Manchester United are low paced and need new defenders, says former player Jaap Stam
Wednesday 19 December 2018 12:24, UK
Former Manchester United centre-back Jaap Stam has described his old club as "low paced" and says they need to sign better defenders.
United are currently sixth in the Premier League and trail bitter rivals Liverpool, who top the table, by 19 points.
The Red Devils have conceded more league goals this season than they did in the whole of the previous campaign, and have a current goal difference of zero, leading Stam to call for defensive reinforcements.
Asked whether United have defenders that are good enough, he told Sky Sports News: "Well they obviously think they have. They keep holding onto them and not bringing somebody else in.
"I think they need to bring some extra quality in. I'm not saying the players that are there are not good players, but if you want to play in a certain way, you need to have certain defenders with certain quality that can give something extra to the team.
"If you are talking about not conceding goals, I think you need to talk about the whole team and how they are set up.
"When I see them play, I see a lot of things happening at a low pace. If you need to sprint back in, they jog."
United's 3-1 defeat at Anfield was the final game of Jose Mourinho's tenure, with the Portuguese being sacked during a face-to-face meeting with executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward on Tuesday morning.
Liverpool have conceded 22 fewer goals than United in the league this season, with Virgil van Dijk, in particular, impressing during his first full campaign as a Red.
His fellow Dutchman Stam admits he is "great" but says Liverpool's vastly superior defensive record - when compared to United's - is not down to one player.
"Virgil van Dijk is a great player. He has improved a lot within the last couple of years. But he needs quality players around him to succeed, so it's not only up to one player," explained Stam.
"That's the quality of a manager, in building a team and getting certain players working together.
"Virgil is a great asset to Liverpool, he's doing very well. But if you look at them as a team and you look at United as a team, there's a big difference."
