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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Jack Flintham

'Players want to go to different teams' - Dutch legend Ruud Gullit gives damning Manchester United verdict

Manchester United have been told the key reason behind their struggles since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

Following on from the legendary United manager's retirement, the Reds have failed to win the Premier League. Their only major silverware has come in the form of cup competitions.

United suffered a disastrous campaign last year under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick which ended in their lowest ever points tally in the Premier League. In the summer, the Reds hired Erik ten Hag and although there was signs of improvement in pre-season, the same frailties from the previous regime scuppered opening day success.

ALSO READ: Ten Hag is putting pressure on Murtough

A Pascal Gross brace was enough to see off United last Sunday and Ten Hag's team will be hoping to improve from that starting point as the season wears on. According to Dutch football legend Ruud Gullit, there is one main factor behind why the Reds have suffered in recent years.

"I think that there’s a lot of problems at Manchester United," Gullit explained to Laureus via The Telegraph. "I think they missed the opportunity to change football.

"I think they live too much in the past. They talk about the 90s team too much.

"That’s the past. You see teams, they play a football that they now want to play, but they are too late.

"Pep Guardiola did it, [Jurgen] Klopp did it, [Thomas] Tuchel did it and they were hanging in the past, [Louis] Van Gaal and [Jose] Mourinho as well. Great coaches, but there’s a new era, there’s a new way of playing and that’s the reason why they stood behind.

"Nowadays, players want to go to different teams. They want to go to Liverpool, they want to go to Manchester City, they want to go to Chelsea.

"They are not the main team any more in England as they were with Ferguson. That’s the past.

"So, you need to change your mentality a little bit and it will take some time. Plus, they have five ex-players who every day talk about Manchester United.

"It’s difficult. Difficult and the only way you can overcome that is to win and if you don’t, then every day, you’re gonna see the newspapers, the first five, six articles all about United, every day."

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