Manchester United not the club they used to be – Odemwingie

Stoke City forward Peter Odemwingie says Manchester United have lost the quality they used to possess as the club go through a rebuilding phase.

United manager Louis van Gaal has come under increasing pressure this season after several lacklustre performances from his players.

The club are fifth in the Premier League – 10 points behind table-topping Leicester City – and were knocked out of the Champions League group stages.

Odemwingie says United are not the club they once were, and believes they are there for the taking when Stoke travel to Old Trafford on Tuesday.

“They are not the club they were – they don’t have the names and the quality they used to have,” the 34-year-old said.

“They themselves look more shy than usual, they don’t take as much risk as we know them to do, so people take advantage of that and go for it when they play against them now.

“It’s a turning point for a big club like that. They have all the resources, they just need to do the right recruitment probably and go through this difficult stage and get back to the heights they are used to.

“There was a lot more quality there, they had real leaders on the team. Now they’ve lost that. Many teams go through that. When you lose a generation of players it’s hard to then get a new set that will produce the same way. I think the process they are going through is rebuilding.

“You still give them the respect, they are still good players, but not in the times when they had the likes of Rio [Ferdinand], Roy Keane, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [David] Beckham and great finishers like [Ruud] van Nistelrooy, so it’s a bit of a different time for them now.”