Amorim: Man United Players Take Criticism to Heart Amid Slump

Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United are crumbling under scrutiny, and the boss says his players are taking it personally. Fifteenth in the Premier League, with one win in their last four, the Red Devils face Ipswich Town at Old Trafford Wednesday—and the heat’s on. Amorim laid it bare Tuesday: the barrage of flak is sinking his squad’s boots deeper into the mire.

“They feel the pressure that they need to win at Manchester United and every time we lose and every time they don’t perform there are a lot of people on social media and in the newspaper they are putting on a lot of pressure,” Amorim said. “Then they go to the pitch and try to fix things but not in a good way — thinking too much, not playing the way they’re supposed to play. The other people are talking about them all the time — all their friends, social media, former players — and they take it so personally and sometimes it’s really hard for them to turn things around.” Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Everton—clawing back from 2-0 down after a dire first half—drew brickbats, and Amorim sees it sticking.

Monday’s axe didn’t help—200 more redundancies looming after 250 last summer. Amorim ties it to the pitch: failure’s bleeding jobs. “They are paying the price for our lack of success,” he said, nodding to staff cuts. But he reckons the squad’s shielded. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, but the players don’t feel it too much, they have one life, they live in a bubble,” he added. “It’s completely different for them than it is for me, for everybody in the club. They are not feeling that pressure [connected to redundancies]. They don’t feel that pressure of people losing their job, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing — they are young kids that live in a different world — but they suffer a different pressure and sometimes it’s harder.”

The plan’s grand—Premier League crown by 2028—but Amorim’s not peddling fairy tales. “It’s easy for me to be here and say all the pretty stuff,” he said. “We have to improve recruitment, I think that is crucial, and we need to improve the team. We need to perform better and we need to be in Europe and not in our position this season. They are paying the price for our lack of success and I can’t say anything now that is going to convince the fans and all the staff that we’re going to do it. We have an idea but we need to be a better team and recruit better and not make a lot of mistakes in that department.” A decade of big spends, scant silver—fixing the scouting’s step one, and there’s no promise it’ll click.

United’s in a funk—15th, bruised and battered, now Ipswich looms. Amorim’s crew are feeling the sting—social media’s a millstone, ex-players a chorus of jeers. The gaffer’s blunt: it’s personal, and it’s choking them. Old Trafford’s grim—staff cuts loom, fans growl, and the pitch offers no relief. Turning it? That’s the rub.