Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville does not believe the Red Devils are ready to challenge for the Premier League title this season.

Neville, who now works as a pundit, believes José Mourinho is the right man for the job at United but that it will take time for the club to build a title-challenging squad.

The Red Devils deployed a containment strategy against Liverpool on Monday evening as they largely frustrated their rivals, eventually drawing the game 0-0.

Neville has defended Mourinho’s approach, however, believing the present side lacks the character to do all out against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

‘In Mourinho’s first year back at Chelsea he said they weren’t ready to win the league and I don’t think this Manchester United team is,’ Neville told Sky Sports.

‘The game plan was good but you’ve got to be able to counter-attack off of it, and that’s the next step to really cause problems, but they didn’t really have the quality or the pace to do that,’ he explained.

Neville pointed out that United failed to make the most of their set pieces while he argued they also lacked the ability to hurt the opposition in the final third.

‘United did exactly what Mourinho would have wanted but he said afterwards they fell a little bit short in the attacking third, and they didn’t get enough set pieces either,’ confirmed.

‘But there’s no reason at this stage to not trust Mourinho as a Manchester United fan. There’s no point sitting here and saying, “Well, can he do it this time?” He’s done it wherever he’s been,’ Neville concluded.

United currently sit in seventh on the Premier League table after eight matches.