Former Premier League star Stephen Warnock reckons Ruben Amorim is heading for the sack at Manchester United as the pressure cranks up on the Portuguese boss just days ahead of Rangers heading to Old Trafford.
Amorim’s Red Devils side slumped to defeat at home to Brighton on Sunday and that loss leaves them 13th in the English Premier League table with just 26 points – 10 points above the relegation zone. It was United’s sixth home league defeat of the season and that is the most from their opening 12 matches of a league campaign in 131 years.
The 39-year-old replaced Erik ten Hag as boss last November after impressing at Sporting Lisbon who he joined from Braga. His only losses as Braga boss came against Rangers when he lost home and away to Steven Gerrard’s men in the last 32 of the Europa League.
He now faces the Light Blues again in the same competition with pressure mounting and ex Liverpool and Blackburn defender Warnock told Spinbet : “It wouldn’t surprise me (if they sack Amorim) because when I look at the team at the moment, they don’t look like they are taking his lead or understanding what is being asked of them and that is a worry when you see that.
“I don’t like saying he should leave because it’s such a short space of time and needs his own players. He has inherited a poor squad and is trying to fit his system around the players but that’s where you have to be more adaptable, and that these players may not be able to play that system so you may have to play a certain system for a while and then when you get your own players, you then change what you want to do, and how you want to play.
“That’s what I mean by the team selection too, I don’t understand why you wouldn’t play certain players because you want them out of the door. You might want them out of the door, but you may have to play them for the time being to get results and then bump their value up, get rid of them and buy who you want. It’s a strange situation.”
Asked if they could go down this season, Warnock said: “I’d be very surprised if they finish in the top half, I don’t think they have the quality and there is a lot of rebuilding to do. Based on the current form, you wouldn’t be surprised if they finished in the bottom half. You would think that they wouldn’t get dragged into a relegation battle.
“However, they are a team that are struggling massively from confidence, and belief in what is being asked of them under Ruud van Nistelrooy, they had a brief spell where they were playing well under the current system but for some reason, Ruben Amorim can’t get the right balance of play.
“I’m just very surprised about his team selections. At times, I look at his team selections and think why are you doing that? He is obviously looking at the long-term future of the football club, but you have to live in the here and now sometimes. You have to get results and if they were to lose a couple of more games then they will be right amongst it but they should have too much quality to get dragged into that.
“I say too much quality, the squad doesn’t have a lot of quality, but they are capable of scoring goals although they do ship goals as well. It’s interesting times ahead for them, whether it’s a new manager or new ownership, it just hasn’t worked out for them yet.”