Teddy Sheringham called on Harry Maguire to stand up and lead Manchester United out of its current crisis.
Red Devils legend Sherry fears for the club as they prepare to face Tottenham, one of their old teams, in tomorrow’s Premier League match.
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Maguire, who recently returned from a calf injury, is believed to be struggling with the captain.
The £85m captain came under fire for four of the goals in Sunday’s 5-0 defeat by arch-rivals Liverpool – which came a week after charging four goals at his former club Leicester.
Former England striker Sheringham said: “Maguire is going through a tough time. As soon as they lost 2-0, game plan and consistency went out the window, people started doing their own things and it became a mess. Everyone was six and seven.
“This is where you need to keep your head up and you need a good leader who says to everyone, ‘Calm down, we’ll be back’.”
“There doesn’t seem to be a proper leader out there driving and asking them to stay in their structure.”
It’s hard to say who’s been going through hard times lately – Maguire or Steve Bruce.
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Former United captain Bruce lost his job as Newcastle manager after a coordinated campaign by Army of Toon.
But according to Sheringham, Maguire could take a leaf out of Bruce’s book on leadership.
He said: “When you keep conceding you need a strong, big captain and defender.
“When United began their good era, Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister brought their full backs and told them they weren’t going anywhere.
“They didn’t care how many crosses put in by young Gary Neville and Dennis Irwin as long as the opponent didn’t put any in, they stayed tight and didn’t concede. A great player would win it at the other end.
“Everyone seems to do what they want and take care of themselves – that’s not how the team works.
“They need to stand by each other, dig deep into the trenches and work hard together to advance.”
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over Maguire’s captain in January 2020 when he left Ashley Young for Inter Milan.
Since then, United have been far from their pace, in terms of points, in the Premier League and have failed to end their four-year cup drought.
This barren race under Solskjaer and Maguire includes four semi-final defeats.
But Sherry believes the Englishman, 28, should keep the role – even though he should learn from the notable skipper in the past.
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He added: “I understand it sounds awful, 5-0 at home against your biggest competitor.
“I still think he’s the captain. But I don’t see him being as straightforward as he should be, like Tony Adams or John Terry asking for things from others even if they don’t play a good game.
“United needs leaders to step out, lead and demand better performance from others.
“The big leaders and the big players do that. They don’t worry about all the stick flying around them, they puff up their chests, they roll up their sleeves and say, ‘I’m a decent player, come follow me and we’ll be fine.'”
“You can’t go home and point fingers, you have to look at yourself first and do more.
“I don’t think there’s enough of that around the camp right now.”
Paul Pogba has been praised for doing exactly that for France, with rousing speeches to help inspire France’s World Cup and League of Nations squad.
But after coming into the first half against Jurgen Klopp’s rampant side, his only impact was halfway through Naby Keita’s chin with a shocking tackle that sent him off.
Treble winner Sheringham, speaking on behalf of 888sport, said: “You know if you tackle like this anywhere near the ball, you get a red card.
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“You can understand half of what he’s trying to do to change the game and set a tough challenge – that was the case years ago but you can’t do that anymore. He knows it, he was a silly boy.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say he shouldn’t play for Manchester United again but he let his teammates down because they lost the rest of the second half with ten men behind 5-0.”
Sheringham and Solskjaer collaborated extensively to give United one of the greatest nights in the club’s history when he scored in stoppage time in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Ole described Sunday as his “darkest day” as a manager.
His former teammate thinks the board should stay with him. . . For now.
Sherry, 55, added, “You still have to give him time. You can think, ‘5-0, oh**t!'” What the hell is going on?’.
“He got the money, he brought in the players he wanted, and you have to give the manager a chance to turn the situation around.
“They backed it up in the market, and now they have to back it up when the chips go down.
“I know he wasn’t great but it’s still early in the season, things can change very quickly. Ole knows, he knows his neck is on the line.
“I don’t know how much time you give it, look at the fixtures, see what you can do to change it. That’s all he can do and then let the others decide.”
TEDDY SHERINGHAM was speaking on behalf of 888sport.com Head there for the latest Premier League odds.
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