Sheringham urges Mourinho to match up to Guardiola
Man United legend hopes everyone at the club, including Mourinho, can improve so that they can be title challengers again
Manchester United and Tottenham legend Teddy Sheringham does not echo his former teammates' dissatisfaction towards Jose Mourinho, believing that the Portuguese has performed decently in his two years at the club.
But the 51-year-old warned that Mourinho has to match up to Manchester City's Pep Guardiola if United are to challenge for titles again.
Sheringham, who famously scored the injury-time equaliser that helped Man United to a last-gasp 2-1 win over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final, was in Singapore as a guest of honour at yesterday's launch of the annual JSSL International 7s.
This year's tournament will see 350 teams from the region competing at the Padang from April 28-30, including academy teams from Liverpool, Manchester United, Fulham, Urawa Red Diamonds and Valencia.
On Mourinho's tenure so far, he said: "Even though it's a transitional period, they still won two trophies last year.
"He's developing the team but while it's becoming his team, he's still winning trophies, so it should get better.
"He's a winner and he'll get there because he knows how to win things on a football pitch."
Sheringham also urged Mourinho to learn from Guardiola's runaway league leaders, who have a 13-point cushion on second-placed United.
Singing praises of the Spaniard's transformation of City, Sheringham said: "He's raised the bar in England.
"They're an exceptional team. Everybody looks like they understand their job and he's getting them to work as one.
"If Manchester United are going to win things, everyone at the club has to be better, including Mourinho."
The former England international feels that signing Alexis Sanchez in last month's transfer window will certainly aid them in their pursuitof success.
Sheringham said: "He'll definitely enhance the club. I think he's a fantastic little footballer.
"I'm not sure whether Sanchez will work well together with (Romelu) Lukaku.
"It's a tough job to get that mixture just right but he's obviously trying to get it right by signing Sanchez and trying something else because it looks like there's something missing at the moment."
In his three games for United, Sanchez has already made an impact - providing two assists and netting a goal.
One of Manchester United's young attackers Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial or Jesse Lingard might have to make way for the in-form Chilean, but Sheringham insists that is fair.
He said: "You can't have too many players playing in the same position.
"I think he needs to pick his best one to play in that position, stick with him and put other players in positions that are going to enhance the team rather than just get the best out of a particular player."
In last Saturday's 2-0 win over Huddersfield, Mourinho showed that no one is guaranteed a spot in the first XI by benching £89.3 million (S$166.2m) record signing Paul Pogba and fielding 21-year-old Scott McTominay instead.
On Mourinho's decision, Sheringham said: "Sometimes you have to do these things as a manager.
"There was obviously a problem with what Mourinho wants so he's putting his foot down and demanding more from Pogba, and that's no problem."
Since his return to United, the Frenchman has been a key figure in midfield, but figuring out his best position in the engine room has been an issue.
Sheringham shared a similar view with former teammate Ryan Giggs that Pogba should play higher up.
He said: "They have a lot of deep-lying midfield players at Manchester United.
"Pogba can play a bit further forward. He doesn't score enough goals for me to be a No. 10, so you'd probably have to put him as a No. 8 where he's getting forward from that position rather than being a defensive player."
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