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Manchester United played against Manchester City in a way that ‘would not have been allowed’ under Sir Alex Ferguson, according to his former right-hand man Rene Meulensteen.
United were beaten in a semi-final for the FOURTH time under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on Wednesday night, as they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
It wasn’t a disastrous performance, but it was clear Solskjaer’s side were not at their best against their local rivals, with Bruno Fernandes having a rare off day which left United without the rudder that has steered the team since the Portuguese star’s arrival last January.
But it was the end of the game that disappointed fans and pundits most, with Jamie O’Hara telling talkSPORT United seemed to ‘accept they weren’t good enough’ and looked resigned to defeat in the closing stages.
“In the end Man United just didn’t offer much, I thought it was a bit toothless, they didn’t play with an edge,” said the former Tottenham midfielder on Thursday’s talkSPORT Breakfast.
“I just don’t think Man United had it last night, it was an average performance and they just accepted defeat. It seemed like they just accepted they weren’t good enough on the night.
“Man United have been in great form this season, but they’ve got to a semi-final and they’ve fallen at that hurdle again. That’s just not acceptable, you can’t keep losing semi-finals.”
And Meulensteen has sent a warning to Solskjaer, insisting that Ferguson would never have allowed one of his Man United teams to bow out so easily.
“If you look back at the amount of United wins in the last minute of games and extra-time, it was all based on keeping the pressure on but mainly making sure there was the quality and the composure,” said the former United first-team coach.
“The game that springs to mind was the game also against City when Michael Owen scored the winner, and if you look at that, that was on the highest quality when Ryan Giggs played in the ball to Owen.
“Sir Alex would never have allowed that [how United ended the game on Wednesday night].
“He would have changed things tactically to even put more more pressure on the opposition and force them to make mistakes. But there was always quality that got the goal that was getting us the draw or the win.”
Simon Jordan’s most explosive anti-Solskjaer rant yet – He’s not good enough and will win Manchester United absolutely nothing!
It’s that quality in the forward areas United are missing, according to another talkSPORT pundit.
Sports Bar host Jason Cundy said after Wednesday night’s game that Solskjaer needs to bring a world-class centre-forward to Old Trafford, insisting neither Anthony Martial nor Marcus Rashford ‘are the answer’.
The former Chelsea defender said the club need to sign ‘a younger Edinson Cavani’ to fix their lack of regular goals up front, amid reports the Premier League giants have rekindled their interest in Paulo Dybala.
But Meulensteen isn’t expecting any arrivals in the January window.
Asked if United need to spend, he added on the talkSPORT Breakfast: “Not really.
“I don’t think they’re really going to do anything in the January transfer market, I think that’s been made clear by Ed Woodward and Ole.
“I think they’ve got clear ideas on how to take it forward, it’s a long-term process and i think he’s happy with the squad he’s got.
“If they had all their players available against Man City, including Cavani, it could have been a different game.
“I don’t think they will do anything.”
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