Dubai: Manchester United just need belief and consistency — not wholesale changes — to bridge the gap on Manchester City next season, according to former Red Devils striker Dwight Yorke.
United are second in the Premier League, 17 points behind champions City with two games remaining, and five points clear of third placed Liverpool. They also face Chelsea at Wembley in the FA Cup final on May 19.
For some that’s not good enough however, with former United defender-turned-pundit Gary Neville declaring after Friday’s 1-0 defeat at Brighton that ‘either the manager has to go or the players’.
“I think what we’ve got is good enough,” Yorke told Gulf News at a Manchester United Soccer Schools initiative with Emirates NBD in Dubai on Sunday, where three players won a trip to Old Trafford to watch United.
“I don’t think City are 17 points better than us in terms of ability. We have talent in there to be closer to City; we just need belief in the whole set-up.
“It’s all about consistency, we can’t keep making the vast amount of mistakes we have been making and obviously that’s going to cost you when up against the likes of City.”
Yorke, who scored 65 goals in 147 appearances for United across all competitions from 1998 to 2002, added: “I don’t think we have to splash the cash, and 100 per cent the manager has made progress at our club, just look at what he’s done in comparison to David Moyes and Louis van Gaal.
“He’s won the Europa League and got us into the Champions League, we finished sixth in the Premier League last year but this year we are likely to finish second and we are in the FA Cup final. We have not been able to win the Premier League but we are getting closer to the top.
“You’ve got to give him credit in that sense, despite what others are thinking out there and how they portray the club and the players.
“The manager is probably feeling hard done by that people are criticising the team and the way they are playing.
“There’s this comparison that Liverpool are playing great but at the end of the season we are above them, so you’ve got to find the right balance with United and how you speak about the team at the moment.”
Fellow former United player Quinton Fortune, who was also in Dubai, said: “We shouldn’t have lost against the teams we lost against this season, bottom three clubs and those who have just come up or even Sevilla in the Champions League. With the players and quality we have, we should have done better.
“Jose has done the best compared to the other managers who followed Sir Alex at United though.
“It has been a tough transition but we are in a better position compared to previous years.
“It is tough because we have been used to winning but you also have to give credit to City, they have been outstanding. What Pep has done you have to applaud, the football they have played this season has been ridiculous. Next season will be a big challenge for us to close the gap.”
