Roy Keane and Gary Neville row over how bad Manchester United were against Man City in derby defeat

Neville attempted to defend the United players by claiming they could not have given any more in the 2-0 defeat against City, but received the wrath of former teammate Keane who said their one shot on target at home was embarrassing

Former Manchester United players Gary Neville and Roy Keane were involved in one of the disputes of the season following the derby defeat against Manchester City, with the Irishman incensed by Neville’s claims that the United players couldn’t have given any more.

Neville came to the defence of players like Fred and Luke Shaw, arguing that their solid first half showing in holding City to a 0-0 scoreline and clear “gulf” to the Manchester City squad meant that there was little more they could give in the eventual 2-0 home defeat.

But Keane took clear exception to his former teammate’s comments, arguing that United had just one shot on target and directly accusing Fred of “cheating” in not tracking back to help his defence.

“City in the first half an hour was as sloppy as I've seen them,” Neville said after joining Keane, Graeme Souness, Joe Hart and Dave Jones in the Sky Sports studio. “They set such high standards, it's about precision, quality of passes. United played a decent game. That's as good as United have got.”

Keane quickly interjected. “They've had one shot on target Gary, one shot on target at home.”

But beyond the poor performance from goalkeeper David De Gea, Neville argued that there wasn’t any United players who could have performed any better. “That's that team! What we saw there tonight between United and City was the gulf in class between the two teams.

“I think that's everything United have got. I don't think I looked at any player on that pitch and thought they could've given more. That's what they are. De Gea to be fair, he's not normally like this.”

But this triggered seven-time Premier League winner Keane, who took aim at Brazilian midfielder Fred in particular as Sky highlighted how he lost his man for Leroy Sane’s goal that sealed the victory.

“You're saying they gave it their all,” Keane added. “That's cheating, what's (Fred) done is cheating, letting the guy run off him.”

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But Neville stood firm on his claim that there was nothing more United could’ve done, and he attempted to explain that Fred’s defensive struggles were due to the fact that he is not the type of player capable of doing what natural defensive midfielders are tasked with.

Roy Keane (right) and Gary Neville (left) argued over how bad Manchester United’s performance was (Sky Sports)

“I think that's what (Fred) is,” Neville added. “Defensive-wise he'll skip into challenges, he'll get beat, people will go past him. Sometimes he'll win it, sometimes he won't.

“Watching Fred all season, he commits to challenges, he gets skipped past and he can't get back, he can't recover, he's not got the legs. I think that's what he is.

“There's nothing I've seen from United that makes me think they could've given more. They could've not made mistakes, but that's the best they've got I think.”