These United players need to take a good look in the mirror, grow a pair and stop blaming everyone else

I don’t understand the ‘pass the buck’ culture at Manchester United, it’s an old cliché, but take a look in the bloody mirror.

It is a trend in modern football to hear of players disconnecting from the coach because they are unsure whether he will become manager next summer. They blame his tactics, the coaching and the selection. As players, it was OUR fault when my team played poorly. It wasn’t the manager, it wasn’t the tactics, it wasn’t the coaches’ messages, it was us.

This United team gets away scot-free. They’ve been damned! You represent Manchester United, don’t blame anyone but yourself. It doesn’t matter who the manager is, you’ll be the one putting on the United shirt on Saturday.

Who from this group really deserves to wear a United shirt?

We see Bruno Fernandes hinting that he might go. Nowadays that shows player power. It used to be that the club decided when you left as soon as you signed a contract, now the players tell the clubs when they leave. I was on somewhat shaky ground when I pushed to leave Middlesbrough in 1978, but at least I did my best to join the European champions.

Fingers are being pointed at manager Erik ten Hag and the club culture, but the team needs to look in the mirror

Bruno Fernandes (right) hinting at a possible departure is a sign of the player power imbalance

But I don’t know where these guys think they should be. They have to wake up every day and think, ‘Am I dreaming? Or am I really a Manchester United player?’ And many of us ask the same question about them.

They should not worry about insecurity about the manager, be proud of yourself.

They play in front of audiences that have seen a lot of success and yet they don’t get booed every week. That fantastic support must be shaking their heads at what they are experiencing this season. If nothing else, do your best for them as a player. Don’t start complaining about the training or the manager and his tactics.

When you play for Manchester United you will never have an easy match. Nowadays it’s the same if you play for Manchester City, Liverpool or Arsenal. You are every other team’s cup final winner, so they raise their game. You have to grow a pair and take responsibility.

This couple doesn’t seem to understand that they have to do the hard work first. There’s no point in pointing fingers, shrugging shoulders and whispering to each other as they leave the pitch at Selhurst Park, like schoolchildren covering their mouths in case someone lip-reads what great information they have. Who cares? If they were real players, we might be more interested in what they had to say.

After the way they went through the motions against Crystal Palace, United owe their supporters a performance.

The players talk about the determination to show better that this can give them confidence ahead of the FA Cup final. Even thinking about the FA Cup now is out of the question. They should give absolutely everything for the last three league games.

Only if they come out of it mentally and physically devastated, having made the right choice, can they be even remotely satisfied. It hasn’t been good enough. Those fans deserve better – and that’s coming from a Liverpool man.

Antony could be seen whispering to Mason Mount and Andre Onana after the final whistle

Ten Hag (photo left) must come up with a powerful plan to stop Arsenal’s title hunt

The fact that United are even thinking about the FA Cup final match with Man City is out of the question now

We saw twice against Liverpool that United can get lucky, so it’s possible they could face Arsenal, but you’d have to like Mikel Arteta’s side.

There are those who try to draw parallels between Arteta’s first two seasons and Erik ten Hag’s, but there is no comparison. Arsenal retired last year but have clearly learned a lot from their experience; they know they have to win every game. You wouldn’t want to play them now.

The day Yosser scared me

It was incredibly sad to hear of the passing of Bernard Hill, the actor.

I didn’t know him well, but we had met a few times and that was memorable for the 1982 BBC series Boys From the Blackstuff, in which he played Jimmy ‘Yosser’ Hughes.

Alan Bleasdale, the playwright, is an old friend of mine and he had asked me and Sammy Lee to get involved. We met on set in a church in Toxteth that was made up to look like a bar. Bernard sat with us for the scene and was a sweet, warm, smiling man who told us how ‘we could do this’ or ‘we could do that’ and made us feel at ease.

Two minutes later he came into his own so convincingly as this beast of an aggressive man that I thought he was going to lose it and throw the heck out of me, which was ‘Yosser’s’ trademark. I was really afraid that I would have to defend myself. He was incredible.

We had hoped to reconnect as my friends at Liverpool Film Office had invited me this week to a private screening of the BBC series The Responder, which Bernard is in and who had also planned to attend, but unfortunately that was not allowed not be like that.

He will be greatly missed and my condolences go out to his family.

I memorably met Bernard Hill (left) while performing on Boys From the Blackstuff in 1982

Big Jack’s Boro made me a man

I caught up with some old friends from Middlesbrough’s 1973-74 team this week as we celebrated 50 years since being promoted from the old Second Division as champions by a record margin of 15 points. I am very satisfied with my time at Middlesbrough. I grew up there a lot under Jack Charlton, who was manager.

You had to step up because it was Jack’s way or the highway and we had a great mix of aggression and technical skill. It formed an incredible bond between us that continues to this day. There were some great old friends that I caught up with, but sadly a few have now passed away and others were too poor to make it.

I also shared more memories at the Scotland PFA Awards in Glasgow last week, when I was honored to receive an award of merit. I met friends like Neil Lennon and Alan Rough. It’s funny that we’re at an age where none of us remember playing a bad game.

Boehly’s steep learning curve

It will be interesting what conclusions Todd Boehly draws for his end-of-season review after speaking at a conference in Los Angeles this week.

Boehly says Chelsea are starting to play ‘beautiful football’ and that there will be a ‘clear plan’. He also hopes that Cole Palmer can become a household name in the United States.

Todd Boehly will take stock of an uneven season at Chelsea at the end of the 2023/2024 season

One thing is clear in his mind: the brilliance of Euro 2024 candidate and star player Cole Palmer

Boehly is clearly an intelligent, smart man in certain walks of life, but since buying Chelsea in May 2022 he has been on a very difficult learning curve. He cannot be happy with the return on his money; the condition this year would have been Champions League, but I hope in the future he has figured out who he can lean on for football knowledge.

We’ll have to wait and see if Mauricio Pochettino continues as manager. In Palmer he has a real player who I expect will be a star at the European Championship. He is unlikely to start ahead of Gareth Southgate, but he is the type of player who will perform so well as a substitute that England will have no choice but to start him in the next match. There is a good chance that after that tournament he will be a household name worldwide.