Ruben Amorim is under “a lot of pressure” at Manchester United as “questions mount” over his future at the club ahead of the clash with Everton on Saturday.
Amorim has four wins and eight defeats from 14 Premier League games, which leaves them in 15th place, now below Everton ahead of their last trip to Goodison Park.
The Portuguese boss confirmed ahead of the game that reports of him preferring to stay at Sporting until the summer were true, and admitted “David Moyes is doing a better job than me, it’s quite simple”.
Amorim has stuck to his 3-4-3 guns so far and amid suggestions that members of the squad are starting to doubt his tactics, Mick Brown, the former chief scout at Old Trafford, claims the 40-year-old must tweak his philosophy to get more out of his players.
“I think Amorim is going to be under pressure before too long,” he told Football Insider.
“I can understand that when he came in, he had a few key players who were injured and was coming into a club he didn’t really know, so he had to find out about the way things work.
“But he’s had plenty of time to do that now.
“You’ve got to find a system that suits the players, not the other way around.
“If your players can’t play in a certain way, you have to find a way of playing that does suit them.
“You can’t keep forcing them to do jobs they’re not capable of and then acting surprised when things aren’t working and you keep losing games.
“You stand or fall by your decisions at this level, and if things aren’t working, we know what usually happens.
“There are questions mounting about the manager now.
“It’s okay saying ‘this is a hard job’ – managing at the top level, and especially at Manchester United, has always been a hard job.
“It’s a huge responsibility and there’s a lot of pressure on you.
“There’s only so far these excuses go, I’m afraid, before serious questions will be asked.
“At the moment, there’s a degree of understanding and some goodwill towards him, but he needs to show some evidence that he’s the man to turn things around.”
MORE MANCHESTER UNITED COVERAGE ON F365
👉 Ratcliffe has ‘only exaggerated’ the biggest problem at Manchester United as ‘toxicity’ reigns
👉 Man Utd told to bring a ‘bag of money’ for ‘monster’ Everton star this summer
👉 Berrada ‘threatens Man Utd staff with sack’ in ‘bombshell email’ after ‘succession of leaks’
The Manchester United accounts for the last quarter made for grim reading, and goes some way to explaining why the club sent a letter to fan groups last month warning them the club are at risk of breaking the profit and sustainability rules (PSR), with top-flight sides only permitted to make £105million of losses over a rolling three-year period.
But former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson claims there has been a degree of “gaslighting” from the Ineos chiefs around why they have to make cuts, with the explanation far more simple in reality.
Borson told Football Insider: “None of the financial performance of the club is a surprise to INEOS despite them trying to make it out that it is.
“There is a bit of gaslighting around in terms of why they have to do what they have to do.
“The reality of Manchester United and numbers is that it’s completely driven by the first team.
“It’s driven by the first-team cost, the first-team spending in terms of transfers and the success on the pitch, particularly Champions League.
“You can fiddle around as much as you like with 100 people in catering or 200 people in the back office.
“The reality is that the financial success of the club will be dictated by what happens with the first team.”
