Gary Neville claims Man Utd are 'a lot worse' under Ruben Amorim than Erik ten Hag & suggests Portuguese coach 'might not like' two players

Following a poor start to the 2024/25 campaign, United parted ways with Erik ten Hag in October last year and brought in Ruben Amorim as his replacement from Sporting CP. The Portuguese coach came with an impressive resumé, having won the Liga Portugal title twice. The Red Devils hoped that the 39-year-old would change their fortunes, however, there has not been a major change in their performance, especially in the Premier League.

Since Amorim took charge of the club, the team has played seven home games, and out of those matches, they have managed to win only twice. They have also lost three out of their last five league outings as they currently struggle at the 13th position on the league table. United legend and pundit Gary Neville has assessed the performance of the ex-Sporting CP coach as he boldly claimed that the situation was better under Ten Hag.

Speaking on the Gary Neville Podcast, the ex-England defender said: "I thought it would get better when Ruben Amorim came in. I thought the enthusiasm and the new system, I thought they'd buy into it the players, and we'd see a bounce. We've seen the absolute opposite. It's got a lot worse and that's surprising.

"But there's going to be a lot more pain towards the end of the season and it is going to be damaging. They're obviously going to stick with Ruben Amorim, but the more you lose, the more difficult it is to convince the players of the idea. The idea that he talked about in the early days. You need the players to buy into it, but if they lose with it, and they keep getting criticised, the spotlight comes on them more and the fans are leaving unhappy."

He added: "You can't keep losing. It will depress the thoughts of the players, to the point whereby they'll lose faith with the idea. It'll damage the start of next season. He has to do something. He can't change his approach because he's died in a ditch on it. And rightly so. I think he's lost more games at Manchester United since he's come than he lost in the last 75 at Sporting."

Amorim's side will be back in action on Friday night when they take on Leicester City in an FA Cup fourth-round clash.