Gary Neville claims Man City star Benjamin Mendy ‘can’t defend’ as Tottenham stun Premier League champions

Gary Neville slammed Benjamin Mendy during Manchester City’s defeat to Tottenham in their Premier League opener, claiming he ‘can’t defend’.

The Premier League champions Manchester City were defeated in the opening match of their title defence as Tottenham Hotspur celebrated a 1-0 victory in manager Nuno Espirito Santo’s first game in charge.

Pep Guardiola’s side were not at their best, as Spurs caused them problems on the counter-attack throughout the 90 minutes.

In the end, the hosts were the deserving winners as Son’s goal separated the sides. This is Man City’s fourth successive defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Speaking during their underwhelming start against Spurs, Sky Sports pundit Neville claims Benjamin Mendy ‘can’t defend’

‘Mendy can’t defend. He can’t defend. He’s so loose in his game and Man City have got [Oleksandr] Zinchenko and [Kyle] Walker on the bench,’ Neville told Sky Sports.

The former Monaco man was regularly targeted by Tottenham and regularly beaten as the home side found a way past or through him far too often.

He couldn’t handle Son and Moura, who kept peeling out to his flank and Spurs got a lot of joy down City’s left.

City have now lost their last three competitive games 1-0 after defeats in the Champions League final last season to Chelsea and Leicester in last weekend’s Community Shield.

Guardiola’s men should only get stronger with the return of many internationals and possibly Kane.

However, they have already ceded ground to Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool, who all displayed their title credentials with convincing wins on Saturday.