Gary Neville says Manchester United are 'not prepared' to sack Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and will continue to stand by their under-pressure manager.
After the heavy and humiliating defeat to bitter rivals Liverpool, the Old Trafford giants restored some pride with victory over Tottenham - and that was followed up by a creditable point at Atalanta.
However, when going up against top-level opposition, yet again - in the Manchester derby this lunchtime - United were found wanting and slipped to another damning reverse.
An own goal from Eric Bailly and a smart finish by Bernardo Silva settled the scores in favour of Manchester City and ramped up the pressure on Solskjaer as manager.
According to former United captain Neville, though, key figures in the Old Trafford boardroom will only act if things 'get so bad' in the coming weeks and months.
Antonio Conte was linked with the position before taking over at Tottenham, and the Sky Sports pundit claims that appointing the Italian was never under genuine consideration.
Neville said: "Ole is under massive pressure and they have no courage. Without [Edinson] Cavani they look less of a team he seems to have that fight to play for the club and when he doesn't play they seem nice, and nice isn't good enough.
"Up until the end of last season there was progression and finishing above Liverpool last season they'd snatch your hand off. The club has not planned for this.
"Some fans think that the club should've acted two weeks ago because Conte was available. They were never going to appoint Conte; it was never going to happen, they were never going to consider it."
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Neville added: "They are not prepared for this moment, because they got behind Ole and the staff.
"I don't think there's any chance they'll make a decision during this season, unless it gets so bad, but it's getting to that stage where it's so bad.
"You're 11 points off the top of the league if Chelsea win and you can't be 11 points off the top 11 games in. He has a few weeks to get a winning run going. After the break - Watford, Villareal and Chelsea all away. It could get ugly."
