Ruben Amorim is the problem at Manchester United and he needs to change formations, says Paul Merson
Sky Sports' Paul Merson has his say on Ruben Amorim's tactics at Manchester United, how Arsenal close the gap on Liverpool and whether Mo Salah is the greatest Premier League player of all time
Wednesday 26 February 2025 18:00, UK
Sky Sports' Paul Merson says Man Utd manager Ruben Amorim needs to switch from his favoured three at the back formation in order to help his struggling players.
Amorim is not helping his players
Ruben Amorim is the problem at Manchester United. 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.
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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, playing like this.
I don't think they will move Amorim on either. They don't have the money to start all over again. They'll have to go with this man. But my worry is, we all know that they can't play three at the back, we know they're all over the place. They haven't got the feet and the legs in midfield. So change it. He keeps on sending these players out to fail and, at the moment, that's what's happening every other week.
David Moyes, I got his reappointment at Everton wrong, I didn't think he'd do that well. I think he's been amazing. But he's come in and played to the players' strengths, good managers play to the players' strengths, not to the manager's strengths.
This Man Utd team won't win the Premier League. They need five or six players, so why not just play to their strengths, get through this season, and then go and get the players you need?
Rashford move coming back to bite Amorim
Marcus Rashford's a good player, we've seen it over the years. He has one good season, one bad one, but it was just about sorting his head out.
You've got a player who probably needed a change of scenery. He was either going to go one of two ways. He carries on the way he was at United or he goes in and goes, you know what, I'm going to show you.
Amorim bad-mouthed him. He had had a 63-year-old goalkeeping coach in front of him. He's coming back to bite the manager.
He's better than what Man Utd have got when he's playing like he is. Unai Emery and the scenery have helped him immensely. And it looks like he's enjoying his football again.
There's a way that Villa play. We still don't know how Man Utd play, they're all over the place. With Villa, there is a set way of playing. He knows how he's got to play. They get the ball to him quickly and they play with a lot of pace.
Villa get people in the box. You've got a goalscorer in Watkins who gets in the box and Asensio, what a signing that is to get him from PSG. So it helps him. At the moment, he's probably playing with better players around him who have more confidence than the players that he's got at Man Utd.
If Arsenal did not have the injuries they would still be in the race
They are not far off Liverpool long term. Arsenal have got massive injuries. You take them three players out. I mean, I look at it on Saturday.
You'd probably take the front three of West Ham on Saturday over Arsenal's front three. This week, this Wednesday, you 100 per cent take the front three at Forest. They'd all get into the Arsenal team this week, this midweek. All of them and this is where it is. They have bad injuries.
They're not a million miles behind Liverpool. There's hardly anything in it. When you've got those kinds of injuries, it's just difficult. If they had Saka, Havertz and Martinelli as their front three, the gap would be a lot shorter than what it is now. There's no getting away from that. I was flabbergasted Merino started up front again, you've got to play Sterling. I know Sterling hasn't pulled up any trees.
Liverpool wilI win the league but the gap will close. I'm not sure if Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold renew. I don't see it. If they don't sign, then that's it. It becomes a right leveller.
So, I don't think Arsenal have to do much. I think Liverpool have to try and do what they've got to do. I wouldn't be worried about Arsenal. Arsenal have missed out because they've been injured.
Salah is Premier League's best-ever player
Mohamed Salah is just extraordinary at what he does. He's not always involved in the game but he is on a different planet at the moment. He is absolutely phenomenal.
I think that's been the difference most of the time. When he's turned up, and he's turned up nearly every game, he doesn't have to be playing unbelievably well to do something unbelievably well.
Some people are better footballers than players. There'd be some who's a better player, but they're not a better footballer. Dennis Bergkamp is an unbelievable footballer. He didn't put up the figures that Salah's put up.
Salah's a much, much better player than him. But I wouldn't say he's a much, much better footballer than him.
Salah is the best player the Premier League has ever seen as he changes games on a consistent basis. No one has done that like him.
But Thierry Henry is the only player I've ever seen playing in the Premier League who looks like a 20-year-old playing in an U12s league. I don't get that with Salah but if Liverpool win the Champions League he will win the Ballon d'Or.
