Stoke City forward Peter Odemwingie has severely criticised Manchester United as he claims that the club has ‘lost’ its edge in recent years. The striker believes that Louis van Gaal’s team lacks quality and is taken advantage of by opposition teams for their unwillingness to take risks on the pitch.
Manchester United host Stoke City later tonight and Louis van Gaal will be keen on proving his critics wrong as he looks to resurrect United’s season with 15 games to go.
United don’t take risks anymore and are therefore taken advantage of by opposition teams
As reported by the Daily Mail, Peter Odemwingie claims that Manchester United’s lack of quality players has impelled them to take fewer risks on the pitch.
“They are not the club they were – they don’t have the names and the quality they used to have.
“They themselves look more shy than usual, they don’t take as much risk as we know them to do, so people take advantage of that and go for it when they play against them now.”
United have lost the respect it once commanded from opposition clubs
Speaking about Sir Alex Ferguson’s team at United, Odemwingie opined that the team has lost its ‘real leaders’ over the past few years. In other words, the striker believes that the present United lineup doesn’t command the respect it did previously under Alex Ferguson.
“There was a lot more quality there, they had real leaders on the team. Now they’ve lost that. Many teams go through that.
“You still give them the respect, they are still good players, but not in the times when they had the likes of Rio [Ferdinand], Roy Keane, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [David] Beckham and great finishers like [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, so it’s a bit of a different time for them now.”
Having beaten Manchester United by two goals in December last year, such comments coming from a Premier League player reflects how Manchester United have fallen following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. While the team has lost the respect it once commanded from opposition teams, Van Gaal’s unwillingness to play attacking football has made them a vulnerable target on the pitch.
Manchester United have only won 5 games in 11 home matches this season, scoring only 12 goals in the process. It will be interesting to see if Peter Odemwingie’s latest comments spur United on as they host Stoke City later tonight.
