Alan Shearer thinks that part of the reason Manchester United are behind Premier League rivals Manchester City, Chelsea and Liverpool because the club's structure is chaotic.
The Red Devils qualified for the Fourth Round of the FA Cup after a 1-0 win over Steven Gerrard's Aston Villa on Monday night thanks to a goal from Scott McTominay, but their performance was far from convincing and was another reminder that they're somewhat behind their rivals at the moment.
That's the opinion of Shearer anyways, who says that United's club structure is costing Ralf Rangnick from closing the gap on the teams above them.
"It’s alright having that belief in how to play it’s also having the player to play that way and in that current system what he would like to play, no I don’t think they have the players," Shearer said on BBC Sport ahead of United's Third Round victory.
"I think they’ve got a lot of good players here but I don’t think there are enough very good players here.
"But he [Rangnick] has walked into a very difficult situation here because structurally Man United it’s chaos I think because you’ve got a football director, John Murtough, you’ve got technical director, Darren Fletcher, you’ve got an interim manager for the next four, five months that goes into a consultancy role then going to look for a manager.
"When you compare that to the top clubs and you look at [Manchester] City, Liverpool and Chelsea, from that point of view Man United are miles off it."
Nevertheless, Shearer did concede that Rangnick needs to see a better attitude from the United players moving forward.
"He’s managed two years out of the last 10 so it’s very difficult. Having said all about that, you still need a better attitude from the players.
"We know if you give a player an inch they’ll take a mile that’s just the way footballers are but they still need to show a better attitude on the pitch when your manager is asking you to do something."
