'Why you laughing?' - Gary Neville calls out 'disrespectful' Jamie Carragher in awkward exchange

Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher were involved in an awkward debate over Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim.

The Portuguese head coach began his first full season at Old Trafford on Sunday with a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Premier League.

4 Amorim is the latest United manager to face pressure in the Old Trafford dugout Credit: Getty

After finishing 15th in May, their lowest ever final standing, United have spent close to £200million on new signings during the summer.

Appearing on Monday Night Football for Sky Sports, club legend Neville named Amorim as his 'Manager to Watch' for this season.

Carragher couldn't help but laugh at his selection, but his irked co-pundit responded: "Why you laughing, it's disrespectful?"

"You pick the Man United manager every year on that," Carragher said, and Neville insisted: "I don't pick him every year, it's disrespectful."

Carragher added: "You picked three last year, and one of them was the man [Erik] Ten Hag."

Neville then offered an explanation for his decision during what was starting to become a tense exchange between the two.

"The reason last year is a similar reason to this. Ten Hag last year, because I knew if he started badly, he'd be under massive pressure.

"Similarly, if Ruben Amorim... There's probably going to be no in between here, if he starts off badly and they're in 13th, 14th in October, November, he's going to be under massive pressure.

"He's the Manchester United manager, he has to deliver in these first few months of the season, and I think he will outperform, I think he'll emerge... I know you're not..."

"Outperform what?" Carragher replied. "You've got them fourth."

4 Neville wasn't best pleased with Carragher's reaction to his Amorim selection Credit: @SkySportsPL X

4 The punditry pair did not see eye to eye when discussing the United manager Credit: @SkySportsPL X

"Well, exactly," said the ex-United defender. "I know you're not sure about him, and you wrote your article the other day saying that you think that he's not that good."

"Did I?" a bemused Carragher reacted, with Neville then asking: "What was your article about?"

"It was about the two managers, [Mikel] Arteta and Amorim," Carragher revealed. "Amorim would be delighted if he was in Arteta's position in three or four years."

"Absolutely," Neville agreed. "So this season, I think the manager to watch is the United manager. All eyes are on him, can he do it? He had a horrible start to his United career, he didn't want the job partway through last season."

"Do you not think, because of that, he gets this season, whatever happens?" host David Jones asked.

"Oh no, I don't think it'll be that easy," Neville said. "I think if he's down in [the] bottom half of the table, he'd be under massive pressure."

4 Carragher then appeared confused with Neville's assessment of his article Credit: @SkySportsPL X

Amorim response to Arsenal defeat

A goalkeeping error from Altay Bayindir allowed Ricardo Calafiori to score the winning goal for Arsenal at Old Trafford.

However, despite beginning the new season with a loss, Amorim saw encouraging signs from United's performance.

"We were more aggressive than last year," he told Sky Sports. "We sprinted more, we were more brave, we went one against one all [of] the game. We pressed high and then with the ball we had quality.

"Even when the stadium makes some sounds, we continued to play the way we play. We lost fewer balls in the build-up compared to last year, we struggled a lot.

"Then the small things that we talk about in the beginning of this season.

"Players like [Matheus] Cunha, like Bryan [Mbeumo], one moment can elevate the stadium. So I think the most important thing, we were not boring."

WATCH Ruben Amorim's full post match interview after Manchester United's loss to Arsenal

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