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Former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson believes the club must win the FA Cup this season to provide fans with the hope and belief that they are heading in the right direction. United will host Championship side Middlesbrough in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday.
Manchester United currently sit fourth in the Premier League table, nineteen points behind league leaders Manchester City. They were knocked out of the third round of the Carabao Cup by West Ham. So the FA Cup remains the only domestic competition they can win.
As far as Europe is concerned, the Red Devils will face Atletico Madrid in Round of 16 of the Champions League.
"The FA Cup is absolutely massive for the boys. This group of players, what they've got to do is win something to get that confidence and belief in each other. They've got to win something," said Robson via The Mirror.
"That's why I said last season, it was so important to win that Europa League final, because we'd kept getting to semi-finals and then to the final, but we still didn't get over the line to win something.
"As a group of players, when I look back to 1990 with Sir Alex, that first FA Cup and first major trophy win, that gave us all belief in each other, because we had quite a lot of young lads in the squad at that time."
Manchester United have enjoyed a decent run of form since Ralf Rangnick took over as interim manager. The Red Devils have lost just one of their last ten games in all competitions under the management of the former RB Leipzig coach.
Manchester United are unlikely to appoint Rangnick as their permanent manager even if they win the FA Cup
Despite Manchester United's upturn in form in recent weeks, the Red Devils have been sub-par in most of their games under Ralf Rangnick. Furthermore, the German has been unable to get the best out of the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.
The club are therefore unlikely to appoint the German as their permanent manager at the end of the season even if he manages to guide the club to the FA Cup title. United are targeting current PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino next summer, according to Le Parisien.
PSG were knocked out of the Coupe de France on penalties this week by Nice and will face a tricky test against Real Madrid in the Round of 16 of the Champions League.
The former Tottenham boss could therefore lose his job if PSG fail to progress to the latter stages of the Champions League. This could pave the way for a move to United for the 49-year-old.
