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Mourinho has 'lost' the players, claims Arsenal legend

Former England central defender Keown says he didn't see any "fight" from the United players during the second half of their disappointing draw with Southampton.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho

Bengaluru, January 2: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has "lost" the dressing room, according to Arsenal icon Martin Keown.

Former England central defender Keown says he didn't see any "fight" from the United players during the second half of their disappointing draw with Southampton.

The goalless display at Old Trafford followed other festive draws against Leicester City and Burnley in what has proved to be a frustrating Christmas for Mourinho and his team.

That poor run of results has left United 14 points behind runaway Premier League leaders Manchester City. And, the Cityzens had a game in hand over their closest rivals.

Keown told BT Sport of his concerns surrounding Mourinho who has made his frustrations known to the media.

"I think he's lost the players," he said. "I didn't sense any fight from the players.

"There’s work to do with these players to get back on board [with them]. There doesn’t seem to be the harmony here that I would have seen at the start of the season.

"It’s going to be five years now that Manchester United have not been champions, and it’s unthinkable in the Alex Ferguson era to see where the club has now fallen to."

Keown had many a showdown with United players during his days at the top with Arsenal, most notably in 2003 when he snarled in Ruud van Nistelrooy's face after the Dutchman missed a last-minute penalty.

He said: "OK, it’s a former Arsenal player having a pop at Manchester United but you don’t come into Manchester United and get away with that.

"I can’t believe today, a tepid performance.

"I expected much more from Manchester United today, at least to get three points in the bag. They’ve been professional to this point in the season and now the wheels have come off.

"The top four is not a given for them, it’s going to be very difficult with City running away with it.

"But I’d be very interested to see where [Mourinho] goes with this one because he seems to have lost the players today."

Manchester United did come back to winning ways on the New Year's day with a 2-0 win against Everton and Mourinho will be a relieved man from now on.

Story first published: Tuesday, January 2, 2018, 12:03 [IST]
Other articles published on Jan 2, 2018