Sir Alex Ferguson's former right-hand man Rene Meulensteen gives verdict on Kobbie Mainoo

Meulensteen said: "I can see the frustration that Erik ten Hag carries with him as manager at Manchester United, when he closes his eyes he must be asking why this United team can’t play like his Ajax team.

"I know him from his time at Ajax and the two teams are light and day.

"He says that he hasn't got the players for it to play that style but I think they are far too passive defensively rather than being on the front foot.

"They need to play with a high line and press the opposition, force them into mistakes and create quick turnovers. United have plenty of players who can hurt opposition but the team are dropping too deep and leaving too much distance between the back line and the forwards.

"You then have players like Casemiro who can’t cover those distances, you have Kobbie Mainoo but he is still inexperienced and can’t quite read the game just yet which means that these gaps then appear.

"When you look at the goals that United have been conceding, they don’t keep the ball well enough in possession and also players don’t understand the key purpose of possession, it’s slow and laboured and they’re never going anywhere.

"Possession always has to have a purpose of overloading to one side or breaking lines and trying to get in behind the back four and open the opposition up, that is what we always tried to do under Sir Alex.

"I miss that style of play, if you look at a lot of the stats now you see opposition teams having more possession than United at Old Trafford, that has changed.

"Those two things need to change which would make a massive difference, if United got those right they would be getting close to the level they used to be."

Speaking to BoyleSports, who offer the latest Premier League betting, he said: "If there is 20 minutes on the clock and it's still 0-0, our mantra was going in for the kill early and getting that goal, don’t give them any time to breathe or get confidence with easy possession.

"Too often now teams now come to Old Trafford and have confidence that they can get something."