Gary Neville has delivered a harsh critique of Ruben Amorim’s first few months as Manchester United manager following the club’s most recent setback.
The Red Devils suffered a damaging 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace at Old Trafford on Sunday, marking their seventh Premier League loss under Amorim’s leadership.
Remarkably, United have now lost five of their seven home league matches during his tenure, raising serious concerns about the club’s form.
Amorim has faced challenges in settling in with his new players due to the lack of a full pre-season and limited tactical preparation, given United’s midweek commitments.
Reports also emerged suggesting tensions between the manager and star player Marcus Rashford.
Amorim has repeatedly emphasised that he does not want players who aren’t willing to give their “maximum effort.”
This came after Rashford expressed his desire for a “new challenge” following his omission from the Manchester derby earlier in the season.
With United’s dismal run of form continuing, Neville has warned that things could deteriorate further before the season ends, with the current lack of progress potentially affecting the club’s plans for next year.
“I thought it would get better when Ruben Amorim came in, he said on the Gary Neville Podcast.
“I thought the enthusiasm and the new system, I thought they’d buy into it the players, and we’d see a bounce.
“We’ve seen the absolute opposite. It’s got a lot worse and that’s surprising.’
He continued: “But there’s going to be a lot more pain towards the end of the season and it is going to be damaging.
“They’re obviously going to stick with Ruben Amorim, but the more you lose, the more difficult it is to convince the players of the idea.
“The idea that he talked about in the early days.
“You need the players to buy into it, but if they lose with it, and they keep getting criticised, the spotlight comes on them more and the fans are leaving unhappy.
“You can’t keep losing. It will depress the thoughts of the players, to the point whereby they’ll lose faith with the idea.
“It’ll damage the start of next season. He has to do something.
“He can’t change his approach because he’s died in a ditch on it.
“And rightly so. I think he’s lost more games at Manchester United since he’s come than he lost in the last 75 at Sporting.”
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