'I can't watch Mason Mount play left wing-back!' - Gary Neville destroys Ruben Amorim over baffling Man Utd tactics with comparison made to Erik ten Hag's final weeks before sack

Neville's scathing assessment comes amid mounting pressure on Amorim, despite significant investment in the squad. The consistent chopping and changing of the defensive line, coupled with seemingly nonsensical tactical decisions like Mount at left wing-back, are raising serious doubts about the manager's ability to turn things around. United fans are growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress and clear direction. On the latest edition of the Gary Neville Podcast, the host took aim at Amorim’s calls.

"There was something that happened in that game yesterday that I mentioned on my podcast two or three weeks ago that I said we couldn't see again... when you're putting Mason Mount at left wing-back and he's ended up at left wing-back again yesterday in the last five minutes to the game, it starts to look awful," Neville said.

"Ruben Amorim’s had a pre-season. He's had a week now in between each of his games nearly or most of the weeks because Manchester United aren't in Europe. Yet, the performances are as poor as ever. The results are catastrophic really in Manchester United terms.

"You can't put Mason Mount at left wing-back. I'm sorry, it just can't happen. I can't… I can't watch Mason Mount play left wing back in a football team. I struggle at times to watch him in in his position, but actually putting him out there on the left wing is just or left wing back is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous.

"The manager's obviously a good coach. He's had a great record in Portugal, but it's not clicking at all. It's not clicking. And the thing is for me, when I said just before, maybe I didn't finish what I was going to say, but it looked to me like I said, the players and the ideas are not connecting at all. You could just see the body language in their faces.

"The other thing that I've said, and I said it under [Erik] ten Hag towards the end, he keeps changing his back four. That's what I used to say under Ten Hag. He didn't play with the back five. Kept changing his back four, his centre-backs... You cannot continually keep changing your back three and back five. It's impossible. I mean, that is the sort of part of the pitch where you need reliability and you need continuity to build relationships."

Amorim was not the only one to face criticism from Neville, with United’s leadership team as a whole also coming under fire.

He added: "You're going to start seeing very, very, very big questions being asked of the ownership. Big questions. They brought a young manager in. He's played a completely different system. They've invested in a completely different system. They brought [Patrick] Dorgu in and they brought other players. And if they were to be 14, 15, 16th in October, which was where I said at the start of the season, if Manchester United are where they were last season in October, it's not a one-off. It becomes what you are and it becomes a pattern and then managers come under huge pressure.

"That's why I'm worried. That's why I'm worried because this is not going to go away and it's going to build in this next week or so. 

"A victory is needed more than ever at Old Trafford on Saturday against Sunderland."

United are back in action on Saturday when they host newly-promoted Sunderland, who sit fifth in the Premier League through six games of the season despite being tipped for relegation before the start of the campaign. A solid defensive display in their next match is crucial to ease concerns.