Saturday 8 December 2018 13:48, UK
Manchester United's squad is "too bare" to drop underperforming players, unlike their rivals, Danny Mills told The Debate.
Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba were dropped for the 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, but both have been mainstays generally, even during periods of poor form for Jose Mourinho's side.
Mills told The Debate Mourinho was not blessed with the same strength in depth as some of United's rivals, meaning he could not keep his players on their toes to the same degree.
He said: "Where he has had a problem with some players is that Guardiola can drop anyone, and bring someone else in. You can't complain about it because he has the quality to bring in, that squad is exceptional.
"Mourinho doesn't really have that depth in his squad. It's difficult when he drops a big player, does he have the quality to replace them? No he doesn't, in all honesty.
"It's a bare squad in some ways. Look at Lukaku, he's not performing and hasn't scored at Old Trafford in a long time. But who does he bring in? He can't. At Manchester City you've got players who can step in, and at Liverpool too.
"There's competition for places. Do Manchester United have that? I'm not sure they do."
Much has been made of Mourinho's public spat with United over their failure to bring a centre-back to Old Trafford in the summer, and Mills added that the Portuguese manager had been forced to adapt his style given United's preference to build players.
He said: "Jose is used to winning, he's used to top players and he's used to consistency. It might be a bit dour, the way he plays, but he knows what he wants.
"He wants seven or eight out of 10 every single week. He doesn't want Jesse Lingard being brilliant one week and terrible the next, he doesn't want Marcus Rashford doing the same, he wants a solid platform.
"Jose has never been one to really improve players or bring them through as Pep, Klopp and Pochettino have done.
"Mourinho wins trophies, but he does it with a team he can bring in of exceptional players he can mould together, and he hasn't really been allowed to do that."
