Rio Ferdinand has admitted Manchester United have a very slender chance to get much success in the Champions League due to their weaker defence.
United had been linked with a number of defenders with the likes of Toby Alderweireld and Harry Maguire but Ed Woodward failed to pursue a deal for any of the players leaving the club in shambles.
Mourinho hasn’t been able to determine his best defending pair as he has rotated all the available defenders at his disposal to have a shot this season but neither of them has managed to convince the manager it seems.
The gaffer started the season with Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof in the heart of the Red Devils backline but the former seems to have fallen down in the pecking order.
Ferdinand feels had it not been the service of David De Gea the two times European champions would have been in tatters.
“I don’t think they have enough. The foundations of every big team that wins things is the defence. And the United defence is not strong enough and they have not reinforced so I don’t see them doing well.
“They’ve got a Superman in goal. If he’s not in that goal I don’t know what would happen over the last three or four years.
“The guys in front of him, there’s inconsistencies in terms of personnel every week. You can’t build a defence on people that aren’t going to be reliable. And then when people are in there they haven’t performed.
“Has (Victor) Lindelof worked? No. Has (Eric) Bailly worked? No. (Chris) Smalling and (Phil) Jones haven’t kicked on like the potential they showed when they first came through the door. So that ain’t going to change.
“I think they will get out of the group – and it’s a good group with Cristiano Ronaldo coming back with Juventus – but not much further.”
