Danny Higginbotham has given some insight into what he believes needs to happen with Manchester United's line-up.

The Red Devils world-class stars have failed to gel under Jose Mourinho in recent weeks and former United defender Higginbotham, better known for stints with Southampton, Stoke City and Sunderland, feels the formation being used is the wrong one.

Higginbotham is of the belief that Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Wayne Rooney are battling to operate together under Mourinho's current playing style.

“It has been pretty clear this week that Jose Mourinho's Manchester United are not working," he wrote in his column for The Sun.

“The team simply aren't functioning.

“I don't believe the players are not good enough. It is a failure, so far, to find a system to suit those players.

“Jose Mourinho is struggling to get the best out of his stars.

“Wayne Rooney has copped a lot of the flak. For me, it's far too easy to just assert “Rooney's finished" or claim he “can't run any more" or has lost the ability to pick his passes.

“The truth is that, with a top manager, tactics determine the personnel.

“For me, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is still an outstanding player. Paul Pogba, too, proved at Juventus that he is outstanding. Rooney is still a very good player.

“It's very difficult to play that system if you have a centre-forward in Ibra who drops and a No  10 in Rooney who doesn't naturally go in behind.

“It's even tougher if Pogba also tries to come into that same area from midfield.

“You end up with three of United's main players pretty much holding hands and nobody going in behind and stretching the opposition.

“United's opponents are happy to see the three of them bunched together. The last thing they'd want is Ibrahimovic, Rooney and Pogba each operating in a different attacking role. That would be a nightmare.

“That's not happened, though. They have all been in the same part of the pitch. Mourinho has to sort that out."