Ruben Amorim warned he’s giving ‘weak-minded’ Man Utd players an excuse with tactics

Ruben Amorim continues to stick with his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, despite Manchester United only winning four of their 14 Premier League games since he took charge

Liverpool legend Graeme Souness has told Ruben Amorim that his tactics are giving Manchester United’s ‘weak-minded’ players an excuse to keep failing.

Amorim has been steadfast in his approach since replacing Erik ten Hag in the Old Trafford dugout, insisting on a 3-4-3-1 formation despite reports that players are questioning his tactics behind the scenes. The 40-year-old boss believes that what worked at former clubs Braga and Sporting Lisbon will also be successful in the Premier League, where he’s only won four of his 14 games so far.

Souness, though, reckons that his tactics are giving United’s players an easy get-out, as they can point to the system being the problem and not themselves. “It’s an excuse and weak-minded players always love an excuse: it’s the system, not them,” the former Liverpool captain and manager wrote in his column for the Daily Mail.

“To walk through the door and impose your playing style without evaluating the staff in front of you is either very brave or very naive. It goes against everything I was taught as a player under all the great managers I worked under.

“If you take over a job halfway through a season, it’s usually because the club is in turmoil, the roof is leaking, and at United it quite literally was. Arriving at that new club as a manager, you see what players you have to work with and then adopt a style that suits them.

“How you train, your preparation for games, the timetables, the travel, the hotels, you have a bit of push me-pull you, back and forth before you devise a plan that takes away every possible grievance so that when it comes down to playing and any criticism begins, there are no excuses for those players.”

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The Scottish icon went on to say: “Some are not fit to wear the Manchester United strip but Amorim’s stubbornness over imposing his system is giving them that excuse not to perform. What compounds the issue is that he is making unnecessary compromises.

“When injuries, such as those suffered last week, enforce changes, you should keep your really good players in their best positions. Compromising them just weakens your team further.”

Amorim will hope that his system clicks when United travel to face Everton on Saturday, marking their last ever trip to Goodison Park. The Red Devils then host relegation-battling Ipswich on Wednesday before their FA Cup round-of-16 clash at home to Fulham next weekend.

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