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Sport

10th Sep 2016

People have criticised Gary Neville for a bizarre piece of Manchester Derby commentary

Think before you speak

Tom Victor

We love Gary Neville as much as anyone else, but that doesn’t mean we’ll give him a free pass on everything.

The Sky Sports pundit was on co-commentary duty for the Manchester Derby, which was City’s first game since the departure of goalkeeper Joe Hart for Torino.

Hart’s replacement Claudio Bravo was making his debut for the club, and had a bit of a nightmare for Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s goal for the home side.

The Chilean failed to claim a cross into the box under limited pressure, dropping the ball at the feet of the opposition striker who found the top corner of the net, and he continued to have a shaky afternoon as the game drew on.

But Bravo wasn’t the only one who struggled. Neville described the lofted ball in as a “Premier League cross” – did they never play those sorts of balls in La Liga, Gary?

To be fair, Neville not realising you were allowed to cross the ball in Spain could explain his torrid time in charge of Valencia, where he won just 10 of 28 games and just three of 16 in the league.

It could also explain the form of Manchester City and Spain international winger Jesus Navas, whose crossing is not his strongest suit.

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