Pat Nevin feels Manchester United "don't seem to have the legs" on the evidence of their 4-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The former Chelsea and Everton winger was on Off The Ball to give his take on how Jose Mourinho's side were humbled by the Londoners and felt United looked ragged at the end, especially as the reactive gameplan went out the window because they conceded the opening goal so early on.
"They just didn't look like a team in the end. You'd look at that and you'd think 'how do I fix that?' Well, I think what he starts doing is that he looks ahead to the games ahead," he said, adding that a run of winnable games coupled with teams above dropping points could put United back within contention for the Top Four as Chelsea have done since swapping to a 3-4-3 over the past three fixtures.
"It can be very, very changeable. My problem for Manchester United is they just don't seem to have the legs."
Looking to Chelsea, Pat pointed out that Chelsea manager Antonio Conte has put his own stamp on the team by including the likes of Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso at the expense of more illustrious names like Oscar and Cesc Fabregas.
"Personnel and system are completely and utterly different to what's expected. The big thing is all the guys he's brought in are all buying into it 100%. No one's complaining about the running or the tempo," he said.
"Little technical things that were noticeable...if you play a 3-4-3 as opposed to a 4-4-2, if you're the widest player, there are certain systems where you feel like a winger and other systems you feel like a full-back and other systems you feel like everything. If you're Eden Hazard playing the 3-4-3 and you've got somebody behind you like Alonso in the left-back/left-midfield area, you're starting the game 20 yards further up the park. What a difference it's made to him and Pedro."
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