“Set your marker, put your stamp down”: Ashley Young fires warning to Amorim ahead of new season | OneFootball

Former Manchester United captain Ashley Young has warned Ruben Amorim that there is no longer any room for excuses, insisting that the Portuguese coach must start the new season well lest pressure mounts on him.

Amorim’s struggles at United

When United appointed Amorim as Erik ten Hag’s replacement in November last year, it was hoped that he would inspire an uptick in fortunes and form at the club, but things certainly didn’t unfold this way. In fact, it can be argued that it actually got much worse.

United hovered just above the relegation zone for large parts of the campaign as they ended up finishing in 15th place.

The Red Devils suffered 18 losses, nine of which came at home. They also concluded the season with a humiliating -10 goal difference.

Additionally, Amorim and his players missed the chance to sneak into the Champions League through the back door following their 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Europa League final.

The expectation was that United would be aggressive in the market to back Amorim and give him the tools he needs to turn things around, but the club has made a sluggish start to the transfer window.

Only Matheus Cunha’s arrival from Wolverhampton Wanderers has been confirmed, as talks with Brentford over a deal for Bryan Mbeumo continue to stall.

Other positions, such as striker, midfielder, and goalkeeper, still require reinforcements, yet United don’t appear to be in any rush to address them.

As frustrations over the club’s slow transfer progress continue, Young has fired a message to Amorim.

Young issues warning to Amorim

Young made an appearance on Sky Sports and said, “I think Amorim has got his way and his style of coaching his tactics and the way he wants to set up the team.”

“We saw that he didn’t want to come in at the time that he did; he wanted to be in at the start of the season. It was going to be tough either way when you come in halfway through a season. I am sure any manager would say it’s a tough ask. And when you’re joining the biggest club in the world, and where they were at, it was going to be even harder.”

“I think it has been said that you are going to have to give him time. He needs time and how many transfer windows? Who knows?”

Young continued, “You have got to set your marker, put your stamp down, as soon as you start this season. I don’t think that anyone can give him anymore excuses.”

“It is now or never, really, to be honest. He has got to have a good pre-season with the team, work out what his team is, what his best team is, what players fit into the system, unless he is going to change the system, but you can’t see him changing the formation that he has been playing.”

“It is going to be intriguing to see what happens after this pre-season.”

United are back in action on Saturday when they take on Leeds in a pre-season friendly at the Strawberry Arena in Stockholm, Sweden.

Featured image Michael Steele via Getty Images

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