Manchester United’s rocky start to their third season under Jose Mourinho has already heaped some early pressure on the Portuguese boss.
Following a turbulent summer of frustration over a lack of investment, the Red Devils already sit six points behind Liverpool at the summit after crushing defeats to Brighton and Tottenham.
Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba are just two of the names in Mourinho’s star-studded squad to have made the headlines with the latter reportedly clashing with his manager as he looked for a move away from Old Trafford.
Sanchez came in of criticism last season following his move from Arsenal and is yet to live up to expectations with four games of the new season already complete.
And Robson, who made 345 league appearances for United, believes the Chilean needs to up his game.
“Sanchez is a top-class player,” said Robson. “But we haven’t seen the best of him at Manchester United so far.
“But I’m sure he’ll get to the top of his game. This summer was the first summer he’s had off for several years, and that should do him good.
“Sometimes, though, when you have a free summer and a fair few weeks off, it can take a little bit more time to come back really sharp and to get into the season.
“These first few games of the season are maybe just what he needs to sharpen him up and then hopefully we’ll see the best of him for the rest of the season.”
Many United fans had been expecting Pogba to bring his impressive form at the World Cup with France into the new campaign in Manchester.
But despite scoring two goals in four games, the France World Cup winner has struggled to replicate the same form and inspire his team to a positive start.
Robson sympathises with the talented 25-year-old but admits he needs to be at his best on a more consistent basis.
“He’s a top player, but I think Paul comes in for a bit of unfair criticism,” said Robson. “Every time United have a bad result, it’s always him who gets the flak.
“But it’s a team game and it’s up to everybody to pull together.
“When people were talking about Brighton and his performance down there, there were a lot of players in the United team who were worse than him on the day.
“Yet because of his stature, he’s the one who takes the most criticism. He’s an outstanding player, he just needs that little bit more consistency in terms of his performances.
“But for me he’s got a good attitude towards the game, he’s got the ability, it’s just about getting it out of him week-in, week-out, if you want to go on and win the title.”
One player who has carried his form from the tournament in Russia into the new campaign is Romelu Lukaku.
The forward helped fire Belgium to a third-placed finish at the World Cup and has already bagged three goals in four games for United.
Robson says United can’t rely on the former Chelsea striker to get all their goals though and believes his team-mates must chip in with their share of strikes.
“I think the main thing for Lukaku is to keep getting into those goalscoring positions,” added Robson.
“You go through periods where you will score a lot of goals and a striker will go through a barren patch where he doesn’t score for a few games.
“But with Rom, he just needs to keep getting into those positions that he managed at the weekend and he will get goals.
“The one thing that’s guaranteed, as long as he stays free of injury – he will getup to the 30-goal mark for United again this season.
“It’s also a matter of Sanchez, [Jesse] Lingard, [Anthony] Martial and [Marcus] Rashford all getting into double figures this season in terms of goals, if we’re really going to challenge for the title.
“Lingard did well in terms of goals last season, getting into double figures, and it can’t all fall on Lukaku.
“There are going to be periods in the season when he goes through that barren spell and doesn’t score.
“When that happens, there have to be other people there who can score goals for United if we’re going to be challenging for trophies.”
United’s stars are now away on international duty before returning to training next week ahead of their clash with Watford on Saturday, September 15 (5.30pm).