Who thought it was a good idea to place TV microphones directly in front of football fans?We know why TV producers do so - to get a good atmosphere during a live game and to hear their chants throughout the match.But do we really want to hear every word that is chanted during a match?Well, Sky Sports had a few issues during Bournemouth’s clash against Manchester City on Monday. That’s because a small section of the away support decided they would sing about all of the people that they hated, rather than their own players during their 2-0 victory.In the firing line was Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho with chants of ‘f*** off Mourinho’ often being heard.But Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville was also being abused.Throughout the 90 minutes, the former United defender was branded a ‘w***er’ and there were plenty of people picking up on the abuse.Check out the best reaction on Twitter: (Warning: the tweets contain NSFW language).

But it wasn’t just the viewers at home that could hear the singing, it seems.

Both Jamie Carragher and Neville were in the Sky Sports studio to analyse the match on Monday Night Football and they reacted to the singing on social media.

Carragher, rather typically, tweeted: “Great support & chanting from City fans all night!” - obviously referring to the abuse his colleague was getting.

But Neville deserves praise for the way he handled it on Twitter. He claimed that the City fans were actually saying: “Gary Neville we thankya, we thankya”.

Of course, Neville fully knows that wasn’t what the supporters were actually signing but it was a good interpretation nonetheless.

On the pitch, City rose to second - within eight points of Chelsea - as they emerged as the nearest challengers to Antonio Conte’s side.

It was their third consecutive league victory and has given them an outside chance of overhauling the west London club in their search for Premier League glory.

For now, though, Guardiola’s side will be concentrating on the cup competitions. They face Huddersfield in the FA Cup fifth round next weekend before playing Monaco at the Etihad a few days later.

But City’s biggest test to prove that they're genuine title challengers comes when at the start or Spring. They face Liverpool (H), Arsenal (A) and Chelsea (A) in consecutive league matches in what will define their domestic campaign.