Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United have been branded unimaginative and ineffective by former Liverpool boss Graeme Souness following their Champions League exit.
The Red Devils were stunned by Sevilla at Old Trafford on Tuesday, going down 2-1 to the Spanish club after a scoreless draw in Andalusia three weeks ago.
It is the manager, as opposed to the players, who should come under scrutiny, according to the three-time European Cup winner.
“If you were to look at the players who were on paper, there are some good players in there,” told TV3.
“But from Alexis Sanchez to Paul Pogba, who’s really playing to their full potential? And that has to come down to the manager.
“The manager isn’t getting the best out of the group and that’s your job.
“It’s not happening for United right now.”
Souness was particularly alarmed by the lack of imagination that the Red Devils showed following a 2-1 win over Liverpool at the weekend.
“Manchester United coming into this game, their tails should have been firmly up,” he said.
“You think this is tailor-made for them, but they never got started. They never played at a tempo which was enough to cause this average Sevilla side a problem, never did until Sevilla scored basically.
“The major disappointment was they had no imagination, resorting to lumping it up to a big centre forward, looking for second bits off him.”
Sixteen points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City with nine games left, United’s only realistic chance of silverware now is the FA Cup.
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