Neville fears Man Utd's trip to Liverpool – will Amorim change shape?

Gary Neville says he fears for Manchester United ahead of their Super Sunday visit to Premier League leaders Liverpool – so should head coach Ruben Amorim stay true to his principles or change his formation at Anfield?

United were beaten 2-0 by Newcastle at Old Trafford on Monday Night Football, meaning Amorim has now lost six of his 11 games since replacing Erik ten Hag in November, including the last four in all competitions.

That losing run has left United languishing in 14th place in the table, just seven points clear of the bottom three and with a whole host of problems to contend with as they prepare to take on their arch rivals this weekend.

Amorim started Monday’s loss to Newcastle with two 32-year-olds in midfield in Casemiro and Christian Eriksen, while summer signing Joshua Zirkzee was substituted for tactical reasons after only 33 minutes to a mixture of cheers and boos.

Meanwhile, England international Marcus Rashford was an unused substitute despite United needing goals to get back into the game, with Amorim admitting after the full-time whistle: “I don’t make excuses, people are tired of them at this club. Our club needs a shock.”

Neville has called the situation at his former club “desperate’, telling Sky Sports that an in-form Liverpool are the very last side United would want to face next.

‘I’ve no idea how they approach this game’

Sky Sports’ Gary Neville:

“Do we have to go to Anfield on Sunday? Do you remember in the olden days when Sunday league teams wouldn’t turn up because they said the traffic was bad or a few players were unwell?

“Obviously joking aside, I’ve no idea how they approach this game on Sunday. Manchester United have found this fixture very tough in recent years. The 7-0 [in March 2023], I was there watching it to the bitter end like many Manchester United fans were.”

What can Amorim do?

“You’re wondering what Amorim can do. He can point to the Manchester City performance [2-1 win at the Etihad in December] but I genuinely don’t know. Some players may come back. Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford haven’t been showing the application in training but they are better than the players out on the pitch currently.

“They’ve got legs and if Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold are lining up against Zirkzee or Bruno [Fernandes] in wide areas, they would probably prefer that to Garnacho and Rashford.

“That will be difficult for Amorim as he wants to set a new culture and standard in the dressing room of what’s right. He’s not liked some of the things he’s seen in the past month or so but right now it’s needs-must and it’s desperate.”

Anfield is an unforgiving place – I fear for Sunday

“United are only seven points off the relegation zone. They play Liverpool and then Arsenal away so it’s a really tough moment.

“It’s a young manager who has come over and needs time to settle in but when results are this bad it piles on the pressure and Anfield is an unforgiving place to go. It’s the worst place at the best of times.

“The form they’re in is out of this world. I have some fear for Sunday.”

Should Amorim stick with his three-at-the-back principles?

“He can’t change because he’s obviously committed to it. Every day in training he’s working on this system and he’s saying, ‘this is what we are going to do’. It’s plainly obvious that at times it’s causing some pain with some of the players.

“Take [Noussair] Mazraoui and [Diogo] Dalot – they’re actually two players who are doing their very best, they’ve been very willing in every single game of Amorim and that’s why they’re playing, because they’ve shown and demonstrated a real good attitude.

“Their issue is a lack of capability to be able to play that advanced position higher up the pitch in the final third. So it’s a case if he’s got players who are maybe more talented, like Garnacho and Rashford, that he’s not that convinced about their attitude.

“So he’s going with the more solid ones but the problem is you look at that midfield of Casemiro and Eriksen – I know it’s played together before but every time I see it I wince a little bit because I look at that Old Trafford pitch and it always felt massive when I played on it.

“Casemiro and Eriksen in that midfield with [Harry] Maguire, [Lisandro] Martinez and [Matthijs] de Ligt at the back, there’s not a lot of pace there.

“He should stick with it but the only thing I would say is he did mention he needs to get results. If you remember Louis van Gaal when he first came to United, it felt like he signed about three or four left-sided defenders to play that sort of wing-back system because he played it with Holland.

“He ended up changing it to a back four in about six to eight weeks and it seemed to change very quickly. So I just wonder whether the more he says this, the more he gets the results that he’s getting.

“If the results continue as they are there may come a point where he has to change or do something slightly different because obviously United can’t go any lower than they currently are. They would be in danger of relegation.”

‘If he changed that quickly, what would be the point of him being here?’

Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher:

“He should not [change his principles] because I go back to [Erik] ten Hag and this was a guy who had a great first season but he actually changed his idea after two games.

“We talk about managers adapting and tweaking things. I’m all for that but if you’ve brought a manager in who’s been really successful with the system, you want to see that on the pitch. So if the manager changes that really quickly and moves away from that, I’d be worried.

“I always felt that was a problem for Ten Hag because United brought him in because of what he’d done at Ajax. He kept saying in press conferences, ‘I haven’t got the same players, I haven’t got this, I haven’t got that, I can’t play that way’.

“I always thought that was a big worry going forward because that’s why the club had brought you in. If Amorim moves away from that, what’s the point of him being here? That’s what he’s about, that’s what he’s got to do.”

Man Utd’s busy January

Sunday January 5: Liverpool vs Man Utd – Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm, live on Sky Sports

Sunday January 12: Arsenal vs Man Utd – FA Cup third round, kick-off 3pm

Thursday January 16: Man Utd vs Southampton – Premier League, kick-off 8pm

Sunday January 19: Man Utd vs Brighton – Premier League, kick-off 2pm

Thursday January 23: Man Utd vs Rangers – Europa League, kick-off 8pm

Sunday January 26: Fulham vs Man Utd – Premier League, kick-off 7pm

Thursday January 30: FCSB vs Man Utd – Europa League, kick-off 8pm