Manchester United have “a very average squad of players” and lack the fight for a Premier League battle, says club legend Peter Schmeichel.
Having shown signs of encouragement in holding Liverpool to a 1-1 draw and collecting three successive wins across all competitions, another humbling dose of reality was handed out to the Red Devils in their most recent outing.
A 1-0 defeat away at Bournemouth suggests that struggles on the road have not been eradicated and that there are still some serious issues for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to address.
Schmeichel considers that to be the case, with the iconic former goalkeeper savaging the effort of a United side that remains some way short of the required standard for such an ambitious and successful outfit.
“It was definitely not good,” Schmeichel told Premier League Productions after seeing a Josh King strike down Solskjaer’s side on the South Coast.
“I kind of feel for Ole, I think he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“There’s not really a lot he can do. The fact is that it’s a very average squad of players that he’s got.
“To go to Bournemouth and to, not be bullied off the pitch, but at times played off the pitch, and with only one shot on target, it’s bad.
“We’ve all experienced games like that where it’s not coming off for you and stuff like that.
“But what really gets to me is the work rate - the work rate is just not good enough.
“You play for Man United, you have to work hard for 90 minutes or however long the game is and there are certain players in there who come off the pitch [and] there’s no sweat on them, they look like they don’t care if those lose the ball or lose a tackle and don’t get the ball.
“For me, that’s not good enough.”
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United did spend over the summer in an effort to aid their collective cause, but there were also plenty of outgoings at Old Trafford.
Schmeichel believes Solskjaer would have wanted even more activity, with there still players that he needs to move on and an obvious need to bring in further quality.
“He definitely didn’t get the transfer window done in the way that he wanted to,” the Dane added.
“Not so much any players coming in because he brought some really good players in.
“I think he wanted a couple more players leaving, which also has an effect on his team.”