“Not their game…” Rio Ferdinand calls out four Manchester United stars holding Rúben Amorim back

Rio Ferdinand has offered a brutally honest assessment of four Manchester United players he feels are holding Rúben Amorim back from playing his best football at Old Trafford.

Manchester United battled to a 3-2 victory over Ipswich Town in the Premier League, with Harry Maguire’s decisive header securing all three points for Rúben Amorim on Wednesday night.

Ipswich struck first despite Amorim’s pre-match emphasis on a strong start, as a miscommunication between Patrick Dorgu and André Onana left Jaden Philogene with an open goal, which he calmly slotted home.

United responded swiftly, drawing level through a Bruno Fernandes free-kick delivery that forced Sam Morsy into an own goal. Just four minutes later, chaos in the Ipswich box following a United corner ended with Matthijs de Ligt firing into the net to put the hosts 2-1 ahead.

The momentum shifted again just before the break when Dorgu was sent off for a high challenge on Omari Hutchinson. Ipswich capitalised immediately, equalising right before the whistle to leave the match finely balanced at 2-2 at half-time.

Despite playing the entire second half with 10 men, United regained the lead just two minutes after the restart. Fernandes delivered another pinpoint corner, and Maguire rose highest to power home a header. From there, Amorim’s side showed resilience and determination, digging deep to see out a hard-earned victory.

Ferdinand lays into United’s squad

Reacting to the game, despite the three points, former United defender Rio Ferdinand layed into the squad, explaining he feels they do not have the physicality to cope with Amorim’s demands.

“The way that he [Amorim] wants to play, I’ve watched Sporting Lisbon a few times in Europe, especially. They were an athletic, dynamic team,” Ferdinand started.

“That was one of the staples of their team. The hallmarks of that good team that was winning things. This team, they’re not a mobile, dynamic team.

“And if you look through the heartbeat of this team, they have other qualities, but being physical, having the ability to overrun teams physically, they don’t have that capacity.”

Ferdinand believes four players hold Amorim back

Further, Ferdinand asked if he feels Joshua Zirkzee is one of the players who cannot play intense enough football to lead the line, to which the ex-Red Devil agreed.

He then also chose to list three other players who are not capable of delivering the demands, highlighting goalscorers De Ligt and Maguire as two, with striker Rasmus Højlund the other.

“No, no,” he said, speaking about the aforementioned quartet. “It’s not their game, so I think he needs to find those types of players with the capabilities of carrying out not only tactically what he wants, but the physicality is equally important.”

Although the criticism of De Ligt and Højlund is somewhat justified after a string of poor performances, arguing that Zirkzee and Maguire are in the same category is harsh.

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