Gary Neville makes damning assessment of Ruben Amorim's Man Utd career so far | OneFootball

Gary Neville has claimed Manchester United have actually regressed following the decision to replace Erik ten Hag with new head coach Ruben Amorim.

Ten Hag was sacked late in October 2024 after picking up just 11 points from United's first nine Premier League games, but Amorim is yet to oversee much of a change on the pitch, having picked up 14 points from his 13 games in charge to date.

Amorim was lumbered with the unwanted record of becoming the fastest United manager to lose five league matches at Old Trafford, doing so in just seven games, and Neville warned fans things could get a lot worse without drastic changes.

"I thought it would get better when Ruben Amorim came in, the enthusiasm of him and the new system, the players would buy into and we'd see a bounce," he told The Gary Neville Podcast. "But we've seen the absolute opposite and it's got a lot worse - and that's surprising.

"There's going to be a lot more pain towards the end of the season and it's going to be damaging - because they're obviously going to stick with Amorim. But the more you lose, the more difficult it is for the manager to convince the players of his idea.

Neville criticises Amorim's tenure so far / James Gill - Danehouse/GettyImages

"In the very early days he said, 'I will not change my idea' and you need the players to buy into that. If they keep losing and they keep getting criticised and the spotlight comes on them more and the fans are leaving unhappy, you know it creates a feeling and you can't keep losing. You just can't.

"It will depress the thoughts of the players to a point whereby they'll start to lose faith in the idea and it'll damage you.

"He can't change his approach now because he's died in the ditch on it and rightly so. But he's lost more games at Manchester United than he lost in the last 75 at Sporting Lisbon which is just absolutely alarming, so he will not be enjoying this.

"It can't keep going on as it is and they somehow have to start playing better - because at this moment in time it's a very sorry situation when you watch United play."

Amorim will seek a response to the crushing 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Friday when they face Leicester City in the FA Cup, before crunch Premier League clashes with Tottenham Hotspur, Everton and Ipswich Town. Arsenal are first on the schedule in March.