Manchester United lack strong characters in the dressing room, claims Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar has claimed that Manchester United’s struggles this season is because they don’t have strong characters in the dressing room. The Ajax Sporting Director spent six seasons with the Red Devils and won everything he could possibly win with them, including four Premier League titles.
Manchester United’s struggles this season has been wide-spread and covered extensively by the media with the Red Devils truly struggling to get their season up and running. They do have four points after two Europa League group stage games but their start to the Premier League has been downright miserable. At the moment, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's men sit two points above the relegation zone in 12 place and have not won on the road since February.
The latter is a run bettered only by Tottenham and with league leaders Liverpool visiting Old Trafford after the international break, things could get even worse for the club. But legendary goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has claimed that a lack of characters in the dressing room is one of the many reasons why the Red Devils have struggled since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club. Van de Sar went on to add that he believes that while the club may have changed managers quite a few times since Ferguson left, real progress is yet to be seen.
“Of course it's difficult. I left there eight years ago and it was a tremendous last six years of my career, winning four Premier League titles and playing in three Champions League finals. So it's a long way from the position where they are in now. And of course they have changed managers a couple of times now and the real progress is not seen yet, only the thing that they bought in the summer. They bought younger, inexperienced players with a certain desire and hunger, and not like the big names they bought the last six, seven years," van der Sar said reports ESPN.
The Dutch legend spent the final six years of his career at Old Trafford, joining the club in 2005 and would go on to win four Premier League titles and play in three Champions League finals. However, when he did join the club from Fulham, they had a powerful dressing room flooded by the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Roy Keane and even Paul Scholes which all worked in his favour.
"I think for ourselves, when I came in the dressing room we had Ryan Giggs, you had Scholes, you had Ferdinand, Neville and even Roy Keane at that time. So I think there's always been strong characters. And I think for the last couple of years the strong characters have disappeared and not making a difference anymore," concluded van der Sar.