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Van der Sar says United need strong characters

Cape Town - Former Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar believes manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer needs more strong leaders in his squad to turn their season around.

The Red Devils were beaten 1-0 at struggling Newcastle on Sunday and their only victory in their last five outings in all competitions was a penalty shoot-out success over League One side Rochdale in the Carabao Cup.

United have claimed just nine points from their opening eight games in the Premier League and are 12th in the table, 15 points behind leaders Liverpool.

"I think for ourselves, when I came in the dressing room we had Ryan Giggs, you had [Paul] Scholes, you had [Rio] Ferdinand, [Gary] Neville and even Roy Keane at that time," Van der Sar told ESPN.

"I think there's always been strong characters. And I think for the last couple of years the strong characters have disappeared and [are] not making a difference anymore."

On whether big-name players would still be attracted to United, Van der Sar added: "Of course, the name [of Manchester United] is there. And of course the following they have all over the world.

"But for a player... you want to play at a certain level, you also want to have an idea that you can win trophies and they must take that opportunity also to improve the squad and make the world-class players they have, or the players that they're going to sign, that they feel welcome and that there's a good path to where they're going to go to."

- TeamTalk Media

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