-Credit:PA
Gary Neville has refused to rule out Manchester United sacking Ruben Amorim with the Reds sitting just seven points above the relegation zone.
United will end 2024 sitting 14th in the Premier League table, their lowest position at the end of a year since 1989. It follows a worrying run of form, which includes four defeats in a row across all competitions and three successive home league losses for the first time since 1979.
The Reds’ dramatic decline has led to Amorim admitting United could possibly find themselves in a relegation battle this season. The Portuguese head coach has been unable to revive United’s fortunes so far since being appointed as Erik ten Hag’s successor in November.
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When asked on Sky Sports whether his former side will stick with Amorim this season no matter what, after Monday’s defeat to Newcastle, Neville shared his doubts. However, the ex-United captain still believes his old club will back the former Sporting boss.
“I mean, whatever happened? Probably not,” he said. “But they’re going to support him, aren’t they?
“Their mindset is such now that they’re going to dig in, support the manager, get him through maybe a transfer window in January. I’m not sure there’s that much money to spend in January because they’re on the edge of FFP, but they’ll obviously get to the summer and there’s going to have to be a huge overhaul again.”
When asked who the Reds should target in the transfer market, he added: “I could say centre-forward, let’s get a world-class centre-forward, let’s get Isak in, but that’s never going to happen.
“I think if you were starting, you’d have to start with the fundamentals of this system, which is the wing-backs, they hold it together.
“If you don’t have the wing-backs functioning up and down that are able to attack and defend equally as good, and there aren’t many of those around, by the way, because there aren’t many teams that play wing-back, then you’re going to struggle. So you need two quite unique players in those wide areas, and I think that will be the starting point.
“And that’s nothing against Mazraoui or Dalot, I think they’re very willing and doing the job the very best that they can. But they’re to me the areas that I would start in this system.”