Ruben Amorim’s tactical set-up has come under fire in the wake of Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, with Gary Neville claiming he’d need “Roy Keane and Steven Gerrard” in order to cover the gaps left in midfield.
United slumped to a dismal defeat as Erling Haaland scored a brace to inflict yet another defeat on Amorim, with the Portuguese now having won just eight of his 31 league matches in charge at Old Trafford.
Gaps in United’s midfield were clear throughout the match as the duo of Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte were overrun by Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders and Rodri, and it eventually told as United failed to land a blow on their cross-city rivals.
On Sky, pundits were quick to question the system deployed by the former Sporting boss, with Micah Richards claiming that the system “is not helping the United players at all”.
On the first goal, Richards pointed out that “it’s 3-vs-2 and Haaland still ends up scoring. It’s because of the system. There’s a lack of communication. It’s just too easy [for City],” he said.
“They’ve got two in midfield against City’s three. How are you supposed to cope against that? I genuinely believe they’d be a better side if they played 4-3-3. I think system is hindering them. It’s not working,” he added.
Gary Neville also picked up on the midfield issue, calling it “a problem”.
“It’s happening in a lot of the games. They’re really protected, but if the game becomes a little stretched, that two [in midfield] look wide open, and you can’t deny that. There are none of them that are good enough to defend it. You’d need Caicedo and Vieira. Keane and Gerrard,” added the former United full-back.
Amorim’s hybrid 3-4-3/3-4-2-1 formation has come under fire after a run of poor results, and when asked whether Amorim’s future will be under consideration among the United hierarchy, Richards pointed out that the Portuguese’s ideas are “not working” at the moment.
“He’s got less points than some of the worst teams in the league. It needs to be better. He’s the man in the job, and at this moment he’s not getting it right. You have to adapt as a manger, and right now he’s not,” he said.
Keane agreed, stating that United are “not winning enough games, and the pressure will just build and build”.
“It’s more hope than belief at this moment. We see him week in, week out, [I’m] not convinced. My worry is if the players are behind him,” added the former United captain.
“14th in the league, four games in and we all said we can’t be getting into October with United at 14th. They need to start winning quickly,” added Neville.
Amorim now has the worst win percentage of any Man Utd boss since World War Two, winning just 26 per cent of his matches in charge.
United’s next match comes against Chelsea at Old Trafford next week, before an away fixture at Brentford is followed by a home match against Sunderland.
