Jamie Carragher gives brutal Manchester United Ruben Amorim sack verdict - 'This has to end'

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher believes it's going to be tough for Ruben Amorim to turn things around at Manchester United following their latest defeat in the Premier League. The Red Devils were disappointing in the 3-1 defeat to Brentford at the Gtech Community Stadium this weekend.

Keith Andrews' side raced to a 2-0 lead inside 20 minutes thanks to a brace from Igor Thiago, before Benjamin Sesko halved the deficit with his first goal for United since joining the club this summer. However, the flashpoint in the game saw Amorim's men awarded a penalty after Bryan Mbeumo was dragged to the floor by former teammate Nathan Collins.

VAR took a look at the incident to adjudge whether or not the Brentford defender had denied the United forward a goalscoring opportunity after referee Craig Pawson brandished a yellow card for Collins. After a four-minute wait - including a double-substitution from the hosts, VAR deemed the foul not worthy of a red card with Bruno Fernandes stepping up to take the spot kick, but his effort was saved by Caoimhín Kelleher.

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Things would go from bad to worse with Mathias Jensen grabbing a third in injury time to pile further pressure on the Portuguese head coach. The result leaves United in 14th place with seven points from their opening six games amid reports that the club hierarchy has drafted up a three-man shortlist to replace Amorim.

Speaking on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, Carragher said: "I think he's still in a job because I think the powers that be at Manchester United have made that many mistakes, so far in the decisions that they've made on and off the pitch that almost don't want to admit right not, that they don't want to make another.

"This has been a disaster for Manchester United but also for Ruben Amorim. What he did at Sporting Lisbon was fantastic. He looked like the next big thing as a manager, but bringing in a manager like that in, in terms of the system that he played, I don't think really suited the traditions of Manchester United.

"The quicker Manchester United make the decision on the manager, I think it's better for everybody because as I said, it's been a disaster for the club, but also the manager. We're only waiting for the inevitable.

"Unfortunately, as Duncan [Ferguson] said, you don't want to see people lose their jobs, but his has to end as quickly as possible."

Fellow pundit Duncan Ferguson said: "You're talking Manchester United here, one of the biggest clubs in the world. Let's be fair, he's a lucky, lucky boy to still be in a job.

"I think he's got a bit of credit from what he did last year before coming to Man United. They were struggling and he didn't really want to come last season, so I think they've given him a bit of credit in the bank there.

"The stats are there for all to see. He's very lucky to stay in his job, but hopefully he gets a few more games to stay in his job as we always want a manager to be successful. But it's just not good enough."

When asked if the group of players were better than they were currently performing, Ferguson added: "I think they are but I think the system, he talks about that a lot but he's not tried to change the system or find a way. When you're losing games, you've got to find a way to win. You can't keep playing the same system all the time and he's never done that.

"He's stuck to the same system and he needs to change it a bit. Go to a back four and your traditional Manchester United. To be fair, whenever they recruited him, they recruited him to play this formation and they knew what they were getting. They wanted that style of play and they've got that."

Carragher agreed: "100%, I think you're right and I'm big on that. I've never been one of those to say he has to change his system. A lot of managers speak and say 'the system might change but my style doesn't.'

"His baby is his system. It's like asking Jurgen Klopp not to press or Jurgen Klopp not to play short passes through the middle of the pitch. This is what he is and that's on [Omar] Berrada or Jason Wilcox, or Jim Ratcliffe, they brought him in.

"Talking about him changing centre-backs, a stat came out that in his 49 games, 42 times he's changed the back three. He did that at Sporting Lisbon. You knew that when he came in - the powers that be.

"The problem I think, when you look at Ruben Amorim, every other Premier League manager will look at Manchester United and think I can do a better job than that. The only positive for Manchester United, is they haven't gone all in on his system.

"They've gone all in, in terms of giving him money to spend but they haven't bought lots of centre-backs, they haven't bought lots of wing-backs. The players they bought in the summer can easily be flipped into a back four, getting Bruno Fernandes as the number ten, Bryan Mbeumo right wing, maybe [Matheus] Cunha to the left, Sesko up front.

"I think a competent football manager could get that Manchester United team in that system to the European places or certainly fighting for them. It couldn't have gone any worse.

"What he did at Sporting was really special, but it will be better for everyone to just shake hands and move on."

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