Gary Neville blasts ’embarrassing’ Ruben Amorim tactic during Tottenham vs Man Utd
'You wouldn't see this in Under-9s or Under-10s football.'
Gary Neville savagely attacked Ruben Amorim’s tactics during Manchester United’s trip to Tottenham on Sunday, blasting his ’embarrassing’ midfield plan.
The Red Devils travelled to north London for a clash between two teams having very difficult seasons and with squads hit hard by injury and illness.
While Amorim is dealing with a number of players out, it was not his team selection that Neville saw as the problem at Spurs, but rather the instructions he was giving his team.
The Manchester United legend could not believe how far apart central midfielders Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro were being deployed in the first half.
Fernandes was regularly going out to the right wing, leaving Casemiro with a huge amount of space to cover in the middle of the pitch and unsurprisingly finding that very hard to do.
Neville pointed the finger squarely at Amorim for the ‘absolute madness’ of splitting his midfielders so significantly and giving Tottenham so much space to play in.
‘The distance between the two central midfield players, see where Casemiro is and where Bruno Fernandes is, that cannot be right. It breaks all rules in football. Absolute madness,’ Neville said on commentary for Sky Sports.
‘United may win today and may score goals but I have to say that the structure of the team is awful.
‘The gaps in that midfield between Fernandes and Casemiro. That’s a tactic, they’ve been asked to do that, Bruno’s been asked to come out to this side and it isn’t right.
‘Bruno Fernandes is playin right wing, the two of them in midfield are split, it’s embarrassing. You wouldn’t see this in Under-9s or Under-10s football.’
Neville’s comments came after James Maddison had opened the scoring for Spurs, giving the home side the lead after just 13 minutes.
Surprisingly, that was the start and the finish of the scoring, with Spurs winning the match 1-0.
Describing what he told his team before the match, Amorim told Sky Sports: ‘Explaining the job and reminding them that they are playing for Manchester United, which is a good thing. It is a very good moment in their lives. No matter the moment of our club.
‘So we have to play the game and we are ready to try to win this game. We really want to win this game. We need to win this game.
‘So just focus on the job and whatever happens in the end is my responsibility. So they have to enjoy the game.’
The victory took Spurs up to 12th in the Premier League table, with the Red Devils down in 15th.
