Neville: Lukaku needs to believe amid Man United struggles

Manchester, December 11: Romelu Lukaku needs to believe he deserves to be at Manchester United after struggling during Sunday's derby, insisted former captain and full-back Gary Neville.

Lukaku's woes continued as he had a hand in Manchester City's 2-1 Premier League victory at Old Trafford – a result which left United 11 points off the pace through 16 fixtures.

The Belgium international striker failed to clear the ball as both David Silva and Nicolas Otamendi scored from set-pieces, while he was denied by City goalkeeper Ederson from close range late in the Manchester blockbuster.

Lukaku – a £75million signing from Everton – has now scored just two goals in his past 14 matches in all competitions and ex-United star Neville is concerned.

"You look at him today and he struggled," Neville told Sky Sports.

"I'm not just talking about struggling in terms of missing a chance, he struggled at being in the game and being confident in the game.

"He's got to get over that quickly as he's Manchester United's centre-forward.

"He's a young lad but he needs to get to the point where he believes he should be out there - it's like he doesn't believe it in this period."

Source: OPTA