Gary Neville believes Manchester United need to sign “two unique players” to make Ruben Amorim's system work.
Amorim tried to implement the 3-4-3 system he had so much success with at Sporting, but United continued to struggle with it. He has won just two of his eight Premier League games and the Red Devils are languishing in 14th place.
And Neville believes the full-back role is “fundamental” to the success of Amorim's tactics and that United need to sign two players who can “attack and defend equally well in this position”.
Asked what positions United should target in the transfer market, Neville told Sky Sports: “I could say centre-forward, let's get a world-class centre-forward, let's bring in Isak, but that's never going to happen.
“I think if you were to start, you would have to start with the foundations of this system: the full-backs, they hold it together. If you don't have the full-backs who function up and down and are able to handle just as well attacking and defending, and there aren't many of those by the way, because there aren't many teams that play fullback, then you're going to have a hard time.
“So you need two quite unique players in those broad areas, and I think that's going to be the starting point. And that's nothing against Mazraoui or Dalot, I think they're very prepared and doing their job as best they can. But this for me are the areas I would start with in this system.”
Despite criticism of his tactics, Amorim plans to stick to the 3-4-3 system. After United's 2-0 defeat to Newcastle, he said: “If I completely change the system I don't know if I'll be close to winning.
“If I do that and keep losing, then it's even worse. You don't know, I don't know, and I see the game in a different way. It doesn't matter if you're three, five, or four If you know the basics and can train that idea, this is how I see the game.
“So I understand what you're saying, but if I'm sure that changing everything will bring us close to winning games, I will do that. If you change coaches, especially at these types of clubs, it's because they don't win and playing specifically in the system they bought for and choosing that system perfectly.
“So at that point, with the idea of working two years in preparation, they were losing. So I'm going to switch to that system which I don't believe changes things to win matches? So I can understand your ideas .For me it's simpler than that.”
Comments