Jamie Redknapp makes gloomy prediction on how long it will take Ruben Amorim to stop Man United’s ‘pain’… and insists they must still ‘get rid’ to change culture
- United have won just four of their 13 league matches under their head coach
- Redknapp expects them to struggle for a while longer but sees promising signs
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Will Liverpool recover from Everton blow in season-defining week?
Jamie Redknapp has warned Manchester United to brace for another 18 months of pain in Ruben Amorim’s bid to salvage the club’s dire situation.
United are languishing in 13th place in the Premier League after a dire start to Amorim’s tenure, having picked up four wins from his 13 top-flight games in charge.
A number of first-team regulars have been ruled out of today’s trip to Tottenham, ramping up the doom and gloom at Old Trafford while leaving Amorim’s squad threadbare, and Redknapp believes there is more turbulence to come.
He did, however, insist that Amorim is on the right track and told him to go further in culling his squad after the departures of Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho.
Speaking ahead of the showdown between the two strugglers on Sky Sports, Redknapp said: ‘For what it’s worth on Amorim, I like him. I think he’s got something about him. And I totally get the performances haven’t been good enough.
‘But I actually like what he’s doing more off the field than actually what he’s doing on the pitch. Because that club needs a change of culture.
‘We’ve spoken about how it works. Get people like Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho that have left and one or two others who have had a mention about leaving.
‘Now, if they’re not going to buy into having a good way of living and coming in and training correctly and being involved and helping the group and create a winning mentality, they’ve got to be surplus to requirements.’
The pundit then added: ‘I see Man United as having still much more pain, even 18 months more pain, because they need to get rid.
‘Whoever’s been in charge or even managers have gone so far and then they’re panicked and then they’ve gone and bought 30-year-old players that aren’t going to maybe take the club any further forward. I think now they have to take their time.
‘They’re trying to get… Jermain [Defoe] mentioned getting best in class. People like Jason Wilcox, they’ve got the guy from Manchester City, the CEO there. They’re trying to do things slowly and I think that’s how they have to do it.’
Redknapp also said Amorim must be willing to adapt his approach in matches, instead of sticking rigidly to his wing-back system, but claimed the club must stand by him.
Amorim has shown no signs of budging despite the poor results, declaring that he had hoped to earn wins while building up his squad’s trust in his tactics.
‘I like what he’s trying to achieve but it might take a bit more time than what you’d like,’ he said. ‘You know, I think he’s got to be more flexible in the system.
‘When I hear a manager having one system, that worries me because you’ve got to adapt in game each time you’re playing against another team. But I think Man United will get there. It’s just going to take a bit of time but they have to go all in on it.
‘They can’t just go, “we’re going to panic now and go buy more average players”, because the players right now aren’t good enough to produce the performances that Manchester United want, hence why they’re in this position.’
Amad Diallo may miss the rest of the season and Lisandro Martinez, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Jonny Evans, Kobbie Mainoo, Manuel Ugarte and Toby Collyer are also out through injury. As a result, several academy starlets have travelled to London.
