Sir Alex Ferguson visits Manchester United team at Lowry Hotel

Sir Alex Ferguson visited the Lowry Hotel on Friday night as he offered his advice to the Manchester United players ahead of the clash with Liverpool.

Ferguson was spotted arriving at the team hotel in Manchester as the players prepared for the Premier League game at Old Trafford.

The Saturday lunchtime kick-off sees Jose Mourinho’s side take on Jurgen Klopp’s Reds.

Ferguson was at the Manchester United team hotel to offer last minute advice to the players

Ferguson was offering tips to the team ahead of the crunch clash with Liverpool on Saturday

He no doubt offered his support to Mourinho when he saw him – the Portugese boss has long been an admirer of Ferguson.

Mourinho met Ferguson just hours after he responded to the criticism of former United defender and now Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.

Neville singled out Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez for their performance in the comeback win against Crystal Palace on Monday.

‘I’ve never seen a Jose Mourinho team as inefficient as this,’ said Neville on Sky Sports.

‘They were always efficient teams, they always do things really calmly, they are usually solid in defence. He won’t recognise – I don’t recognise – this as a performance. They are just individuals. They play in moments, they are not a unit yet.’

On Pogba, he added: ‘His great weakness is that he plays like he’s playing in the park with his mates. It’s like everything he does is like a YouTube or Instagram video. It’s like it’s not serious, it’s like a joke to him in terms of the way he goes about things. It’s no wonder Jose Mourinho has left him out for the past few weeks a number of times.’

Neville’s Sky Sports colleague Jamie Carragher also described Pogba and Sanchez as playing like ‘kids in the schoolyard’, while Graeme Souness has also been critical of Pogba in recent weeks.

Asked about the comments on United’s style of play, Mourinho made a veiled reference to Neville’s failed four-month spell in charge of Valencia. Souness has not worked in management since leaving Newcastle in 2006.

He said: ‘Some of the guys with an opinion couldn’t resolve their own problems when they were managers. They are giving opinions like they have solutions for everything, but it’s not like that.

‘They are in a position where they can give opinions about everything. Sometimes I read and listen, sometimes I don’t. This week I was more focused on enjoying the Champions League and Europa League, and preparing my match than being focused on opinions.’