Former Manchester United coach claims that Juan Mata's future could be questioned under Solskjaer

There was a rebirth at Manchester United. When Jose Mourinho was sacked as manager, 44 days ago, United was closer to the relegation zone than the league leader, Liverpool. Morale was at its lowest level and players were significantly underperforming.

Nine games later, everything changed thanks to the acting director, Ole Gunnar Solkjaer.

United are undefeated in the Norwegian's first nine games, star players sign new contracts, Reds are only two points off the top four and qualifying in the Champions League is now a possibility.

The best part of Solskjaer's revival is perhaps the number of players who are now playing with confidence and displaying their quality.

Paul Pogba, who has completely turned his season, is the essential.

Former United coach, Rene Meulensteen, thinks the new World Cup winner is fully flourishing in his new responsibilities.

"Ole probably badured Paul Pogba that he was a good player, but he also put on his shoulders the responsibilities that he has to badume," said the Dutchman in exclusivity at 888sport.

"These responsibilities boil down to two things: work hard every game and play the best football you can for this club, and when it does these things, it makes the difference.

"All players must have the confidence of their manager and when he says to them," Listen, this is the player I think I can be and we will create an environment for this to happen ", then the player has to height of that. "

Alexis Sanchez also shows pictures of the player United thought he signed last January.

The Chilean winger scored a great goal against his former Arsenal side during the England Cup win and Meulensteen thinks the best remains to come from this 30 year old player.

"Alexis Sanchez is a runner with the ball, he likes to pick up the ball and move the players forward.

"I would like to see Alexis Sanchez doing his best for Manchester United because we have all seen how good he was for Arsenal.You can not tell me that this suddenly disappeared.

"It's about making players understand what is expected of them and how to get the most out of it, and I'm sure that Olle will be able to do it."

Another player who has struggled at Old Trafford is forward Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian cost £ 75m in 2017 and has been criticized for some bad performances.

Yet he, too, showed improvement under Solskjaer. He scored three goals in seven appearances and also scored two goals with smart pbades in the win at Emirates.

Meulensteen, who worked for United for ten years, believes Lukaku is beginning to gain doubts.

The 54-year-old said: "Every player is unique in his own way and Lukaku is a different attacker than Marcus.

"Half of United's fans will say that Lukaku is not a United striker and the other half will not agree.

"You have to pay tribute to him for the good things he's done and the big advantage for Ole now is that each player succeeds much better than before when he's called."

Spanish midfielder Juan Mata is a player who has not adapted well to Solskjaer's new dynamic attack game. Meulensteen thinks the 30-year-old may no longer be at Old Trafford.

"Ole has obviously looked well at the team and he wants to play with a lot of energy and a lot of pace," said the badistant coach of the Australian national team.

"Do not get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Mata and I think it's a great player, but it's maybe that Mata does not fit the picture that Ole sees.

"It's obvious, otherwise he would have played more often and at some point you will need to refresh your team in some areas."

Read the full interview with 888sport Rene Meulensteen and his thoughts on how United will be on the verge of signing a challenge for the league.