Gary Neville explains why humiliating Bournemouth defeat could be a ‘massive positive’ for Man Utd

Gary Neville has explained why he feels Manchester United’s 3-0 loss at home at the hands of Bournemouth can be seen as a ‘massive positive’ for new head coach Ruben Amorim.

United were beaten by the Cherries at Old Trafford by the same scoreline for the second season in succession.

Dean Huijsen headed the visitors into the lead before the half-hour mark, with Justin Kliuvert doubling their advantage from the penalty spot following the hour after he was brought down in the box by United defender Noussair Mazraoui.

And Bournemouth added their third soon after through Antoine Semenyo as the Cherries climbed to fifth in the table and their impressive form under Andoni Iraola continued.

For United, they remain in 13th place, which is the lowest they have been in the top flight table at Christmas since 1989.

Amorim succeeded the sacked Erik ten Hag in the Old Trafford dugout in November, but United’s fluctuating form has continued since his arrival from Portuguese side Sporting.

It remains to be seen if United will take action in the upcoming January transfer window, or if any action in earnest will wait until next summer for Amorim to make changes to his squad which he is yet to add any new arrivals to thanks to his mid-season appointment.

Former United defender Neville discussed his old club’s latest defeat on his podcast on Sky Sports and outlined why he feels the loss is a ‘massive positive’ for new boss Amorim in the long run.

“I think it’s a massive positive that Ruben Amorim is seeing what he’s got,” said Neville.

“I think before maybe there’s been times where you can be kidded on by thinking that you’ve got a better group of players than you think and sometimes you can get decent results and you can move up to, say, sixth or seventh in the league with them and think ‘okay, add one or two more to this group’ – but they’re a mile away.

“An absolute mile away in every single way and also playing the way in which he wants to play with this 3-4-3 with the two narrow in-between [the striker], he’s going to have to change it anyway.