A deflated De Gea gave a damning verdict on United’s troubles following their 1-0 loss at St James’ Park, and said this is the “most difficult” period he has experienced since moving to Old Trafford.
However, Ince was having none of it and labelled the Spaniard, who recently signed a bumper new contract at Old Trafford, a ‘disgrace’.
Writing for Paddy Power, Ince said: “David de Gea’s post-match interview was a disgrace, he needs to be a leader right now.
“I watched David de Gea’s post-match interview and I was at a loss. He’s meant to be one of the leaders, if that was Peter Schmeichel standing there, there’s no chance you’d have seen that interview. Rather than him addressing and recognising where the team were going wrong, it just felt like ‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.’
“This is one of the top players, the leaders at Man United, who has just signed a five-year contract! And he looks like he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.”
The result is the latest of a number of United setbacks this season which has inevitably led to suggestions manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could lose his job.
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Ince went on to suggest Solskjaer was fortunate to be given the job in the first place and believes his staff ‘don’t have a clue’.
Ince added: “What we saw on Sunday was a Man United team completely void of confidence, but more worryingly, completely void of direction.
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“There’s a total lack of leadership, quality and character in the team and at the club. All of the things you associate with a United team simply aren’t there.
“I’m not here to call for any manager to be sacked – I’ve been there, and it’s not a nice feeling. But, I will reiterate what I said before and the board should never have made the decision with Ole as quickly as they did.
“He went to Cardiff and took them down, then he went to Molde. So, what on earth makes the board think that he’s the right man for one of, if not the, biggest jobs in football?
“To go from Cardiff, to Molde, to Manchester United… you’ve got to be some bloody manager!