Club legend Rio Ferdinand admitted after Manchester United’s loss to Arsenal that he fears five stars don’t “fit” into Ruben Amorim’s preferred system.
Last month, Amorim was appointed to replace Erik ten Hag at Man Utd after he attracted interest from Liverpool and West Ham in the summer.
When Amorim took over, the Red Devils were 13th in the Premier League, so it was clear that he had a big job at Old Trafford.
Under the 39-year-old, Man Utd were unbeaten in three matches before their trip to face Arsenal at the Emirates.
United’s previous matches were against Ipswich Town, Bodo-Glimt and Everton, so Arsenal were always going to provide a sterner test and Amorim’s side were deservedly beaten 2-0.
The visitors struggled with Arsenal’s corners as Jurrien Timber and William Saliba scored in their 2-0 victory. Following this result, Man Utd are 11th in the Premier League and seven points adrift of the Champions League places.
READ: Amorim fails to stop Arsenal corners but Man Utd improvement is evident
Following this result, Ferdinand has picked out five players who may not “fit” into how Amorim wants to play.
“I worry about whether the players that we have can fit into what Amorim wants,” Ferdinand admitted.
“You look at Garnacho and you look at Rashford. Can they fit into an inside forward position and is that really the position they are going to excel?
“Rasmus Hojlund. Is he going to be our [Viktor] Gyokeres, is he going to be the guy we can play through?
“Antony hasn’t shown that [he fits into the system] yet, Zirkzee as well. Where is he going to fit into all of this?”
MORE MAN UTD COVERAGE ON F365…
👉 Man Utd transfer: Amorim makes January ‘priority clear’ as he ‘specifically requests’ Spaniard
👉 Man Utd: Ruben Amorim identifies ‘smart signing’ mentioned in ‘every internal meeting’ with INEOS
👉 Ruben Amorim ‘verbally exploded’ in ‘vicious’ attack on one Man Utd man
He continued: “I think there is more work to be done and more urgently in the forward areas because we don’t seem to have the cohesiveness up there.”
Despite this, former Man Utd defender Paul Parker thinks Hojlund is “very similar” to Viktor Gyokeres and he “fits” Amorim’s system “much better than Zirkzee does”.
“Hojlund fits much better to this system than Zirkzee does, in my opinion. Amorim needs a work horse up front, which Hojlund is,” Parker said.
“None of them are top class, but Hojlund has the potential to become one, and he is very similar to Gyokeres, so I think this is Hojlund´s chance now.
“I think Amorim will rotate a lot because his way of playing is demanding a lot from the players, but in the important moments and games, I expect Hojlund to be the man.”
