Gary Neville says he wants to see Ruben Amorim play front-foot football at Manchester United and stop the team playing like “underdogs”.
United’s first game since Erik ten Hag’s sacking fell flat in a stale 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Old Trafford that confirmed their worst start to a Premier League season.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, United’s interim boss until Amorim arrives on November 11, was unable to help spark the team into form as they played out a dismal draw with the west Londoners.
“This is Manchester United’s worst ever start to a Premier League season,” said Neville.
“It’s been a woeful 10 games and the performances are awful. You cannot disconnect performance from results and that’s why, when I look at Ruben Amorim, I think about what he needs to do in the job.
“I can’t even think about winning the title, that’s miles away. Just think about getting the best out of the players that are here, the ones that he signs in the future, and get the team to play higher up the pitch so they look more like a compact unit and like the other top teams.
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester United and Chelsea
“I’m not just talking about Man City, Liverpool and Arsenal, I’m talking about the likes of Brighton and Tottenham who are able to push up the pitch and look aggressive and on the front foot.
“You know Manchester United’s a front-foot club, you know it’s the club of attack, attack, attack and it’s nothing like that at this moment. It’s really disappointing and the new manager can’t come in quickly enough.”
He added: “Job number one has got to be to stop this rot of players coming to Manchester United, who were fancied because other clubs wanted them as well and who have not been able to achieve the levels of potential they demonstrated before they signed.
“So, with the players he inherits – which he’s going to be stuck with for the next eight months – he has to try and get the maximum out of them and that’s going to be a big job.”
The three key areas Amorim must address
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Neville also picked out three key metrics that Amorim must improve at United if he is to stop them playing like “underdogs” and return to being a side that can dominate.
“It was sober reading about how high Manchester United play up the pitch,” Neville said.
“When I looked at the average start distance of the teams up the pitch, Manchester City are first, Arsenal second, Liverpool third, Tottenham fourth and Brighton are fifth. Manchester United are down in tenth.
If you want to push your defence up the pitch, which is what I think every team looks to do nowadays, Amorim has got to start with that because Manchester United quite often have to travel 70, 80 yards to score a goal because they’re so deep and they play like the underdog in games.
“The other metric was possession one in the final third. So possession won high up the pitch: first was Manchester City, second was Tottenham, third was Arsenal and fourth was Liverpool. Manchester United are ninth.
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“The final one I asked for was the highest turnovers. City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal made up the top four while Manchester United were ninth.
“These three things are critical to performance levels.
“Man Utd played like a team that is sat behind the ball. ‘Let’s try and get them on the counter or score from a set piece’.
“That’s got to change. You’ve got to be a team of dominance. And I mean dominance. I mean dominating the ball in the final third, dominating your forwards and staying high up the pitch.”
Should Amorim keep Ruud on as assistant?
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“I can see why he would and I can see why he wouldn’t,” added Neville.
“The reason why he would is because he has a great knowledge of the club and is talented as a coach. He has coached at a high level in Holland. He loves this club, and he knows this club inside-out.
“The reason I wouldn’t is because Ruud looks good as a manager. The idea of that guy being on your shoulder… now Ruud’s not that type of person, I don’t mean being on his shoulder waiting for him to get sacked, but just the idea of that authority and presence next to you.
“If Amorim is sure of himself, which I am sure he is, then he might say he wants someone with real stature that is also a serious coach. That is an interesting dynamic.
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“They might come to a conclusion where Ruud leaves, but Amorim wants him to stay and can’t fulfil his aspiration and ambition of what he wants to do on a day-to-day basis. This is a real determined, successful guy, who wants to do everything 100 per cent. He is a perfectionist.
“You know as an assistant that you wouldn’t be the main man, he would want to be making a serious contribution. And if Amorim is saying ‘I do the coaching and my No 2 does this and my goalkeeper coach does this, and I would like to keep you but the role is not as involved as you would like’, then that would be a situation that doesn’t work for Ruud.
“He would need a role that has a level of seniority in the club and Amorim would need to give him that to make him want to stay. Ruud looks the part on the sideline, he looks like a manager.”
