Manchester United legend tells players they’ve “choked” in the title race

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Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has criticised his old club for choking in the Premier League title race.

Only a few games ago, the Red Devils looked in a good position as they went top of the table after some strong performances, but it’s quickly gone wrong for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.

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Despite a major dip in form from Liverpool, United have been unable to take advantage as they’ve slipped up with a surprise home defeat to Sheffield United and a 3-3 draw with Everton which saw the team lose a 2-0 lead and concede an equaliser at the death.

Ferdinand won a few titles back in his Man Utd days, and it’s clear he isn’t impressed with how this current squad responded to being in such a strong position.

Manchester City will be heavy favourites now after a superb run of form, which included a surprise 4-1 win away to reigning champions Liverpool at the weekend.

“You can’t defend it,” Ferdinand told on FIVE. “Man United were sitting pretty at the top of the league.

“You see the league table, you look at the results, you get excited. When you put yourself in that position, Man United have to strike.

“When there’s an opportunity you’ve got to go. The problem is we’ve let this opportunity slip through our hands.

“You can see Man City with their experience, they’ve smelt blood, they’ve put their heads down, they’ve gone.

“But Man United have stuttered, we’ve got the choke going in and out, haven’t got it quite working properly.

“We have choked, it’s simple as that. I’d put us out of the title challenge unless we go on a run and we change our habits and our lack of consistency.

“But I haven’t seen enough to suggest we can go on a 10, 15-game winning streak. We’re tripping ourselves up all the time.”

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