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Former Man United player says club 'more concerned' with legends' criticism than fixing problems
Mikael Silvestre says Manchester United need to accept criticism from retired players amid continued struggles at the club.
The Red Devils are 14th in the Premier League and were eliminated from the FA Cup by Fulham over the weekend, leaving the Europa League as the only possible avenue for silverware this season.
It's a dire situation that has drawn excoriation from across the footballing media sphere, which is now heavily populated by former United players from the club's most recent glory days at the turn of the century and into the early 2010s.
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For Silvestre, who won four Premier League titles and a Champions League with the Red Devils, criticism from ex-United players has been taken too harshly by current members of the club.
"Everyone knows the situation the club is in," Silvestre told yaysweepstakes.com.
"Former players, like myself, experts that write about and watch the game, we can all see the problems. When ex-players such as Roy Keane and Wayne Rooney speak in the media, it seems like people at the club are more concerned about what we say than what they have to do to improve things.
"For most ex-players, a lot of the United legends, this is the job now: we commentate, we analyse the games. We have to tell the people what we can see.
"If you’re a player in this United squad, you need to realise that there is a reason that you’re being criticised. You need to be strong enough to accept the criticism."
Silvestre hit out at the current players' mentality, stating that he does not think they are "strong." Citing Rooney's analysis following the Fulham loss, Silvestre questioned why the former striker's opinion was the biggest narrative rather than another poor result for the club.
"On Sunday night, it was Wayne Rooney who criticised Ruben Amorim and called him naïve for saying he wanted to win the Premier League, and that was the story that dominated things after the game," Silvestre said.
"The truth is, when you listen to what Wayne said, if you look at his entire analysis, he's been kind to Amorim."
Silvestre also believes Keane's words should be heeded and, if possible, he should be given a role at the club in order to restore the mentality at Old Trafford.
"I think it would be great for Roy Keane to play a role at Manchester United," he said. "Because, the thing is with Roy, he always treated everybody exactly the same way.
"It didn’t matter if you were a new signing, an old guy, the manager, everybody. That's how he got respect. That's how Sir Alex got respect.
"If you treat everybody the same, no problem. Now, it's true you have players, and as soon as you say something to them, they don't collapse, but it affects them much more. We used to have thicker skin."
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