The latest Manchester United news as pressure is growing on the United boss following a 3-0 away loss against Manchester City.
Ruben Amorim during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium.
Ruben Amorim during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium.
(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Manchester United legend turned pundit Gary Neville has admitted that he is ‘worried’ about the team's future in the next few weeks amid growing pressure on manager Ruben Amorim.
United suffered a 3-0 away defeat to rivals Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The painful result leaves them in 14th position in the Premier League table and has prompted more talk about the manager’s future following a disappointing 2024/25 campaign.
Having failed to qualify for Europe, United now have a full week to prepare for their next game against Chelsea at Old Trafford on Saturday. Speaking on the Gary Neville podcast, the pundit said that the game needs to be the start of a turnaround for Amorim.
“Ruben Amorim is going to come under big pressure, he’s going to come under big pressure, Manchester United are 14th in the league,” he said. “It’s only a few games in, it’s four games in, but next week, if Manchester United lose and they go and they go to 15th or 16th and it’s five games in, before you know it we’re in October and Manchester United are in the bottom half of the table and that’s where they couldn’t be, having spent £200 million, with him having a pre-season.
“They might be seventh, eighth, ninth, they could be in those types of positions, but they can’t be in the bottom half of the table, so there’s got to be a turnaround pretty quickly, and the manager’s idea has got to land very quickly with the players.
“I’m not saying here today that there’s any suggestion that the players have downed tools on him, they’ve not, but they’re struggling a little bit, they’re struggling, they’re struggling against Burnley at home, they’re struggling against Fulham away in large parts, they’re struggling at Grimsby, they struggled here today. They’re struggling with it, they’re struggling to find rhythm, to find tempo, to find performance levels.
“I was really heartened by the first game of the season against Arsenal. I thought it was a really good performance, but maybe that was that they’d had a good pre-season. Maybe now Cunha gets injured, Mount gets injured, the old wounds are starting to open up, and I’m worried. I’m worried about the manager, worried about what’s going to happen in this next few weeks. I don’t think it’s a time for panic, but I’ve seen this before. We’ve seen this film.”
Neville outlined the importance of a quick start against Chelsea next weekend, as a loss would only put more pressure on the manager and the club.
“Losing away from home against City is never going to cost you your job, because the reality of it is, a lot of teams lose here,” he added. “But if 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 and you’re going to see more images of the owners in the box and Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and everybody else, you’re 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.”
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