Should Neville be 2nd choice for England and Manchester United?
Gary Neville is the best right-back England and Manchester United have seen in a long time. Since he’s broken into the first-team squads of both England and Manchester United, Gary has been consistently brilliant and effective to a fault. The ABU brigade has often put down Neville but you cannot play consistently as a first-team player for Manchester United for as long as Gary has without having some class.
However, injuries and a lack of pace have hampered Neville’s career of late. He’s sat on the sidelines and watched Micah Richards and Wes Brown make the England and Manchester United right-back roles their own this season, and as he plots his comeback the question must be asked - is Neville still good enough to be picked ahead of Richards and Brown?
Neville vs Richards
Avoiding the obvious Man Utd vs Man City comparison, I think Micah’s recent performances have shown that he’s more than earned his spot in England’s starting line-up. What Richards lacks in positional experience he makes up for it in physical strength and pace, and come Euro 2008 (heck, even the qualifiers against Croatia and Russia) his pace and strength will be essential in helping England keep a clean sheet.
Richards is also quite good going forward, although one area Neville beats him is in his passing and crossing. Seeing Richards and SWP link up they have in recent England games though makes me wonder if Neville will be able to overlap the same way Richards does.
Richards provides England with a penetrative threat down the right flank AND he’s blossoming in his partnership with Wright-Phillips AND he’s one for the future.
I don’t think that Gary Neville will settle for being second-best, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does when he comes back. His influence in the dressing room is unmistakable but England is not Manchester United and Neville is already behind Terry and Gerrard when it comes to influence.
Neville vs Brown
Wes Brown is an excellent defender, highly under-rated. The problem Brown has had over the past few seasons has been one of confidence - he’s barely had a decent run in the side, forced to play backup to Vidic and Neville and often in the last season dumped behind O’Shea in the pecking order.
This season Brown has had his chance, and he’s improved with every game. He doesn’t have the experience or tactical nous of Neville but he’s got pace going forward and provides a greater attacking threat than Captain Neville. Defensively Neville edges it, but that’s because of Brown’s concentration lapses which I attribute to a lack of confidence rather than a lack of ability.
This is a tougher comparison than the one for Richards, although the difference at this point between Brown and Richards is the chances both players are getting in their own squad. Brown expects to be ‘filling in’ for Neville, and I don’t think that approach is going to help either Brown or Manchester United.
Both Neville and Brown would do great for Manchester United at right-back, but looking at the future and especially in terms of getting the best out of a defender like Wes Brown who has several more years to play for the club, I think Brown should retain his place ahead of Neville in the Manchester United lineup.
Your Thoughts
What do you think? Should Richards start ahead of Neville? Should Brown start ahead of Neville? Let us know in the comments.
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Discussion - 14 Responses
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I agree with you fully in that Richards has staked a claim for a starting position in the England team, and unless he gets injured or suffers a run of bad perfomances, he should definatley start ahead of Neville.
As for your comparison of Neville with Brown, for me there is clearly only one winner. Neville should start ahead of Brown every time! Yes, maybe Brown is slightly faster than Neville, but by no means does that mean he provided more threat going forward. Neville’s crossing ability is far superior and he times his runs very well and gets himself in very decent positions going forward. Not to mention he is a much better defender than Brown is and will always get the others fired up for games,which I believe Brown could never do.
I don’t really care about Richards or Neville for England but I do think Wes Brown deserve to be replaces over Neville for Manchester United. Wes Brown is under-rated and he didn’t get to play much games. But now, he has the chance to show what he is capable of and to show that he can definitly replace Neville.
Ahmed, I disagree - though not violently.
: Richards - based on his performance in the derby at centreback and his strength and presence, Richards has the edge. He carries the ball well into the opposing half and is willing to take men on but I cannot recall him making any crosses, good or bad, though that may be down to my memory and not his crosses.
Incidentally, if Neville strolled back to defence the way Richards does, letting Wright-Phillips tackle back, Old Trafford would let him know all about it.
: Brown - UnitedForLife says everything I would. It has to be Gary. Wes is a great servant of the club but his positional sense doesn’t always match up to the CL standards required.
no fuckin way! nev all da way! legend=gazza.
united all the way
g. neville all the way
Richards is a good bet for the future, but even the Russians found him out in the first 15 minutes of the 2nd half especially - with the fact Neville is the better crosser and the better positional/ experienced defender there is no other choice than Gary for the important matches to come (even think Wes Brown should be playing ahead of Micah personally)
Neville being the Captain of Man Utd needs to be on the pitch - he gets his place back on skill and merit, even though I agree its harsh on Wes. GN’s leadership and drive is essential for the whole team and I hope these two weeks are actually that when he is due back (it seems like its been a few weeks for the last 6 months!!!)
Micah Richards is more of a threat to John Terry’s long term place on the national team than he is to a fit Gary Neville. The difference between Gary the Red and Wes Brown is vast. Wes Brown makes too many mental mistakes and is all too often caught floundering, out of position. The luxuries of speed and ball-handling skill that allow Evra to charge forward and quickly retreat are just not in Wes’ toolbox. Gary Neville may indeed be much slower and more injury-prone these days, but he’s still the best crosser of the ball we’ve got and is world throw-in king. I saw Danny Simpson play for Sunderland and, although he’s slow, I definitely believe he’s got more of an instinct for positioning than Wes will ever have. On one of the supporters web sites I read, Rio gets blamed a lot for supposedly corrupting Wes and ‘ruining’ him. Well, Rio obviously does own some bad, naughty habits, but there can certainly be no doubt, as with Gary the Red, that he owns a massive desire to always win, something which he definitely hasn’t passed on to Wes. Even if the twins get here soon from Brazil, I’m sure itwill take a couple ofseasons to become acclimatized. These are all good problems for our Lord Ferg, aren’t they? Brucey, Keano, Sparky and Coppell wish they had such hard decisions to make.
Neville gets his place back for both. As a full back he’s a better defender than brown and richards, and he’s far better going forward. If you think brown’s a better attacking option then you don’t know anything about football. Man utd haven’t got started yet, but neville will make a big difference to the team offensively. The return of neville, saha, rooney and ronaldo should see man utd return to form.
brown is better than neville offensively?
that is clearly not the case man
Nev was brilliant last season (and seasons prior to that going forward) On evidence of this season alone Brown has been appalling going forward. He’s struggled to beat more than a man or two.
oh well, let’s wait and see
neville is mnautds captin u cant just discard him to the sidelines hes much bta than brown so neville nyday for ud but for england micah shoud b first choice he played brillent vs isral an russia an him an SWP down the right will be a grat artnership for england.
Gary Neville has being around for a long long time. His not getting younger anymore, but, he still have the sting in him. Whether he play wide or defensively, he never seems to get tired running up and down the wing, and he still manage to put quality crosses and tackles most of the time. Maybe Brown played well recently, but I hardly seem him putting quality crosses into the boxes and he is VERY inconsistent. Unlike Richards, his worthy of comparing Gary Neville, Richards is like the younger version of Gary Neville, fast, rombusting, throw in damn far, put quality crosses, great tackles, consistency. Which most of the qualities Brown doesnt have. He maybe a good defender, but not good enough.
I don’t think Brown is consistent enough, the moment he strings together some good performances, he may be injured or make defensive errors in the next match.
I feel that the only reason Neville has been in the England team for so long is that there has been no-one good enough to replace him. He is getting on a bit now and maybe time has come for him to step aside at international level and give Richards a run in the team. As for Man Utd there is no one who can fill his boots certainly not Brown.