Former assistant Chris Armas believes dressing room leaks and the club's exit from the Champions League were the two most detrimental factors at Manchester United last season.
Ralf Rangnick was appointed interim manager of United in November following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and he brought Armas to the club as his assistant coach. The duo both left at the end of the season, however, after a disastrous period in charge that saw the club finish sixth in the Premier League and trophyless.
United's slim hopes of winning any silverware were ended when they were dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid, when they lost at home, having already secured a creditable draw away. And Armas believes the European exit knocked the momentum out of the progress United had been making under Rangnick, something further hampered by a number of dressing room leaks.
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"People that know me know what I care about and how much I value the team and what happens 'on the inside' as we say," he told Sky Sports. "When things are trying to penetrate and negativity is coming from the outside, and to be honest with you, a lot of it was untrue. I can tell you a lot of it was untrue.
"It does create negativity. I think all those players, myself included, we know you can't listen to the noise, but you did get a sense that there was some of... we are trying to become a team. That is always the process. At Manchester United, at the time we arrived, all of us were trying to really come together.
“I think Ralf did a really good job stabilising things when we got there. After the Champions League exit and not getting a result at home, I think we let that one go for sure. You can see the air got sucked out a little bit in what we were doing.”
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