Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick admitted his squad lacks both "aggression and physicality" following Saturday's 1-1 draw with Leicester City at Old Trafford.
United, despite coming from behind to earn a point, were, once again, well below-par against the Foxes, producing a largely toothless and uninspiring performance. It put another dent in their efforts to secure a top-four finish this season and has only further highlighted the size of the challenge that the club's next manager will have to try and conquer.
Rangnick, despite inheriting a squad packed full of world-class talent, has struggled to transform United's fortunes, with results and performances, certainly recently, highlighting the size of the troubles at the club. United's wastefulness in the recruitment department has finally caught up with them.
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And it is why Rangnick, who will be hoping to see a much-improved performance from his players when they face relegation-threatened Everton on Saturday, highlighted the lack of a physical presence against the Foxes. United are not short on options when it comes to luxury and technically gifted players, but they lack strength and aggression, especially in midfield.
Rangnick said: "This team doesn't lack technical players, it needs more physicality. Whenever there was body contact, we were too often we were second best.
"This is something we have to get better at for the rest of this season but even more so for the next season."
Remarkably, former United boss Jose Mourinho addressed the exact same issue just two days before he was sacked in December 2018. Following a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool that spelt the end of his Old Trafford tenure, Mourinho highlighted a lack of physicality in the squad, suggesting that he was suffering from the same problem that has plagued them for years and is continuing to do so.
"We have lots of players that I could consider injury prone because some of our players are always injured and it is not with me," said Mourinho, more than three years ago. It was before me. It was, if you look to the stats, with Mr [Louis] Van Gaal and before (him) with David Moyes.
"If you look to that period we have lots of players who are permanently injured. When you are permanently injured, physicality is very difficult to get.
"Then there are qualities that a player has or does not have. You cannot improve or make them have it. I will give you an example: [Andrew] Robertson, [Sadio] Mane, [Mohamed] Salah, [Georginio] Wijnaldum, [Naby] Keita and Fabinho.
"They are physical players and, on top of that, they are good players technically. I also have lot of good players technically but we don't have lots of players with that intensity."
Therefore, it is clear that United's lack of physicality in the squad is a long-term issue that is costing them. Two managers, more than three years apart, cannot both be wrong, surely?
United are set to prioritise the signing of a central-midfielder, who will, hopefully, offer some much-needed physicality this summer and Mourinho's admission about the problem back in 2018 should serve as a stark warning.
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