Gary Neville says Manchester United need five new signings to suit Ruben Amorim’s system.
United are 13th in the Premier League after drawing 0-0 at home to Manchester City on Sunday, having won only two of their last eight league games.
Amorim has stuck with his favoured 3-4-3 formation with varying success after signing left wing-back Patrick Dorgu in a £30m deal from Lecce during the winter transfer window – but Sky Sports’ Neville believes they need plenty more additions.
“From a United perspective, I get why he’s gone back into a low block,” said Neville. “But that’s what we’ve seen from Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik Ten Hag.
“They’ve all come in with the intention of playing high-press, high-energy football, but all end up going back to a low block in big games.
“I do understand why Ruben Amorim’s done that today, with the players he’s got, because he hasn’t got the players to adapt.
“They need five new players straight away before you even think about the rest of it.
“The three up front are not good enough and the two wing-backs, they’re not good enough. They need five players. They need to serve him with five players who are good enough in this system to be able to play his system the way he wants.”
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Highlights from the Premier League match between Manchester United and Manchester City
Neville was disappointed by the “love-in” between the players at full-time of the Manchester derby that “tells you that both teams are happy with a 0-0”.
In his post-match press conference, Amorim responded: “I understand that Gary Neville is critical about everything. I understand that we are having the worst season in history. Manchester City won everything in the past, but this season they are struggling. So we are not in the best of moments to give the best spectacle to fans. We are not fighting for the big things, it’s different.
“I understand the critical aspect of the players who played in this game in a different way because they were fighting every time for the titles. It’s a different context.”
‘Elanga, Rashford, Welbeck are better than current forwards’
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Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville says Ruben Amorim needs to be at heart of Man Utd’s strategy
Speaking before the 0-0 draw with Man City, Neville compared United’s current forwards with ones who have left.
“No Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson, other than Louis van Gaal, has been able to dominate games with possession. That’s a real problem.
“The players up front are just not of the quality required at the club. That sounds really harsh but it’s the truth.
“It’s going to need smart recruitment, that means getting players out for good prices and getting players in who are undervalued – which is what all teams are trying to do in the league!
“You could field four players that are not at Manchester United anymore – Anthony Elanga, Marcus Rashford, Danny Welbeck and Scott McTominay behind them – they would do a lot better than the current players as a four up front.
“United have let players go – and I’m not saying they’re the solution right now. But they’ve replaced players who weren’t at the standard, with players who are not at that level.”
