Ex-Manchester United captain Bryan Robson has urged Jose Mourinho to reconsider his tactics after surviving another late scare against West Bromwich Albion.

The Red Devils looked comfortable with a two-goal lead at The Hawthorns, before dropping off and letting their opponents back into the game through a 77th-minute strike from Gareth Barry.

United held on for all three points, but Robson - the longest-serving skipper in the club's history - believes that his former side's lethargy late on in games will ultimately hinder their chances of reducing the gap on leaders Manchester City.

"I don't know what it is with the players at the moment because they did it against Arsenal - get off to a great start and then go on the back-foot and try and play a bit defensive rather than go for the killer goal," he told Sky Sports News. "But like against West Brom at the weekend, West Brom score and then all of a sudden it becomes a nervous last 10 minutes.

"So the lads have got to get that out of their system. You've got to keep pressing and doing the right things which gets you that lead in the first place. I'm sure the manager's talking to the players about that and going for the jugular and making sure you win the game and are not hanging on.

"I think we keep improving as a football team and as a football club, we're getting back to where we should be. You've got to say not last season but the season before we won the FA Cup which was great to do but the performances weren't great and for me we were going backwards. For me, since Jose's been in we've started improving. We won three trophies last year and let's see what we can win this year."

United have won six of their last seven games in the top flight, with that solitary defeat coming at the hands of Man City eight days ago.