Robson: Di Maria Will Come Good

Former Manchester United captain Bryan Robson has backed Angel Di Maria to recover from his indifferent start to life in the Premier League and become a great player at Old Trafford.

Di Maria made the switch from Real Madrid for a British-record transfer fee in 2014, but after a promising start to the campaign the has been used as a substitute in the last six Premier League matches.

Robson has expressed his disappointment with the player's inconsistency but was confident the 27-year-old would rekindle the form seen at Madrid and in the early part of the season.

“Everybody will say below par,” Robson told Soccer Saturday, when asked for his thoughts on Di Maria’s debut season at United.

“He came in and, in the first six or seven games, he just looked fantastic. So whether it’s the environment in England or getting used to the Premier League, his form has dipped and he looks short of confidence.

“But he is a great player and I’m sure he can get that back the more he gets used to the Premier League and Manchester United and I’m sure he’ll be a great player for United.”

Robson was speaking to Soccer Saturday alongside Geoff Thomas, ahead of his ‘London 2 Paris: Inspiring the Revolution’ charity bike ride, in which he will lead 300 riders to the French capital in aid of the blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia.

United travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday Night Football looking to end their worst run in the Premier League since 2001, following defeats to Chelsea, Everton and West Brom in their last three games.

And, despite expressing a degree of disappointment, Robson believes United will bounce back at Selhurst Park en-route to achieving their season objective of qualifying for the Champions League.

“The last couple of defeats have surprised me a little bit because looking at the performances against Tottenham, Liverpool and Manchester City I thought we had turned the corner, but we’ve still got a bit of work to do,” he added.

“I cannot believe how many injuries United have had this season. That is something which needs to be looked at and addressed.

“If you’re not playing together it’s very difficult to get partnerships going. If that keeps changing all the time you’re going to get disjointed performances, and that’s exactly how we’ve been playing this season.

“Hopefully when [Louis] Van Gaal does gets his players fit all the time going into next season we will get that gel going and the players performing. That’s the best way to get performances out of them and that’s still going to take a little bit of time.

“It’s going to be a close game [but] United have proved, with the performance against Chelsea, that they can get good results away from home. So it will be disappointing if we don’t win at Selhurst Park.

“For me, it’s still going to be a successful season as long as we get fourth place and get into the Champions League. That has got to be the aim for everybody at the club.”

Credit: Skysports.com