Gary Neville has slammed Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim for a tactical aspect of his recent games.
Pressure on Ruben Amorim has, perhaps, never been higher. Moving to Man United from Sporting back in November 2024, the Portuguese, last season, had the defence of having inherited a team in poor form and lacking a transfer window or pre-season, he could not completely implement his philosophy.
Amorim has since had his much-desired summer, with both a pre-season and transfers made for his benefit. Despite this, the Red Devils have continued to struggle, looking inconsistent in the Premier League and being eliminated from the Carabao Cup by League Two side Grimsby Town in a true “cupset.”
In their latest game at the time of writing, Man United were beaten 3-1 by Brentford, meaning Amorim is still without back-to-back wins as manager of the Old Trafford side. In reflecting on that game, speaking to NBC Sports, Neville has criticised the Portuguese for one particular aspect of the defeat.
‘I’m Really, Really Worried’
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s visit to Newcastle United’s St James’ Park in the Premier League, Neville, in discussing Man United and what to expect from Amorim, said:
“I’m very worried, there’s no point in me sitting here and saying that I’m not. I think the levels of performance, the results, the substitutions. Yesterday (against Brentford), I saw something at the end of the Grimsby game that they lost in the Carabao Cup a couple of weeks ago, which was Mason Mount ending up at left-wing-back.
“We admire managers who are resilient, who are, if you like, stubborn around their system. We want them to stick to the plan. But, when you’ve got Mason Mount playing at left-back, you’re going to look pretty stupid. That’s happened twice now. It can’t happen. The first time, I thought, was unforgivable and yesterday it happened again. He changes his back three and back five every single game and the performances and results are just unacceptable. I’m really, really worried.”
Mount is comfortable as either a number 10 or a central midfielder in Amorim’s system, but never has there been an inclination that the former Chelsea man could function as a wing-back, particularly one in Amorim’s tactical set-up, from whom he asks a lot.
As Neville stated, there have been two occasions in recent weeks when Mount has ended up playing as a wing-back, an “unforgivable” decision from Amorim. It is yet another problem for Amorim in a list that, unfortunately for the former Sporting manager, appears to only be growing.
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