Ruben Amorim seems to get dragged into fights with the ex-Man Utd players as much as the opposition on a game day and Gary Neville is the latest to hear a retort.
In about six months at Man Utd, Ruben Amorim has already had to push back against various suggestions from past players.
From protecting Bruno Fernandes against Roy Keane, to fighting back against Wayne Rooney calling him naive, or the evergreen Paul Scholes barrage, every day must feel like a new battle for the Man Utd manager.
He’s now come up with a clear retort for the criticism Gary Neville piled on United after the Manchester derby.
Gary Neville’s Man Utd criticism
It was a sign of how exasperated Amorim has gotten with the whole circus of ex-players hammering United that he said “Gary Neville is critical of everything” when he just heard his name in the press conference.
And he was right too, since he was asked about Neville’s criticism of United’s structured style of play in the derby which restricted individual freedom.
It’s worth keeping in mind that Neville and the like regularly hammered Erik ten Hag for having no structure and the team playing basketball games on the football pitch.
Rio Ferdinand jumped to Amorim’s defence after the game to give his fellow legends a reality check but Amorim had kept his main thoughts to himself, just accepting them at face value at the time.
Clearly, he had been dwelling on those comments for a while because the next time he was asked about them in an interview with Sky, he didn’t hold back.
Ruben Amorim’s retort to Gary Neville
Amorim has always been known for being brutally honest on any matter so he was always going to address this issue head-on.
That’s exactly what he’s done, saying in clear words that United won’t be winning any games if he listened to Neville’s “advice” and gave his players full freedom.
He said: “We cannot win the games just like I said with the individual aspect and let the players do whatever they feel. I don’t see the game like that.
“In that evolution, you have to be better tactically. Sometimes I talk to [Darren] Fletcher, about how he prepared the games with Sir Alex Ferguson, it’s completely different.
“So we need to have an idea of how to play as a team and then expect the individual part to help us. Because in the end, that is the crucial point to make a difference in the game.”
Amorim wants to strike the ideal balance between making the football too robotic or whatever Ten Hag going on at Old Trafford.
As for Neville’s comments, it’s probably the last time Amorim should engage with it because Neville is paid to give comments but Amorim isn’t paid to respond to them.
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