FORMER Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov has warned there can be ‘no excuses’ if his old side slip up against West Brom after the international break.
Despite having won 3-1, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was furious at having to play Everton at 12:30 on Saturday after having been in Champions League action on Wednesday.
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Solskjaer has bemoaned United’s fixture pile-upCredit: AP:Associated Press
Berbatov has warned there can be no excusesCredit: Reuters
But Berbatov, 39, believes that the pile-up isn’t a good enough excuse for Solskjaer, 47, if his side slip up again.
He told Betfair: “United have faced fixture congestion for many years, during my time and even before my time.
“United are used to playing in the Premier League, Europe and in the cups – we used to win them all as well.
“There can be no excuses, the situation is the same for everyone else, the performances are just not consistent enough.
“They need to improve sooner rather than later because other teams will get ahead of them and they could become a real embarrassment.”
Despite this warning, however, United’s old No9 believes that Solskjaer still retains the ‘trust’ of his players.
He added: “The boys reacted in the best way possible but for me this is the problem.
“They perform really well in a must-win game but then they go on and have another dip and have to deal with the pressure again.
“Why can’t they just be consistent and perform like they did against Everton every week?
“It’s like United need to be under pressure to produce a winning performance.
“But there’s only so long you can operate like that – they won’t produce the win every time the pressure is piled on.
I still think the players believe in Solskjaer and they like him
Dimitar Berbatov
“In the end, it isn’t going to finish well if they continue being so inconsistent. The team needs to find consistency and produce good football game after game.
“I still think the players believe in Solskjaer and they like him.
“I think he has their trust and they have his. There’s something that just isn’t working right in games when they are losing.
“The problem for me is, sometimes when they don’t have the ball they have a lack of mobility to chase and get the ball back.”
Manchester United defeated Everton 3-1 in the maligned Saturday lunchtime kick-offCredit: AP:Associated Press
Marcus Rashford’s injury is not looking good according to Solskjaer as he rants about the bad treatment of football players and teams
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
