David Moyes has admitted some of the criticisms levelled at his Manchester United team by Roy Keane and Peter Schmeichel was warranted, according to reports in The Guardian.

During coverage of Manchester United’s midweek Champions League game against Shaktar Donetsk Keane critices United for not closing down space and not making tackles. Keane also singled out Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Young for individual criticism. Peter Schemiechel meanwhile said United need to sell “five or six” players.

"The players would be the first to accept that we need to play better and we have to make that happen. I take responsibility. I need to make them play better because I'm the manager and I'll do that.

"Some of what they're saying is correct. There's some of it that's not correct because it's certainly not the [players’] attitude or effort because they're really trying. I can only tell you every time we've played a game we haven't won, the players have been distraught by it and there's been a real toughness in them to try to put it right,” Moyes said.

However Moyes rejected Keane’s claims that Sir Alex Ferguson still held a position of undue influence over the first team, saying: “"I can pick up the phone to him when I need to, which I do now and again. Obviously we bump into each other because he's a director; we say hello after the games. He doesn't [come to the dressing room]. A lot of the directors do but Alex keeps away from it."

United travel to Aston Vila on Sunday hoping to turn around a poor run of results in the league that has seen them lose to Everton and Newcastle at home in succession, the first time Manchester United have lost back to back home league games in over ten years.