Manchester United have been told they can forget about the Premier League title next season and Erik ten Hag must address a clear issue to land Champions League qualification during his maiden campaign in the Old Trafford dugout.
Despite signing Jadon Sancho, Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo last summer, United took a backwards step and missed out on a top-four finish by 13 points. Even so, former United defender Gary Pallister believes there is no reason why that 'open' race should not be an attainable target for Ten Hag at the first ask.
Speaking as part of his promotion for Bookies Bonuses, Pallister said: "You would be a fool to not back them [Man City and Liverpool] to be challenging for the title next season. You look at Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham, can they really mount a challenge against them two?
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"No. Can United? I think it would be a huge effort for them and I don't think that is going be possible next year."
Pallister added: "Ten Hag has to go in there and hopefully sort out the problems that were manifesting themselves last season. He has got to get everybody on side and find a new philosophy and take it from there.
"The dressing room needs to be sorted, if you listen to the rumours about it being disjointed and fractured, so that needs to be sorted first. Hopefully then you can bring in players with character and personality that can help out in that respect.
"There has got to be an improvement. I can't say for sure they are going to be in the top four, but I think top four is open for United if they can get it right, because they have good players."
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