Furious Ruben Amorim urges Man Utd to be 'brave' in summer transfer window and ditch players unwilling to fight for the club after 'embarrassing' West Ham defeat

United were outplayed by Graham Potter's side and fell to their 17th defeat of the season, the same number of losses as when they were relegated in 1974. It was also their ninth loss in 18 home matches in the Premier League and it left them 16th in the table with two games remaining, well on course for their worst league finish since 1974.

"Embarrassed and it's hard to accept. Everybody has to think seriously about a lot of things here," Amorim told a press conference. "We have to change a lot of things at the end of the season. The biggest concern is that feeling that 'we cannot change and it's ok'. We're losing the feeling that we are a massive club and the feeling that losing at home is the worst thing in the world."

The defeat was just three days after United thrashed Athletic Club 4-1 to reach the Europa League final but Amorim was not thinking about their successes in Europe and let rip at his players for having "a lack of urgency to defend our penalty area". He added: "I'm not concerned about the final. It's by far the smallest problem in our club. We need to change something much deeper than this."

Amorim also sent out a message to co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe, effectively telling him that a major clear-out was needed: "We need to be really strong in the summer, we need to be brave."

United play away at Chelsea on Friday then finish the campaign at home to Aston Villa, four days after the Europa League final against Tottenam. But the coach appeared to cast doubt on his long-term future in the club when he added: "It's not the players' fault. It's my fault, I'm responsible. If we cannot change that really fast, we should give our place to different persons."