Mario Melchiot says Ruben Amorim is faced with a ‘big problem’ at Manchester United, with ‘incredible’ players like Alejandro Garnacho appearing ‘lost’ since he took charge.
Amorim has found himself under mounting pressure at Old Trafford in recent weeks having failed to steady the ship since taking over the reins from Erik ten Hag back in November.
Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at the hands of Ange Postecoglou’s depleted Tottenham side, United’s eighth loss in the Premier League under Amorim, left the club stranded down in 15th place, just 12 points above the relegation zone.
While there has been no sign of a so-called new-manager bounce, though, it’s understood Amorim’s job is not under threat and the Portuguese has repeatedly underlined that he is not concerned for his future.
‘I am not worried,’ Amorim told the BBC following the Red Devils’ latest loss to Spurs.
‘I understand our fans, what the media think about it. I hate to lose, that feeling is the worst.
‘The rest I am not thinking about. I am here to help my players. I understand my situation, my job, I am confident on my work and I just want to win games.’
Outwardly at least, Amorim remains confident he has the backing of United bosses. However, the former Sporting head coach will be under no illusions that another defeat away to struggling Everton this weekend would be nothing short of catastrophic.
‘I think when Erik ten Hag watches it he will be thinking, “This is the same thing I was going through”,’ ex-Chelsea and Netherlands defender Melchiot told ESPN.
‘One of the key things with Amorim is he comes there and with your background and where you come from, your team was at a certain level but it was clearly not the level where you are right now.
‘So how he brings it across, in the sense of, “No, we have to finish the season and then look at next season…”.
‘But this is Manchester United, people don’t think and people don’t talk like that.
‘Him saying that is definitely going to cause friction with some people because fans and the expectation… they will be thinking, “Are you thinking it’s normal for us to be in this situation? Are you going to help us get out of it?”… you don’t want them to start getting on your back for that reason.’
While Melchiot has some sympathy for Amorim, he criticised the United boss for leaving his defence completely ‘exposed’ with his team selection against Tottenham.
‘I do understand what he’s talking about because most of the team is not built by him,’ he continued.
‘You can see the situation he was in, he put some many young kids on the bench [against Tottenham]. There was one experienced player on it and Casemiro had to start again.
‘But one of the things I don’t understand: if Casemiro starts in your team and [Bruno] Fernandes is your midfielder, you know he wants to go forward. He was kind of disciplined he did a lot of hard work.
‘But I ask myself why don’t you start holding it really tight. No, he exposed the team because he’s looking for the switch.
‘What I’m asking him now is to be careful. Don’t expose your team to be too creative because at this point you don’t have the players to do that.’
According to Melchiot, there appears to be a worrying lack of confidence within United’s squad with Amorim at the helm and the decline in form of a player of Garnacho’s undoubted quality is a serious concern.
‘One advantage he has is that the players he has there are not his hand. We have to remember, he wanted the job later and he got the job earlier,’ he added.
‘Okay, he got the job earlier because there was no choice anymore. But he knows now that it was an even bigger surprise than it was before.
‘The confidence is so low in that team. We have to remember that before he came in, one of the kids, for example, Garnacho, was incredible. Look at him now… he looks lost!
‘I don’t see the kid that can hurt a defender, can dribble at him, take him on.
‘If I look at [Rasmus] Hojlund… he works really hard but where are the goals going to come from? Sometimes I say to myself: let my striker work less so he has more energy to score for me.
‘Those things are not at Manchester United, they’re not dangerous, they don’t create anything so that’s why they have a big problem.’
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