Jamie Carragher says he was mystified by Ruben Amorim calling his Manchester United team “maybe the worst” in the club’s history and believes it could backfire on the head coach.
The United boss gave his brutal assessment of his squad after the 3-1 defeat at home to Brighton, a result which leaves the Old Trafford side languishing in 13th place in the Premier League.
“In 10 games in the Premier League, we won two,” said Amorim. “We are being the worst team maybe in the history of Manchester United. I know that you want headlines, but I’m saying that because we have to acknowledge that and to change that. Here you go, your headlines.”
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Amorim insists that he is not going to change and his Man Utd team needs time, despite two wins in their last 10 Premier League games
Carragher says United’s struggles this season are clear to see and Amorim’s strong words only serve to draw further criticism to the club and players.
“I don’t know Man Utd’s history as well as Gary Neville but I must say it was one of the most bizarre and ridiculous things I’ve ever heard a manager say,” said Carragher on Sky Sports News ahead of Monday Night Football.
“Why you would make a comment like that… that’s the type of comment a pundit would make, someone in my position, and you’d have to defend that. I don’t know what he gains from that, what the benefit is.
“We all know it’s a poor Man Utd team. They’d lost another game at home to Brighton, they’d done that in the last couple of years anyway. We know it’s a tough season, we know it’s a poor team. He has just loosened it up. That will be a quote that follows him for the rest of the season.
“He said to the journalists there, ‘I’ll give you your headline’. Why you would like to do that as a manager, I’ll never know.”
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Sam Blitz looks into whether Amorim is right when he said the current Manchester United team is possibly the worst ever in the club’s history
Carragher reckons the comments are unlikely to go down well with the squad and could present Amorim with a problem when he tries to motivate them ahead of games this season.
“It doesn’t help you confidence-wise going forwards,” said Carragher when asked about the impact of Amorim’s words on the players.
“I’ve not got much sympathy for the players in the Man Utd dressing room, they’ve been a joke for a few years now. A few weeks ago, after they played Liverpool, where Lisandro Martinez was talking about the mentality that was different – I nearly couldn’t stop laughing when I saw that. The amount of times Man Utd have thrown the towel in with bad performances over the last four or five years.
“What I would say is how can the manager go into the dressing room between now and the end of the season and continually try to build them up and give them belief to beat the opposition, whoever they come up against, when he has said they’re one of the worst teams in Man Utd history? At no point can I see what he’ll gain from that.”
Man Utd transfers: Better to hold off until the summer, says Carra
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The Transfer Talk panel discuss if Patrick Dorgu could fit into Amorim’s system
As for United’s poor form, Carragher insists they should hold fire on major signings until the summer, when they will have a better opportunity to bring in the players Amorim needs to make his system work.
“I don’t think he’s going to get the players he wants in January. We know it’s a tough market to sell players or bring players in. It’s doubly difficult this season because the European competitions have gone into January,” said Carragher.
“If I’m Man Utd, I’d be keeping my powder dry for the summer, there’s going to be a lot more movement there where you can get players in and get players out as well. What you don’t want to do is end up spending money and then get to the summer and think these players aren’t good enough to improve this team or the system.
“They’re going to have to go through a lot of pain – we all know that and we accept that. I don’t think there’s too much mounting criticism around the manager. They’ve had a few good results away from home, against Arsenal in the FA Cup and Liverpool in the Premier League.
“We know it’s going to be a rollercoaster because the players aren’t good enough – they’ve shown that with different managers and different systems.
“I can’t get away from the quote he said, I do not believe that was in his best interests at all.”
