Gary Neville was the first to interview Ruben Amorim, not many days after the Portuguese had landed in Manchester. The usually serious and negative Neville had a great time in the company of Amorim, it was clear that the United legend had a liking for the former Sporting coach and had faith that United would get a big boost. Less than three months later, the mood is completely different when Neville sits down in front of the microphone.
-I thought it would be better when Ruben Amorim came in. I thought about the enthusiasm and the new system, I thought the players “would buy it” and that we would see a rise. We have seen the absolute opposite. It’s gotten a lot worse, and that’s surprising,” the United legend begins on his own podcast.
“But there’s going to be a lot more pain towards the end of the season, and it’s going to be damaging. They will obviously stick with Ruben Amorim, but the more you lose, the harder it is to convince players of the ideas that he talked about in November. You need the players to be convinced, but if they lose with it, and they are constantly criticised, the spotlight is more on them and the supporters are even more disappointed.
-You can’t keep losing. It will “darken” the minds of the players to the point where they lose faith in Amorim football. It will hurt the start of next season. I think he’s lost more games at Manchester United since his arrival than he’s lost in the last 75 with Sporting,” Neville says.
