West Bromwich Albion and former Manchester United defender Jonny Evans has stated that the players of his former club need to learn to deal with pressures of playing at Old Trafford after Saturday's 0-0 draw.

Everyone raises their game

It has been a so-so first season for United under new manager José Mourinho, with an EFL Cup victory and the Europa League in one hand but on the other a lack of form in the league which could cost them a place in the coveted top four positions.

Where United have really lacked this season has been at the Theatre of Dreams, with the side now holding a record of eight draws at home after they failed to break down Tony Pulis' side on Saturday afternoon.

Evans knows better than anyone the pressures that can bring winning ten major trophies during his nine years at the club, and the Northern Ireland international stated the players will have to learn to cope with the pressure.

"Being at United for a long time," Evans stated after Saturday's draw. "You realise every game, teams raise their game (against them at Old Trafford)."

"There is no doubt in my mind that happens because I have seen it now," the defender admitted. "There is a lot of pressure on the lads."

"It's obviously the biggest and best stadium and biggest team in the country," the 29-year-old stressed. "So there is an added pressure that goes with that which makes it that much (more) difficult."

"Of course - that is all part of it," Evans added on whether they can learn to cope with the pressure. "And I am sure the lads will adjust to that."

Need that killer instinct

In the absence of his two top scorers, with Zlatan Ibrahimović serving the last game of his suspension and Juan Mata possibly ruled out for the season after groin surgery Mourinho was forced to improvise.

Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard were Saturday's forward line, this produced an terrible return of only three shots on target from 18.

This led Mourinho to criticise his forward line, United have been linked with some big names this summer and pundit and former United defender Gary Neville it could be a big summer to help solve their attacking issues.

"They just lack that killer instinct," he admitted. "They need quality, more subtlety and more killer instinct in the final third."

"He needs players capable of winning matches for him." Neville concluded: "The ones currently up top are not doing that."

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.