Dimitar Berbatov says Manchester United are ‘too nice’ and feels his former side are missing the edge that a ‘dirty’ player would provide.
United crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the semi-final stage with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at the hands of rivals Manchester City on Wednesday night.
The result means Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has now lost four successive semi-finals as Red Devils boss.
Solskjaer’s side have steadily improved in the Premier League this season and find themselves joint-top of the table with a game in hand over Liverpool.
But it is in crunch cup clashes where United have faltered over the last 12 months, and Berbatov suggested they could benefit from using ‘dirty tricks’ to get them through those tough encounters.
‘It’s now four semi-finals in a row that United have failed to win and this is a bad habit that they need to break,’ the ex-Red Devils striker told Betfair.
‘Four times in a row is too many to be just a coincidence. Sometimes the pressure and the high expectations can get to players when they need to take that step to reach a final.
‘United need to evaluate what is going on in these important matches and try to correct it. Winning a trophy is a big step in the right direction and unfortunately they have missed out on another.
‘Sometimes when you have these derbies in important matches, it’s not about momentum or form, it’s about how much you want it, how smart and cunning the players are, if necessary use some dirty tricks, do whatever it takes to win.
‘Sometimes you need to be like this and, like Jose Mourinho said: “You need to be b**t**ds to win trophies.” I don’t see enough of that from United in these important matches.’
Berbatov agreed with the former Red Devils captain and admitted Solskjaer’s side could benefit from having a master of the dark arts within their ranks.
‘Roy Keane spoke about how shocked he was too see players hugging each other after the last Manchester derby,’ he added.
‘I agree with him. What the f**k, this is a derby go out there and win. They’re missing someone who is dirty in the team, someone who can show the aggression that would give them an edge. United are too nice at times.’
