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EPL legend John Barnes slammed Manchester United players for 'dropping their standards' and not displaying the responsibility to win. He expressed his opinion on how their downfall has a lot to do with the mentality of the modern United sides. The former Liverpool star won two EPL titles at Anfield in his ten years there and was part of a stellar Reds squad.
Manchester United's success surged in the early '90s under Sir Alex Ferguson. In his 27 years, the Red Devils captured a whopping 38 trophies and established an era of dominance on the EPL. Their record of 13 EPL titles is by some distance the most achieved by any club till date.
However, things haven't been as rosy as they were since the iconic Scottish manager's retirement. Since Sir Alex called it quits in 2013, United have only managed one FA Cup success under Louis van Gaal and a double of the UEFA Europa League and EFL league cup under José Mourinho. The objectives for many of the post-Fergie era seasons have been to qualify for the UEFA Champions League as opposed to winning the league.
EPL giants United have dropped standards
Speaking to BeIN Sports, Barnes attempts to explain why he feels United have experienced a fall from grace. The Englishman began,
"If you look at Manchester United now, and it’s still a huge club, still got great players, but I don’t think they feel the responsibility of having to win."
He also remarked that this mentality rubs off on the club's fanbase, saying,
Speak to Man Utd fans now and they’re going ‘you know we’re going to finish fourth, we can finish fourth’ and they will be happy with that because they’re in the Champions League and I think that’s the big difference."
The EPL great goes on to build on what he said about the Red Devils by drawing a comparison between them and his former side Liverpool. Barnes continued,
“I see a huge similarity between Manchester Utd and Liverpool, huge similarity and I’ll tell you in what way. In the way when I first went to Liverpool, they were a successful team before I was there and the demands to win and the pressure to win was the most important thing, regardless of whether they had superstars Ian Rush, (Sir) Kenny Dalglish and they had won everything."
Liverpool are yet to register their first league title in the EPL era since Manchester United took over in the early '90s. Barnes explains that when Liverpool finished third or fourth on the EPL table during that time, they felt proud to be at the club. That being said, however, they didn't feel the same responsibility to win — something that he now relates with United.
Barnes added,
"If you look at the way the players were after say 1992/93, Liverpool still was a huge club, and it seemed that the players there were happy to be at Liverpool without necessarily recognising the responsibility to win. So we still got that kudos, that feeling that we are great, that we are better than everyone else because we are Liverpool players."
Liverpool are set to resume their record-breaking top-flight campaign as their maiden EPL title was all but sealed before the suspension of play. The league is set to restart on June 17 under new social distancing and safety protocols amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.
