Gary Neville has admitted that he received a barrage of messages after criticising Pep Guardiola's style of play following the drab Manchester derby. The match between United and City ended in a goalless draw last Sunday, with few noteworthy moments. Despite Guardiola's tactics being praised since his arrival to the Premier League in 2016 and bringing six league titles, it has resulted in some subpar imitations from other teams across the sport. City's performances this season have often fallen below their usual standards as the reigning Premier League champions have failed to keep up with Liverpool and Arsenal. Sky Sports pundit Neville advocates for teams to develop their own unique identity and playing style rather than attempting to replicate Guardiola's City. "We've seen a lot of poor imitations of Pep's style of play," Neville said on It's Called Soccer with Rebecca Lowe. "I feel quite strongly about that. Watching Pep's teams at their best is an absolute thing of beauty, they're unbelievable and incredible. "But it's hard work watching a team trying to play like him when they're c*** at it, playing out from the back and losing it in central midfield. It's like, 'what the hell are you doing?' It looks awful. Where's your own identity and purpose?" Show host Lowe revealed that even her eight-year-old son's youth team had adopted Guardiola's style of play. "They're not good enough," she expressed, clearly frustrated. Neville opened up about the significant responses he received following the derby. "I don't get many texts after games, generally, but I had more texts on Sunday after the game, people telling me 'it's infecting youth football', about 'where's the spontaneity? Where's the excitement'," Neville admitted. "The amount of people... and these are people who are serious football fans, serious football people, coaches, ex-players, commentators texting me saying, 'we've got to be careful', because players are being micromanaged to within an inch of their lives, to the point where they're frightened to take risks in matches." Highlighting the need for balance, Neville added: "I'm not saying you throw the kitchen sink at it at 0-0 but there is an element of taking a risk to win a football match. We're seeing more predictable play. Sunday was a massive disappointment." Fans of both Manchester clubs are keeping their fingers crossed for more excitement this weekend. City host Crystal Palace on Saturday afternoon (12.30pm) and United travel to Newcastle on Sunday. However, United boss Ruben Amorim felt Neville's assessment of the Manchester derby failed to take a few things into account. "I understand everything. I understand that Gary Neville is critical about everything, so I understand that part," Amorim said . "I understand that we are in the moment that we are doing the worst season in history. " Manchester City won everything in the past, this season is struggling. We are not in the best moments to give the best spectacle to every fan. When we are not fighting for the big things, of course it's different. "But you have to look at the context of the game and I understand the critical aspect of the players that played in this game in a different way, because they were fighting every time for the titles, so it's a different context."