SAY IT OFTEN ENOUGH

"This squad has more individual talent than any other that I've seen in my 11 years here. But individual talent counts for absolutely nothing. It's what the team does that matters.

“The talent is there, there's no doubt about that - just come and watch us every day in training and see. But it's doing it in a match that matters. It's about all the players performing and working together as a team to get the right results.

"We missed too many chances at Portsmouth and gave away two bad goals, which is a recipe for disaster at any level. With the chances we created, you should be hitting the target more and certainly scoring more often. If you're going to miss the kind of chances we did against Portsmouth, you're going to cause yourself trouble.

“It’s all about putting the ball in the net. Unless you are consistent, you’ll not win anything. We had a very good result against Arsenal, so to lose against Portsmouth was, as the manager said, a real kick in the teeth.

“It’s great to do well in training but you’ve got to do it on a match day. Our preparation for games and the work we do on opponents is spot-on but we need more consistency.

“I know the situation is not ideal but I would rather be this many points behind now than in February or March. There is a long way to go. I look at the manager, staff and players and know we are going to be OK.”

Gary Neville agrees that everything will come good in the MEN:

"With the forward players we have and the quality we have in the team you hope we would start to hit the right form going forward.

"United traditions have been built on scoring and attacking. That has never been our problem. But at the moment it is not happening.

"We will get there though, I promise you. We will get to the point where we are free flowing again and people will be saying I don't know what the problem was.

"We will get it right. We will become more clinical. We will become more ruthless. Until that happens we will have days like Blackburn, Middlesbrough and Portsmouth where teams will get results against us. If you don't put the ball in the net you are going to struggle

"We just haven't been as fluent going forward as we'd like. We have still created chances but it is a case of becoming a bit more ruthless and clinical in front of goal.

"Ruthless is the word. There would be times in the past where we wouldn't get a chance in the first 30 minutes and would be absolutely battered but the first opportunity in their half and we'd score. Before you know it we would then be 3-0 up and the game was over.

"It is about being ruthless and sending a signal to the other team that we are going to murder you. If you do that the opponents become deflated, the plan they have worked on all week is out of the window and the crowd is down."

"If you don't score away from home in the Premier League, in particular, all of a sudden a comfortable performance can become a very bad performance.

"Even at home it is vital. If Arsenal, for instance, had scored with 20 minutes to go last week then people would have been saying that it was a good performance by them and ours wasn't the best.

"But we scored and it is ours that is the good display and theirs wasn't. If we'd got the goal we deserved in the first 20 minutes at Fratton Park we'd have gone on to win that game by two or maybe three nil.

"But I am confident against Sparta that we will create chances and put them away.”