The last time Manchester United suffered defeat in two of their opening three matches, Sir Alex Ferguson was yet to lift the league title and Ryan Giggs was just a fresh-faced teenager.
The Wales manager was a 19-year-old who had just been crowned PFA Young Player of the Year before Sheffield United and Everton gave Ferguson’s side a rude awakening at the start of the 1992-93 season.
This time around it is Jose Mourinho who is under intense pressure after a 3-0 humbling at home to Tottenham following a shock loss away to Brighton.
But when asked whether he would be a smart bet to replace Mourinho at odds of 12-1, Giggs (right) had the perfect response. ‘No, I would keep your money in your pocket if I were you,’ he said.
‘If you go back to 1992 we had just lost out to Leeds in the old Football League, then we got beaten by Sheffield United and Everton, and drew against Ipswich.
‘You can imagine that now with social media. It would be like it is now but as a player in the dressing room, what can you do? You just have to do your best in training and, if you’re picked, do your best on the pitch.’
United went on to win their next five matches to lay the foundations for a title-winning season. The current crop of Premier League stars have the chance to turn things around when they face Burnley on Sunday.
Giggs’ message to United is to go out at Turf Moor to silence their critics.
‘The spotlight is so much more, it is about that game against Burnley, winning that and then you get a bit of a respite after the internationals,’ said Giggs, who leads Wales into competitive action for the first time next week in the Nations League against the Republic of Ireland and Denmark.
‘That is what I’d be looking forward to, Sunday and shutting a few people up. It is a huge club and when it will be silencing critics I don’t know.
'It might not be Sunday, I hope it is. But they will come through. It is a difficult time but they have been through tough times before.’
Puubdirsy
85
Jose Mourinho is no Sir Alex Ferguson😂
Bandiken
65
Yeah I agree with you, Manchester United can shut critics on 1 condition, Morinho out Zidane in
prakashcr7
62
Then can he turned to sir alex ferguson.
sunnysayus
59
Manchester united have a great team and the crop of players are very outstanding ones.Mouriho need to instil a positive notion in the players and he should also be pasuasive and stop being excessively outspoken. He is a great manager and Manchester united is a great club that befits him.He should apply skill and wit to turn things around at old Trafford so that the club faithfuls will sing a different song.
shah2468
40
They appear to have some problems sure. Whether it’s the manager or the players or a bit of both, but you cannot write them off. I think there was a bit of overreaction after we won on Monday, from the media and from the manager. He may not be the right man for the job, I never thought he was, but you can’t doubt his credentials. Giggs doesn’t have the experience for the job or to deal with the big characters in the dressing room. If Mourinho goes, who is going to come in and do a better job? They need stability, which is what has been missing since Ferguson left. Monday’s result won’t make too much of a difference to their season or to ours come May. It was one game, 3 points, that’s all.