Ex-Manchester United assistant coach Rene Meulensteen has given his thoughts on the club's malaise.

The Dutch coach was an instrumental figure in the last few years of Sir Alex Ferguson's glory-laden tenure at Old Trafford.

While the Red Devils have been unable to match that success in the subsequent decade, Meulensteen does see some room for optimism.

"Every successful football club is based on stability and continuity – this comes from having the right people with the right expertise," the Dutchman told the Debrief Podcast.

"After Sir Alex Ferguson left, a lot of people left alongside him and new people came in. If you then start on the wrong foot you get media pressure, people get nervous, and you see what happened with David Moyes.

“Then they replaced him with a more experienced manager in Louis van Gaal, which again brought a lot of changes to the style and the personnel. Later Jose Mourinho comes in, he's very result oriented and doesn't care how they win. Ferguson, by contrast, if we were 2-0 up he always wanted more – why not go for three, four, or five?"

He added: "It's different now, so much has changed and so many other clubs have burst onto the scene.

“But if Sir Alex had stayed I think we would've been there or thereabouts for a bit longer, even if it was an aging team. There is no doubt in my mind, we would've carried on – all those senior players like Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Michael Carrick could have gone on for a bit longer."