Man Utd news: ‘Next Red Devils manager named’ as Gary Neville slams Ruben Amorim

The pressure on Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim remains high heading into the international break, with Old Trafford icons Gary Neville and Paul Scholes having their say

Manchester United great Paul Scholes has identified his ideal recruit to replace Ruben Amorim at the club’s helm. The international break may be viewed as an opportunity for respite for the under-fire tactician, but the rumour mill continues to whirl around who might succeed Amorim if he’s fired.

A run of three straight home wins have handed the Portuguese tinkerer a reprieve for the time being. But even some of Amorim’s latest remarks struck the wrong nerve with another United legend, Gary Neville.

Like Scholes, Neville wants to see change at his old club but has called for a different kind of transition. Mirror Football breaks down the latest headlines as the Red Devils look to bounce back stronger after a fortnight out of action.

Scholes names ideal Amorim replacement

As he approaches his first anniversary at the Old Trafford helm, Amorim is subject to fierce discussion over how long he’ll last. But in the event Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes the decision to change the guard, Scholes knows who he’d want in charge.

READ MORE: Wayne Rooney dramatically changes his mind on Ruben Amorim a week after making bold claimREAD MORE: Darren Fletcher response to latest cost-cutting measures speak volumes about Man Utd coach

And the 11-time Premier League champion was in no doubt when the topic arose on the latest episode of The Overlap. After a fan’s suggestion United could force a change during the international break, Scholes was quick to fire back with his choice. “Eddie Howe, Eddie Howe,” he said. “I’m not sure about his mate [assistant manager Jason Tindall], but definitely him.”

Clearly impressed with the work Howe has done in reviving Newcastle, Scholes’ hope is he could do the same at Old Trafford. Granted, the Magpies’ flight up the Premier League pecking order has coincided with Saudi Arabia’s PIF taking over the club, but his CV speaks for itself regardless.

Howe boasts a win ratio of 50.31% at Newcastle, the highest any permanent Newcastle coach working only in the top flight has managed since Kevin Keegan’s first stint ended in 1997. Given what he’s done with the riches offered by his Saudi bosses, there’s reason to believe Scholes is correct that he could put United’s riches to better use.

Neville tears into Amorim and United mentality

Despite heading into the break on the back of a 2-0 win over Sunderland, it’s not all rosy at United. That’s after Amorim took aim at the media prior to that match, suggesting the frequent criticism of the 3-4-3 system he insists on using is having an impact.

“My players, I guarantee you, they are listening to all the opinions and they are putting that inside because we are not winning games,” said Amorim before the Sunderland fixture. “They have to believe in me. So my biggest problem is that my players believe in you guys when you say the problem of our team is the system.”

The critiques of Amorim’s structure and whether United have the players to make it work has been relentless of late. However, Neville took aim at the current crop of talent, as well as the coach for fostering an “excuse mentality.”

“If pundits are getting into your head then you shouldn’t be playing for the club,” he told Sky Sports this week. Some might argue the level of pressure is different today than it was during Neville’s own career, but the retired right-back nonetheless used his own experience to demonstrate how even young, inexperienced stars can overcome the discourse.

He continued: “Do people not remember Alan Hansen criticising us when we broke in as young kids saying that you can’t win anything with kids? That was the greatest centre-back of all time at that moment talking about us as if we were, you know, inferior and nowhere near good enough.”

Neville’s criticism was as much directed at Amorim’s squad as it was the manager himself. And the former England international picked the players apart for allowing that criticism to affect their performances, if Amorim’s comments are indeed accurate.

He asked: “Did they not think that we got criticised during our football careers? I’m sorry, you’re playing for Manchester United, it comes with the territory, you’ve got to step up.”

Amorim’s stubborn outlook in defence of his preferred formation has become a focal point of late. However, Neville examined United’s situation on a wider scale and called on both the manager and his personnel to simply win matches by any means necessary.

“They’ve been hopeless in the system,” he added. “If it’s not the system, then the players are a problem, the manager is a problem, the whole thing’s a problem if you’re losing football matches to the level that they’ve been doing.”

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