Asked if he thinks Mourinho will last the season at United, Le Saux said: ‘In many ways yes, I think he will, but I’ve always said about any manager that at that level, you are only in the job for six games at a time.
‘If you have a good six games you get another six games, and if you have a bad six games you’re under massive pressure.’
Le Saux, who grew up playing football in his native Jersey before going on to enjoy a superlative career with Blackburn, Chelsea and Southampton, added: ‘Performance-wise, Manchester United are a shadow of where they should be in terms of the quality they’ve got and the status of the club.
‘I was at the game last Saturday and although they beat Newcastle 3-2, it’s possibly the worst I’ve seen Manchester United play in one half of football for a long time.
‘Then in the second half they played with the most freedom they’ve shown for a long time, but at 2-0 down it’s easy to play well because it seems you’ve lost the game.
‘Mourinho made some tactical changes, but there was no system really and everything was fluid – it worked because they’ve got quality players.
‘Those players obviously thought, “D’you know what, I’m just going to play my game”. But they’ve got to do that consistently in the coming games.’
Le Saux, who was capped 36 times for England, added: ‘Mourinho, by the looks of things, is not prepared to change his way of delivering his message to his players at United, but younger players of this generation take in information in a different way.’
