Roy Keane's approach to Sunderland players was too 'offensive' at times during his spell in charge on Wearside, according to Dwight Yorke.
The duo were teammates at Manchester United, and Yorke was one of Keane's first signings when he took over as Black Cats manager in August 2006.
Yorke worked under Keane for almost two-and-a-half years before the former Republic of Ireland international quit as boss in December 2008.
More recently, both Yorke and Keane have worked as media pundits, with straight-talking Keane an outspoken critic of Manchester United's current crop of players.
Former Trinidad & Tobago striker Yorke believes Keane should 'tone back' his criticism of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side, and says he saw the Irishman's forthright approach backfire at times in the Sunderland dressing room.
"I know what he's like," said Yorke.
"We all make mistakes. He wasn't perfect when he played. He made mistakes along the way.
"He has to tone that back a little bit.
"Maybe one of the downfalls which I recognised from his management career is that the way he delivered his approach to players could be quite offensive.
"Brian Clough, Ron Atkinson, maybe even Sir Alex Ferguson sometimes, they give those kind of rollickings.
"Players of yesterday could easily dust those kind of comments off.
"Things have changed.
"It's the way you go about it which is important and that's one of Keane's problems: he doesn't know how to deliver it."
