Ruben Amorim told what to do with Erik ten Hag signing who is ‘causing issues’ at Man Utd

Ruben Amorim is struggling to get a tune out of his Manchester United squad, who sit 15th in the Premier League, but an Arsenal legend has now issued the embattled boss with some welcome advice

Ruben Amorim has been urged to focus on rebuilding Matthijs de Ligt’s confidence as the summer signing continues to struggle at Manchester United.

The Dutchman has failed to live up to his £43million price tag since his arrival from Bayern Munich. The centre-back has not strenghtened United’s defence as had been hoped when he moved to Old Trafford.

He has been a regular starter under Amorim, since the 39-year-old replaced Erik ten Hag. But the Portuguese coach has also struggled to revitalise a player who was once seen as one of the best defenders in Europe.

De Ligt was rebuked by captain Bruno Fernandes on Sunday for failing to follow the run of James Maddison, which led to Tottenham’s winning goal. He looks a shadow of the player who captained Ajax to a league and cup double in 2019.

Legendary Arsenal defender Martin Keown believes that at the heart of De Ligt’s problems is low confidence. He believes Amorim needs to rebuild De Ligt’s confidence levels if he is to get the best out of the 25-year-old.

“Look at De Ligt, the amount of money they spent on him by the way is almost obscene for a centre half. He’s playing like a robot,” Keown told talkSPORT.

“There’s times he can clear the ball and he puts it out for a corner. He just creates issues for the team. Ruben Amorim needs to empower him with confidence, I’m not seeing any of that with him.”

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De Ligt himself has admitted that United’s confidence is at rock bottom after the defeat to Spurs sent them crashing to 15th in the Premier League table. After that game, the Dutchman delivered a brutal assessment of the state of the Red Devils.

“I think you can say [confidence] has taken a real hit. Especially in the Premier League, if you lose the confidence you lose the game. We still had a starting XI with first-team players. It’s no excuse,” he said.

“It’s not nice when you lose five players in one week, but that’s part of football, part of life. I believe you have to deserve fortune. At the moment, apparently we don’t deserve it. I don’t believe in fortune coming out of nowhere.

“I think in the end, finishing the chances is a big thing in football and we were unlucky we couldn’t finish them today. If you lose, a lot has to improve. We are not where United belongs and if I knew the solution I would have said it and we would win games.

“It is not enough for United. We are not winning enough or scoring enough chances. We are conceding too many goals. There are a lot of things we need to improve and hopefully it will get better soon.”

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