Manchester United players slammed as strong Jose Mourinho admission made

Former Chelsea midfielder Gus Poyet has called on people to stop criticising Manchester United's most recent managers and to start pointing the blame at the players for the club's current decline.

United's hopes of finishing inside the top-four this season suffered another setback after losing the Manchester derby 4-1 to City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. The Reds are now fifth in the table, one point behind Arsenal, who have three games in hand.

The defeat to City was another reminder of just how far United are behind their rivals and how quickly they need the summer to arrive to carry out the rebuilding job that needs to take place. As well as changes being needed in the squad, the club also needs to appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's permanent replacement.

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But although installing a new permanent is expected to help United's most recent woes, the players also need to take their share of the blame for the club's decline. And former Chelsea star Poyet believes the time has come for people to stop pointing the finger at United's managers, outlining how many different avenues they have explored since Sir Alex Ferguson retired back in 2013.

"For me, the problem at Manchester United is very simple to identify," said Poyet, speaking exclusively to Ladbrokes at the launch of its '5-A-Side bet on Chelsea v Newcastle'. "Clubs will change their manager once or twice, and you might put it down to them - but how many have tried since Sir Alex Ferguson?

"They are on their fifth permanent manager now... is it still the manager that's the problem? Because people only ever talk about the Man United manager.

"Right now, people are now