Former England World Cup goalkeeper David James has suggested Manchester United would be fighting for the title under a "better manager."
Interim boss Ralf Rangnick looks set to miss out on the top four target he was set when he replaced Ole Gunnar Solskjaer earlier in the season. The German has drawn criticism for not being able to maintain squad cohesion with leading players consistently underperforming.
James says the United squad is steeped in quality but Rangnick is not up to the task of drawing the best out of them when the team need it most. Speaking to GGRecon, he said: “It's one of those things where I see the squad and I look at each player - [Scott] McTominay, [Paul] Pogba, [Marcus] Rashford, [Jadon] Sancho, whatever - all these players are top drawer players but they're not playing top drawer football.
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“You look at the 'head' of the club and how that's affecting everything below it and no matter what we are as football fans, what we see on the pitch is a result of planning and process, and the planning and process of Manchester United is wrong.” He added: “Had they appointed a better manager, I think this group of Manchester United players would be contending, not just for qualification in the Champions League, but for a chance, at least for part of the season, of winning the title.”
United are set to end a fifth consecutive season without a trophy after being knocked out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 by Atletico Madrid last week. A number of names have been linked with the permanent Old Trafford job, including most strongly Erik ten Hag and Mauricio Pochettino, with Rangnick surely poised to vacate the position this summer.
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