Stretty News
·16 February 2025
“Bizarre” – Gary Neville baffled by Amorim following contradictory statements
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·16 February 2025
Manchester United legend Gary Neville is left bewildered by some of the claims made by Ruben Amorim in recent days.
Following his arrival at Carrington, the Portuguese tactician immediately implemented a tactical overhaul, dropping Erik ten Hag’s 4-2-3-1 formation and opting for the 3-4-2-1 system that bore him great success at Sporting CP.
Since then, pundits and fans have pointed out the fact that the current squad poorly fits this formation. Nevertheless, the 39-year-old insisted that the players must either swim or sink while attempting to adjust to this new tactical system, despite all the setbacks he endured in his early days at the club.
However, in the leadup to Sunday’s contest against Spurs, Amorim described himself as a tactically lenient manager.
“I’m Portuguese and all the Portuguese coaches can adapt. I adapt. The simple thing is that I use one system at the moment because I believe if you work on that system you can play in different systems at the same time. That is my idea,” said the Man Utd coach.
(Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
This statement left Neville baffled, as he felt it contradicted everything he said in his earlier days at Old Trafford.
“The strength of his interviews in his early days was that he wasn’t flexible and said he was going to stick to his ideas,” said the former Man United captain during his appearance on Sky Sports.
“I’m not sure what he means by referring to being flexible because he plays the same system every single week. I think it’s a real concern…”
Moreover, Neville admitted he thought the Red Devils would fare much better under Amorim and his three-man backline.
“I thought it would be so much better when he came in. I thought they would adapt to three at the back and it would give them a bit more strength. But when you watch Manchester United you have no idea what you are going to get from game to game. They are a bizarre team at times.”