Rio Ferdinand names FOUR Man Utd players who lack ‘dynamism’ to succeed under Ruben Amorim

Four Manchester United stars have been told they lack both the “dynamism” and “athleticism” to enjoy long careers at Old Trafford in Ruben Amorim’s system, while the Portuguese boss has spoken out in defence of another amid claims he is not yet ready for Premier League football.

It’s been a rocky road for Manchester United both all season and since Amorim’s appointment. The expected new manager bounce has not arrived under the 40-year-old and they currently finding themselves struggling down in 14th place in the Premier League. Once upon a time, home games against relegation-threatened sides were considered routine wins – but that is far from the case now as the Red Devils were forced to labour their way to a 3-2 win over Ipswich Town.

While the result means Amorim now has 10 wins from his 23 games at the helm, a worrying nine losses shows exactly the sort of difficulties he faces in getting a consistent tune out of his squad.

Having switched to a 3-4-2-1 formation since his appointment, there are strong suggestions from fans and media alike that the club do not have the personnel to make such a system a success.

Now Rio Ferdinand has picked out four regulars who may find themselves facing uncertain futures after surveying Wednesday night’s 3-2 win.

“I think if we’re being brutally honest, there hasn’t been the progress that we all anticipated,” Ferdinand said on TNT Sports.

“Where he came from, how successful he had been and the silverware he brought to Sporting, the anticipation of him coming was like, ‘Wow! What an opportunity we’ve got now with this young manager’, and it hasn’t transferred here.

“I sat with him the other day and you can see there’s a desire, there’s a work ethic behind the scenes and he’s nipping at everything to try and get this right and turn it around.

“But things haven’t been smooth for him and he hasn’t managed to get it to where he wants to at this point in time.”

Asked whether Joshua Zirkzee fits into that playing style, Ferdinand replied: “No…the dynamism and the athleticism.. [Matthijs] De Ligt, [Harry] Maguire, [Rasmus] Hojlund, it’s not their game.

“So I think he needs to find those types of players with the capabilities of carrying out not only tactically what he wants, but the physicality is equally important.”

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Ruben Amorim analyses Man Utd win and defends Patrick Dorgu red card

Ferdinand insists Man Utd and Amorim face a big pre-season and he continued: “I think he needs to just get to the end of the season, really regroup and then start building again, building the team and coaching the team because right now they’ve been stuttering along and that’s probably being polite.”

United will be forced to be without Patrick Dorgu for three games after he was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Omari Hutchinson – with both Ferdinand and Robbie Savage letting the player know exactly what they thought.

“I don’t think he can have any arguments at all. It was a bad touch and he slides in there on a slippery surface,” Ferdinand commented.

“I don’t think there was any malice in it, I think he was genuinely going for the ball.

“But when you’re going in with your studs up, the rules of today suggest that you can’t do that.”

Analysing the game, Amorim said afterwards to TNT Sports: “Today I’m not frustrated.

“With the situations of the game, of course, you get a little bit frustrated with the game because we suffered a goal, one mistake and that can happen.

“But since the first minute, I felt that the players were fine, were trying to play.

“We managed to score two goals and then the sending-off changed the game a little bit.

“But the fight that the guys showed… and our fans helped us a lot so I think we fully deserved the three points today.”

On Dorgu, Amorim was forced to defend the player against accusations that he is not ready for the Premier League. As well as a red card, the player was also involved in a mix-up with goalkeeper Andre Onana for Ipswich’s early opener.

“He’s ready because he already proved that in the last game.

“Any player here can have a mistake like today from Patrick and the sending-off, he wants to play the ball.

“Maybe he’s a little bit harsh with the way he went for the ball.

“He’s inexperienced but he’s clearly ready for the Premier League.

“People judge right away so last week he was okay, good performance against Everton and today they will say that he’s not experienced enough to play in the Premier League. But I don’t feel that way.”

The Denmark wing-back will now miss United’s FA Cup fifth-round clash with Fulham, as well as Premier League matches against Arsenal and Leicester.

Latest Man Utd news: Merson blames Amorim; £82.9m double deal mooted

Meanwhile, Paul Merson, speaking in the build-up to Wednesday evening’s game, feels United’s struggles this season can be blamed on Amorim and his insistence on sticking with his 3-4-2-1 formation.

“Ruben Amorim is the problem at Manchester United,” Merson told Sky Sports. “The three at the back isn’t working the way he’d planned. So, change it.”

“He’s not helping the players, he’s helping himself by just keeping it the way he’s been used to playing all his managerial career or most of it.

“Top managers are flexible. They go, you know what, I don’t really want to play this way, but I’ve got to play to the players’ strengths, and then when I can get my players in at the end of the season, I’ll go back to playing the way I want to play. But, at the moment, they need to start playing a different way because they won’t beat Real Sociedad [their next Europa League match], playing like this.”

Merson also claimed United need five or six signings if they are to challenge for the Premier League title again.

Elsewhere, a club president has revealed he tried to sell defender Valentin Gomez to United after Lisandro Martinez’s injury.

The Red Devils’ struggles in defence can be attributed to the absence of the Argentine centre-back to a serious knee injury earlier in February.

But there could have been some relief if they had they taken up the open invite from Velez president Fabian Berlanga.

And finally, United soon hope to get the green light to sign Geovany Quenda after a journalist revealed talks over his signing were progressing – while a second deal with Sporting Lisbon also looks to be on the cards in a blockbuster double £82.9m deal.

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