Ruben Amorim needs five years to turn it around at Manchester United – the squad are simply not good enough
Today at 06:45 AM
Manchester United are nowhere near returning to the pinnacle of English football – their players are not up to the required standard.
That’s the view of talkSPORT’s Ally McCoist, who believes it could take five years for the Premier League giants’ fortunes to turn around.
United saw their dreary season continue on Sunday with a 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton to leave them sitting 13th in the table.
Their tenth league loss of the campaign prompted head coach Amorim to deliver a worrying evaluation of their current situation – insisting they are the ‘worst’ United side in history.
“In [the past] ten games in the Premier League, we won two,” he said. “Imagine what this is for a fan of Manchester United. Imagine what this is for me.
“We are getting a new coach who is losing more than the last coach. I have full knowledge of that. We are the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United.
“I know you [the media] want headlines but I am saying that because we have to acknowledge that and to change that. Here you go, your headlines.”
Reflecting on his comments on the talkSPORT Breakfast show, McCoist was asked by co-host Jeff Stelling whether he feels sympathy for the man in the Old Trafford hotseat.
To which he said: “I wouldn’t say I feel for him. A couple of things I would say, he’s no doubt about it an excellent coach.
“I saw his Sporting side a couple of times, I saw them dismantle Manchester City and they’re a different level.
“I think he started up at Braga, but the one thing I would say about him, he’s made that a sweeping statement.
“The first thing you’ve got to say is, Ruben Amorim has actually got no idea whether that’s the worst United side in history, because he doesn’t know previous United sides to that extent.
“He’s made a statement for effect, that’s what he’s done. You could argue about the ins and outs of the statement, but he’s said it, he’s done it for a reason, and that is to clearly let everybody know the magnitude of the job ahead, right?
“He said he’s not going to change his formation, well, that team could potentially get slightly better, right? It could potentially be slightly better Jeff.
“But those players are not good enough to play that formation and be where United want to be, I think it’s relatively straightforward, I think.”
United spent around £182million on transfers in the summer after a near-£171m expenditure in the previous year, which came before their lowest ever Premier League finish of eighth.
They’re currently five places below that standing, with their players under-performing for a second consecutive season.
Having seen their persistent poor form, McCoist doesn’t believe there will be a quick fix and suggests that improvement could take as long as half a decade.
“I was there on Thursday night [for their 3-1 win over Southampton] and I said to Jeff, ‘I actually thought they were very fortunate to win.’
“I know Amad [Diallo] gets a hat-trick after 82 minutes, but up to that, if any team looked like scoring, it was probably going to be Southampton.
“I look at Manchester United now, and I got a bit of stick months and months ago, I liken them a little bit to Liverpool. Liverpool went 30 years without winning a title.
“I’m not going to say that’s going to happen to Manchester United but my point in making that is, I don’t see this changing in two or three windows.
“I think this is maybe a five-year project for somebody, I genuinely don’t see it turning around in a couple of years.”
United have won just one of their last six Premier League matches, with four of those fixtures ending in defeat to Bournemouth, Wolves, Newcastle and Brighton.
They are 12 points adrift of the top four and a whopping 24 points behind their arch-rivals and league leaders Liverpool.
Amorim will hope to spark some fan optimism on Thursday with a win against Rangers in the Europa League, live on talkSPORT.
