Peter Schmeichel believes some players at Manchester United ‘don’t care’ about the club and he has called on manager David Moyes to launch a January clear out.
United have slumped to a staggering ninth in the Barclays Premier League table, last week losing consecutive home games against Everton and Newcastle, and the former United goalkeeper has urged Moyes to focus on moving players out of Old Trafford next month.
Speaking to Sportsmail, the Great Dane said: ‘I think more than anything, he should let players go. There are some players in there that are not doing the job and haven’t been doing the job for a bit.
‘To be a Manchester United player, it requires a certain level of performance, mentality and you have got to be proud to be a Manchester United player. I just see with five or six players that they don’t care and United have never ever had players that don’t care. You should care.
‘It’s so obvious. Everyone is talking about it. Let’s say the club have 560 million supporters. If you are named in the first eleven, you carry the responsibility for 560million people’s wellbeing at that time. That’s a lot of people. There are 75,000 people there at Old Trafford every time you play a game.
‘This is what you have to understand when you are a Manchester United player – this is the kind of responsibility you have to take on the pitch. Certain players look like they don’t care and they should not be at Manchester United.
I think David Moyes will already have identified that, and the statement that he will make by letting players go will be more powerful than the statement he will make by bringing players in.’
Most observers have reflected that United paid the price for a poor summer transfer window, in which the Old Trafford club failed to add to their squad ahead of David Moyes’ first summer in charge, save for Marouane Fellaini, who has endured a difficult start to his time at the club.
Schmeichel, who won five Premier League titles, three FA Cups and one UEFA Champions League in his time at Old Trafford, believes that Moyes needs to bring in his own players at United – but only if they represent an upgrade on those that he has inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson.
‘David Moyes needs to sign players,’ Schmeichel stated, ‘He needs to look around that dressing room and see players that he has signed, not players signed by the previous manager. But what is the point of signing players if they are not better than what you already have and are not going to improve the team?’
‘I know it doesn’t look great that we are ninth in the table but in January, I don’t think the right players are usually available.
That’s the kind of gamble you have to take. Unless you want to pay ÂŁ50million for someone just above average that has a name, and I know some have been mentioned, but I don’t agree with that. I think we are better than that.
‘I would rather give David Moyes the opportunity to build a powerful team and accept that we are ninth for now, than panic to be in the top four by bringing in more players that over time will be shown to be there for the money.’
Written by Steve Milne – Have your say below 🙂
