The Red Devils icon was left bitterly disappointed with his side’s performance against the Toffees
Gary Neville did not hold back after watching Manchester United slip to a 1-0 home defeat against Everton, describing the performance as “not acceptable” and saying it “smelt of complacency.”
United had an early advantage when Everton midfielder Idrissa Gueye was sent off in the 13th minute for slapping his team-mate Michael Keane in a strange moment that left the visitors a man down. #
Despite that, it was Everton who struck first, with Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall firing in shortly before the break. Jordan Pickford’s superb goalkeeping, combined with a flat United display, ensured the visitors protected their lead and condemned the hosts to a loss at home to 10 men for the first time ever.
A win would have pushed Ruben Amorim’s men up as high as 4th, but instead, they stay 10th in a tightly packed Premier League table where only 5 points separate Chelsea in 2nd from Liverpool in 12th.
Neville felt that chance to jump into the Champions League places unsettled United mentally before a ball was kicked.
He said on the Gary Neville Podcast: “It’s as if they’ve imagined in their heads they’re going to be in the Champions League places, and they thought that maybe before the game.
🏴🗣️ Gary Neville on Manchester United’s performance against Everton:
“You can lose football matches, but you can’t lose them like that. That’s nowhere near good enough, it’s not acceptable.”
‘m not saying it’s easy playing against ten men, you have to play with some urgency,… pic.twitter.com/LoM4YLmlcx
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) November 25, 2025
“It just smelt of complacency, they weren’t at it from the beginning – that is a bad one for United.
“I think they’ve been a lot better in the last few weeks, that probably takes us back to Brentford away.
“You can’t go from the fight that they showed in certain games to that, it just erodes confidence, it erodes trust.
“We’re trying to build a trust in a manager, we’re trying to build a trust in a team.
“The fans booed collectively at the end, it was loud, and rightly so — that was a really poor performance.
“It’s almost as if you’ve gone two or three steps forward, everyone’s feeling a little bit better about themselves, and you’ve just gone back to the start again.
“You can lose football matches, but you can’t lose them like that, that’s nowhere near good enough, it’s not acceptable.”
Missed chances and no excuses
United’s attacking options were stretched, with Joshua Zirkzee starting due to injuries for Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha.
The Dutch forward had the clearest opening of the match, a glancing header that Pickford turned away brilliantly.
Neville dismissed any talk that the absences up front explained the result, insisting Everton simply showed more desire even with 10 men.
“Forget [injuries to Sesko and Cunha], there are no excuses. I’m not entertaining that one bit,” he added.
“Everton dominated them with 11 men and with 10 men, in a different way of domination, but they dominated them through their fight and their spirit.”
