Gary Neville says Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim is under serious pressure in the next few weeks.
Manchester United were beaten 3-0 in the Manchester Derby, with the Sky Sports commentator taking to The Gary Neville Podcast after the match to discuss the manager’s future.
This is everything Neville said regarding a potential sack on the horizon for Amorim.
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On Ruben Amorim’s short-term Manchester United future
Gary Neville is worried for Amorim (Image credit: Getty Images)
“Ruben Amorim’s going to come under big pressure. Manchester United are 14th in the league. Now it’s only a few games in – but next week [if] Manchester United lose, they go to 15th and 16th, that’s five games in.
“Before you know it, it’s October and Manchester United are in the bottom half of the table. That’s where they couldn’t be, having spent £200 million, him having had a preseason.
“Yeah, they might be seventh, eighth, ninth – they could be in those sorts of positions – but they can’t be in the bottom half of the table. So there’s got to be a quick turnaround pretty quickly, and the manager’s idea has got to land pretty quickly with the players.
“Now, I’m not saying here today and I don’t think there’s any suggestion and I’m not suggesting that the players have down tools on him a little bit. But they’re struggling a little bit. They’re struggling.
“They’re struggling against Burnley at home, I was at the match. They’re struggling at Fulham away in large parts of the game. They’re struggling at Grimsby.
“They’ve struggled here today. They’re struggling to find rhythm, tempo, [and] performance levels.
United struggled against Manchester City (Image credit: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
“I was really heartened by the first game of the season against Arsenal – I thought that was a really good performance – they’ve built this, sort of, [thing, but] maybe now, Cunha gets injured, Mount gets injured, the old scars and wounds are starting to open up.
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“And I’m worried. I’m worried about the manager and what’s going to happen in the next few weeks.
“I don’t think it’s a time for panic. But I’ve seen this before. We’ve seen this film.”
On how Manchester United should prepare for the Chelsea match next Saturday
Amorim is yet to win back-to-back fixtures at United (Image credit: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“I wouldn’t change my preparation. I’d like to think he’s going to be a serious professional, Ruben Amorim, and so are the players in terms of how they prepare. I won’t change anything in that respect.
“They’ve got to come out of the blocks next Saturday night against Chelsea. It’s a 5:30 kick-off. The atmosphere will be fantastic at Old Trafford next Saturday night. It will be for 10 or 15 minutes. The crowd will always be with the team, always be with the manager.
“And Chelsea play midweek in Europe, so United have got a free week to prepare for it. They should have more energy, more legs. It’s early in the season, so it’s a small thing, but they should be in a position whereby they can really go for it, be really aggressive. I think they have to, in that first 15 or 20 minutes next week, go and get a goal.
“I’m not saying that’s going to be the be-all and end-all, but they have to start quickly. They have to get a goal. They can’t go 1-0 down against Chelsea and then all of a sudden, Chelsea are passing it around, the crowd goes quiet, and before you know it, you’re into a sort of spiral of another game. They have to be really lightning quick out of the blocks next Saturday night because it’s a really important match.
“Losing away from home to City is never going to cost you your job because, relatively, a lot of teams lose here, but when you start to lose games at home – they just beat Burnley in the last minute – it is going to start to put pressure on the manager.
Manchester United are in the bottom half of the table again (Image credit: Getty Images)
“You’re going to see more images of the owners in the box: [Omar] Barada, Jason Wilcox, Jim Ratcliffe, and everybody else. You’re just going to start to see more of those images appear.
“So, Manchester United have to find wins. They have to get wins in this latter part of September, early October.
“They cannot lose games because if they carry on losing games, there’s going to be an outcry in the next few weeks, and we don’t want that. I mean, United don’t want that.”
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