Ruben Amorim is taking a leaf out of Pep Guardiola's playbook with Man Utd criticism - but rotten Red Devils are no Man City so Portuguese runs the risk of a dressing-room revolt

But is it good for the players to be told that they are among the worst teams in United’s 147-year history? What does it do for confidence when you hear your coach say opponents are better than you "in many details"? What does Marcus Rashford think when he hears his manager say "I am not going to put a player I don’t believe is the best for the team"? And what goes through Andre Onana's mind when he hears he is prone to "really ups and really downs"?

"I could not believe what I was hearing. That comment is absolutely crazy," said former West Ham midfielder Nigel Reo Coker on BBC Radio Five Live. "I think Amorim is too honest and he needs to be a bit more of a politician. By saying that comment and putting it out into the domain, it puts more pressure on the players. How are they going to face him after he's said all of these things? I hope he has given them a different message in the dressing room."

"I personally wouldn't enjoy being called out like this," added former Everton player Leon Osman on Match of the Day. "It would probably fire me up, which is the intent, but no one wants to be known as the worst team that's ever played for a certain football club."

Amorim is not the first manager to use press conferences to send a message to his squad, and his declarations after the Brighton defeat should not be confused with diatribes such as Antonio Conte calling his Tottenham players "selfish" and subsequently getting the sack. Unlike Conte, the Portuguese coach is not trying to get thrown out of the club. He is trying to be as honest as he can with his players to spell out how bad things are and try to get them to improve. It sounded harsh, sure, but few would disagree with the sentiment.

Amorim's comments about United on Sunday were slightly reminiscent of Guardiola’s extraordinary 'Happy Flowers' press conference two years ago. That unforgettable outburst had come after a 4-2 comeback win over Tottenham which had followed defeats at Southampton and United.

The rant clearly had an effect on City's season as they won 15 out of their next 17 league games to storm to the Premier League title, win the FA Cup and above all the Champions League, obliterating RB Leipzig 7-0, Bayern Munich 3-0 and Real Madrid 4-0 along the way to completing the treble.

Perhaps Amorim's cutting remarks will end up having a similar effect on United in the long run. But so far there does not appear to be much merit in his ruthless approach as the team look completely shorn of confidence.

Antony's open-goal miss against Southampton and Onana's howler against Brighton are the most glaring examples of the lack of self-belief, which is also evident in the team's inability to defend against set-pieces or craft goal-scoring chances. They have a goal difference of minus five and their only shot on target against Brighton was a penalty.

Sunday was not the first time Amorim has aired his low opinion of his players, both in the media and in his selections. He publicly called out Rashford and Garnacho's attitude to training by dropping them for the Manchester derby, hauled Joshua Zirkzee off after 33 minutes against Newcastle, pulled Kobbie Mainoo off at half-time against Southampton and removed Rasmus Hojlund and Manuel Ugarte early in the second half, leaving both players looking absolutely furious.

Zirkzee has seemed to have responded well to his harsh treatment from both Amorim and the Old Trafford crowd, delivering promising substitute appearances at Arsenal and against Southampton while being one of the few players who could have been happy with their displays against Brighton.

Amad Diallo, Bruno Fernandes, Harry Maguire and Diogo Dalot are the only players who have performed well on a consistent basis under the coach. And the overall effect, with a couple of notable exceptions, has been declining performances and deteriorating results since Amorim replaced the sacked Erik ten Hag in November.

"They're actually worse now than they were under Ten Hag, because of what this manager wants to do with this system. The way he wants to play, the players just can't do it," said Alan Shearer on The Rest is Football podcast.

Amorim is acutely aware that his side are now doing worse than under his predecessor, but has vowed to stick to his plan. "We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach," he said on Sunday. "I have full knowledge of that. I am not going to change, no matter what."

Amorim's approach to remoulding United in his image bears some resemblance to Guardiola's first impressions when he became City boss in 2016. United's arch-rivals were in a much better state back then than the rotten predicament the Red Devils find themselves in now, having recently reached the Champions League semi-final and finished fourth, but Guardiola was far from impressed with what he saw from afar and, rather than adapt to the players at his disposal, he wanted to completely overhaul the squad as soon as he started.

According to author Marti Perarnau's book 'The Pep Revolution: Inside Guardiola's Manchester City', the coach asked the club to sign him 10 players in his first summer and was dismayed when he was only granted five new recruits. City envisaged that his debut campaign would be a transition season and so it proved as they finished third, 15 points adrift of champions Chelsea and ended the campaign with no silverware for what was Guardiola's first and, thus far, only trophy-less year as a manager.

City's response was to continue arming the coach by giving him five more players the following summer (among them Kyle Walker, Ederson and Bernardo Silva) and then adding Aymeric Laporte, who Guardiola had wanted to sign in 2016, in January. City blew everyone apart that season, collecting a record 100 points on their way to the first of six Premier League titles they would go on to win under the Catalan.

Amorim clearly feels he has to start from scratch at United and there seems to be a consensus that he needs almost a brand new squad to get the club to go where he wants to take them. As Shearer said: "Someone had to go in there and strip it back to the bare bones and that's exactly what it needs. It is going to take time and whoever went in there was going to face this scenario. They need massive recruitment, now and in the summer, but it is going to take a lot longer than that to get that club right."

The elephant in the room when it comes to United overhauling the squad, however, is that they have spent close to £600m ($738m) in the last three summers and as a result have very little room left for manoeuvre in the transfer market. For just one example of their woeful recruitment in that period, take Antony leaving on loan for Real Betis two-and-a-half years after being signed for £85m ($104m). He leaves with just 12 goals and five assists to his name in all competitions, and has scored just two Premier League goals since October 2022.

For another, there is Mason Mount, who has made nine Premier League starts since his £55m ($67m) arrival from Chelsea. Then there is Casemiro, who cost £60m ($73m), is among the club's top three earners and has made just three Premier League starts under Amorim.

United simply cannot afford to give Amorim anything like the war-chest that was made available to Guardiola, and the club are not exactly an attractive proposition to the top talents in the game as there is little prospect of even playing in Europe next season, let alone competing for major trophies.

Amorim does also not possess anything like the gravitas of Guardiola to lead such a thorough squad overhaul, nor convince players with his brutally frank assessment of their qualities - or lack thereof. It is one thing for Guardiola, arguably the best coach in football history, to tell you how bad you are, and quite another to hear it from a coach who had never previously worked in Europe's top five leagues. Those who know Amorim, however, stress that his words were in keeping with his open and transparent nature.

"If he said that, give him time. He knows what he's doing. He'll get the best out of them, you'll see," a source told GOAL. "He needs time to clean the squad and restructure. That's what he does best. If the board let him do things his own way, he will create a force and a very strong squad. Not in terms of quality, but as a group."

Amorim inherited a similar situation to the one he found at United when he took charge of Sporting CP, where his predecessor Silas had lost 10 of his 28 matches before being sacked. He did not get off to the best start either, winning just six of the final 11 games of the season, although it was enough to finish third in the league. He was granted 11 new players in the summer, among them €16m (£13m/$16m) striker Paulinho, €13m (£11m/$13.5m) forward Pedro Goncalves and Pedro Porro, on loan from Manchester City. The overhaul worked a treat as Sporting claimed their first league title in 19 years, losing just once all season.

One game in particular is still seen as pivotal to that title win: a 2-2 draw at Famalicao. The game was played in an empty stadium due to the pandemic, but tempers still flared as Sporting twice surrendered the lead and then had a last-minute goal from Sebastian Coates ruled out for a foul. Amorim was sent off after protesting the referees’ decision and at full-time there was a furious brawl between the players in the tunnel, with even Sporting’s director of football Hugo Viana and president Frederico Varandas getting involved.

After the game, Amorim issued a rallying cry which became the club’s mantra: "Wherever one of us goes, everyone goes" ('Onde vai um, vao todos' in Portuguese). Players started repeating the message on social media after the game and a tifo bearing the same message was displayed at the club’s Estado Jose Alvalade for the rest of the season. A real bond between Amorim and his Sporting players was forged that day, and the mutual affection remained throughout his time in Lisbon. That much was evident in the emotional scenes in his final games in charge, when the players carried him on their shoulders.

Such unity between coach, players and fans at United seems very far away right now, certainly after losing four of their last five games at an Old Trafford that has been repeatedly stunned into silence. United have little more than a week to freshen up the squad for the final few months of the season, and it could be a long time before Amorim has the team he desires. So in the meantime, he might want to reflect on his time at Sporting and try to foster some belief in the players he has, rather than telling them how bad they are.