season so far.
Their relegation will be confirmed if Sam Allardyce’s men can get a result at home to an out-of-form Everton, with the Wearsiders needing just one more win from their two remaining games to preserve their top-flight status for another season.
Juan Mata’s second-half strike secured Manchester United’s 1-0 win at Norwich City yesterday to keep the visitors’ top-four hopes alive and severely dent the Canaries’ chances of retaining their Premier League status.
Manchester United are missing the “scare factor” under Louis van Gaal and must do better, says former hero Teddy Sheringham.
“They (Norwich) sat back deep and let us play, they made it tough for us”, the Dutchman added. “With Wayne Rooney up front after Anthony was injured, we had to adapt, but he did the job”.
Victory at Carrow Road was another example of United’s gutsiness in a hard season.
He has said throughout this season that United have been unlucky, particularly with injuries. We have to fight until the end.
“There have been so many times where we have been in the game, played pretty well. While it is possible, we won’t quit and stop fighting”.
“It’s off the back of another mistake that has been quite commonplace for us this year”.
The goal came in the 72nd minute owing to a Bassong error in judgement which left Rooney with acres of space to run into between him and the keeper.
And Smalling, who will then go off to the European Championships with England, knows it is all about results at such a pivotal time of the campaign and praised his team-mates for dealing with the loss of Anthony Martial to injury moments before kick-off.
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“It’s not over, but it’s a major blow”, Neil said.
