Football: Top-four finish will be a successful season for Rangnick's Man United, says Gary Neville

SINGAPORE - After a poor start to the season that has left them languishing eighth in the Premier League, former Manchester United defender Gary Neville believes that a top four finish would constitute a successful season for the club's new interim coach Ralf Rangnick.

The German, 63, takes over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and will hold the position till the end of the campaign, before moving on to a consultancy role for the next two years.

"What would be realistic would be to get in the top four - we're 12 points behind at the moment. They had a terrible start to the season and the manager lost his job," said Neville, 46, who was speaking at a live-streamed session for fans hosted by ZujuGP, a global digital platform that aims to connect fans and those in football industry.

"For Rangnick, finishing in the top four would be a successful season. If we win the FA Cup, it would be incredible but he's got to somehow get those players who've looked so disconnected and disjointed in the last two to three months sorted straight away."

Also present at the session were fellow ex-United teammates Phil Neville, who is in Miami, as well as Nicky Butt and Ryan Giggs, who are in Singapore to participate in a series of events organised ZujuGP, a company founded by Singapore businessman Peter Lim and his son Kiat.

Butt, who played 270 times for United, feels that with managers expected to produce results quickly now, they may not prioritise promoting those from the academy.

He said: "The difficult thing for young players now is that the talent is there, the players are there but you have to get the manager in there, who has the trust of the board and the time to do it.

"Because if you're going to a football club, your time is very limited and if you don't start winning straight away, you're sacked within a year. How can a manager go in and say he has a vision like Sir Alex Ferguson had, where he came in and had a vision of the team?"

The quartet of ex-United pros recalled how senior players such as Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson, Mark Hughes and Peter Schmeichel played a role in their early careers.

Such influential figures, said Gary, is missing in the current squad that comprises academy graduates like Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay, Mason Greenwood, Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba.

But the former United captain hopes that the return of Cristiano Ronaldo and the arrival of Raphael Varane, who was signed from Real Madrid over the summer, can change that.

He added: "The senior players in the dressing room aren't as good as the ones that we had to look up to. Liverpool have got (Jordan) Henderson, (Virgil) van Dijk, (Mohamed) Salah and Alisson (Becker) at Liverpool, they are really strong players. Chelsea have Jorginho, (Romelu) Lukaku, Thiago Silva."

Another area he felt needed addressing was United's midfield.

He said: "I don't know how you can sign a player for £40 million (S$73 million) and not have a plan. The treatment of Donny van de Beek has been mystifying and was disrespectful at times.

"Central midfield is a difficult area for Man United - they've got McTominay, (Nemanja) Matic, Fred, Donny van de Beek, Pogba, who've all shuffled around in the last two years.

"I'd be interested to see how Rangnick treats that midfield area because he wants to press, pro-active in terms of making sure they press up the pitch very high."