Red Devils have lost their aura following Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure, says ex-United striker.
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Stoke City head coach Mark Hughes has raised the stakes ahead of his side’s trip to take on Premier League champions Manchester United this weekend by claiming that new Red Devils head coach David Moyes cannot afford to lose many more games this season if the Scot still wants to win the league, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
The Welshman takes his Potters side to the Theatre of Dreams on Saturday afternoon with his former club currently in a bad run of form, with United having failed to win any of their previous two home matches in the Premier League.
The Red Devils were surprisingly beaten 2-1 by West Bromwich Albion, before then being held to a 1-1 draw by Southampton last time out, two disappointing home results that left United languishing down in eight place in the table after the opening eight fixtures of the campaign.
And Hughes, who knows a thing or two about how to win a league championship from his time spent at United in the late Eighties and early Nineties, has claimed that Moyes cannot allow the champions to slip up in many more fixtures this season if they still want to retain their title after watching his new team already be beaten on three occasions.
“I don’t think there’s that aura around the club at the moment and maybe it’s a good time to meet them,” said Hughes.
“I dread saying that because they might listen tomorrow and take exception to that.
“But Southampton did well and West Brom have gone there and won so it’s more than possible that we can get a positive result. You can’t go to Old Trafford and be apprehensive, you have to be positive and have a go.
“The key is to go there and think ‘this is going to be our day’. If we do everything right and we take our chances we can certainly go there thinking we can win.
“You have to be careful. There are only a certain amount of games you can lose; five or six enables you to still be in the title race. Lose any more than six then you make it very difficult for yourself, nigh on impossible.
“They have lost three at the moment. They can’t afford any more slip-ups. Maybe they are a little bit vulnerable at the moment. Invariably when people question Manchester United they come back with the answers.”