“What you see…” Rúben Amorim hits back after Gary Neville’s scathing Manchester United claim

Rúben Amorim has hit back after Gary Neville released a scathing assessment of Manchester United’s tactical set up against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday afternoon.

Manchester United fell to another disappointing defeat as James Maddison’s first-half strike secured a 1-0 win for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.

Spurs controlled possession early, but United had the first real chances, with Rasmus Højlund, Alejandro Garnacho, and Diogo Dalot all testing the hosts inside the opening ten minutes. However, Tottenham capitalised soon after, with Maddison reacting quickest to a rebound to fire his side in front.

Despite United’s attacking intent, their finishing let them down, and they went into the break trailing 1-0. They pushed forward with greater urgency in the second half, but a lack of precision in front of goal continued to haunt them.

As the game neared its conclusion, Spurs regained control, yet United kept searching for an equaliser. Late opportunities fell to Garnacho and Joshua Zirkzee, but crucial errors and wasteful finishing meant Rúben Amorim’s side left North London empty-handed once again.

Neville’s scathing criticism of United

During the first half, former United captain Gary Neville was on commentary as part of Sky Sports’ broadcasting of the tie, and he was in disbelief of the tactics Amorim had chosen to employ.

With the head coach’s squad decimated by injury in the last few days, Amorim had no choice to play Casemiro and Bruno Fernandes in midfield together, but Neville could not believe how far apart the two players were on the pitch.

“The distance between the two central midfield players, see where Casemiro is and where Bruno Fernandes is, that cannot be right. It breaks all rules in football. Absolute madness,” Neville explained while on commentary.

“That’s a tactic, they’ve been asked to do that, Bruno’s been asked to come out to this side and it isn’t right.”

Amorim hits back after Neville’s criticism

With Neville’s comments surfacing immediately on social media, the United boss was asked about the tactics deployed, where he explained his injury issues forced him into making decisions he couldn’t avoid.

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“You start with one idea. We were asking about a long week for so long. And we worked our principles but day after day, you lose players that change your approach to the game. I could not play the same way with Joshua as I can with Amad.

“Sometimes you want Bruno to reach the ball in the build-up because he’s really good switching the play. But then you want Bruno also to press and it’s really hard. And when you are changing all the time to get the players to react to the base, it’s really hard.

“4-4-2 in the low block is harder to play against this team than what we did today, that’s my opinion. They are so open and stretch the team. What you see guys and what you discuss every week, I also see. I have a lot of problems, my job is so, so hard here. But I stick with my beliefs.”

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