A former Manchester United player has poured cold water on Ruben Amorim’s chances of achieving a top half finish next season after slamming his tenure as manager. The Portuguese coach took over at Old Trafford back in November after replacing Erik ten Hag, but has so far lost 11 of his 22 Premier League games in charge, winning just six.
United are currently 15th in the the table after losing 1-0 at home to Wolves on Sunday, leading to questions being raised over Amorim’s credentials. The ex-Sporting Lisbon boss is widely expected to carry out an overhaul of his squad during the summer in a bid to turn their fortunes around.
However, former United goalkeeper Ben Foster isn’t convinced that Amorim is the man for the job after slamming his decision to prioritise the Europa League by rotating his players during the Premier League run-in. Foster astonishingly claimed that even Ruud van Nistelrooy could have done better, despite Leicester City suffering relegation to the Championship under the Dutchman.
Van Nistelrooy spent a short spell as caretaker manager of the Red Devils earlier this season, winning three games out of four. But his reputation suffered a major dent after Leicester’s demotion was confirmed following their 1-0 loss to Liverpool at the weekend.
Foster, who also played for Watford and Wrexham, believes United are a shadow of the team they were under Sir Alex Ferguson and is doubtful of them realising an improved finish next season.
“It’s Man United by name now – that’s all it is,” he said on his ‘Fozcast’ podcast. “They’re a pale complexion of what they used to be. It’s damningly true. I don’t think they’ll get top ten next year.
“Would Ruud van Nistelrooy have done a better job than Ruben Amorim at Man United, if he’d stayed on? I think it’s a ‘probably’ because he had that respect, and I just don’t think that you could do much worse than Amorim has done.
“I don’t think Amorim is [the man for the job] either, to be honest with you. Amorim set his stall out last week when they won that game against Lyon and then he said he was basically going to play the kids for the rest of the season.
“It just signals that the Premier League doesn’t matter so subconsciously, all of those players will take their foot off the gas a little bit. They should have beaten Wolves, but they didn’t because it’s set in now.”
Meanwhile, Richard Keys believes United should turn to Gareth Southgate as their next manager with Amorim still not getting a tune out of his side. Keys isn’t sure the United boss should be trusted to turn them into a winning force and has pitched Southgate as a replacement after leaving his role with England.
Explaining his thinking on beIN Sports, Keys said: “You cannot knock the fact he took England to two finals and was a whisker away from winning something. He is available, and he’s highly regarded as a coach.
“His club career was not littered with success but what I’m saying is that he’s grown as a coach, working with the finest talent available, into somebody who is a big club character.
“So why not? I believe he’s someone who understands the modern player as well or better than most. Speak to people who have worked with him and they will give him a glowing reference.”
Join our new MAN UTD WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Manchester United content from Mirror Football. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
