Rio Ferdinand slammed for ‘brainless’ Arne Slot claim amid Ruben Amorim comparison | OneFootball

Rio Ferdinand has been accused of making a ‘brainless’ comparison between Arne Slot and Ruben Amorim as he sought to call attention to a perceived media bias in favour of the Liverpool head coach.

Whereas the Dutchman enjoyed an instant impact at Anfield and won the Premier League title at the first attempt, his Manchester United counterpart has been in the job for 12 months and is only now seeing a gradual improvement in fortunes after an abysmal 2024/25 season in which they finished 15th.

Ferdinand makes Slot/Amorim comparison

In the latest episode of Rio Ferdinand Presents, the former England defender claimed that the Reds boss has had an easy ride by comparison as he pointed out that, since losing to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League in March, the 47-year-old has won only 14 of 30 matches and lost 13.

The official X channel for the podcast later shared a graphic with Slot’s record in that time in comparison to Amorim’s last 30 games, which have seen an equal split of wins, draws and defeats.

It caught the attention of The Athletic’s Liverpool correspondent James Pearce, who quote-tweeted in disbelief: ‘It’s almost like one of them won the Premier League title in his first season and the other oversaw United’s worst league finish for 35 years. Brainless.’

(Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)

A flawed argument from Ferdinand

For Ferdinand to suggest that Slot is avoiding scrutiny over Liverpool’s awful season so far is blinkered – there have been questions posed in some quarters (including from some LFC supporters) as to whether the 47-year-old is the right man to lead the Reds out of their ongoing slump.

Of course the Dutchman isn’t above criticism for his team’s wretched results over the past two months, but in the timeframe that the ex-Man United defender pinpointed, he completed the major achievement of winning the Premier League title with four matches to spare.

In contrast, Amorim oversaw a torrid season at Old Trafford and a turgid performance in losing to Tottenham Hotspur (who finished 17th last term) in the Europa League final, and the Red Devils had a poor start to the current campaign before embarking on their current five-match unbeaten run.

The pressure has eased on the 40-year-old in recent weeks, but unlike Slot, he doesn’t have a major piece of silverware to fall back upon if his team’s fortunes were to nosedive again.

Whereas Ferdinand seeks to instigate a pile-on on the Liverpool head coach, his former teammate Gary Neville has at least been much more balanced in insisting that talk of the Dutchman potentially losing his job is ‘nonsense’.

Amorim was briefly linked with the Anfield job in 2024 before Slot was chosen as Jurgen Klopp’s successor. We know who we’d rather have in charge of the Reds – the man who won 34 of his first 44 games in one of the most pressurised managerial positions in world football.