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Neville on his disappointment at Manchester United star Di Maria, three players who impressed

Angel Di Maria Argentina (Fanny Schertzer)
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Former Manchester United captain on the club’s draw with Chelsea.

Gary Neville has admitted his disappointment at Angel di Maria’s display during the 1-1 draw with Chelsea.

The Argentine played all 90 minutes, with United claiming a late point thanks to a Robin van Persie strike.

Playing against his former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho, the attacker did not manage to impact the game as he would have liked.

Gary Neville told SkySports: “The only disappointment was the star player [Angel] Di Maria – he was the only one that probably dipped below the level he has been, the rest of them were fantastic.”

However there are statistics to suggest Neville was a little harsh on Di Maria, for he created the joint highest number of chances against Chelsea than he has in any other United game this season.

MatchMatchdayKey PassesDribblesShots on Target (%)Mins
Ángel Di MaríaMan Utd vs Everton075433.3390
Ángel Di MaríaMan Utd vs Chelsea095325.0090
Ángel Di MaríaLeicester vs Man Utd054333.3376
Ángel Di MaríaMan Utd vs QPR044250.0082
Ángel Di MaríaWest Brom vs Man Utd082175.0076
Ángel Di MaríaMan Utd vs West Ham06200.0089
Ángel Di MaríaBurnley vs Man Utd03130.0070

Di Maria also made his second highest number of completed dribbles in a game, although his shooting was certainly the most underwhelming aspect of his performance.

Neville went onto pick out three United players who showed him signs of improvement in the contest.

“Januzaj was better than Monday night, [Luke] Shaw was better than Monday night – it was a step up today and they’re going to have to step up again this week because playing at the Etihad is going to be a different game to this today… Van Persie looked livelier than he has done.”