Jamie Carragher says it was "bizarre and ridiculous" of Ruben Amorim to label this Manchester United team the "worst" in the club's history.
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Amorim gave damning assessment of Man UtdCarragher labels comments 'ridiculous' Says they may damage mood in dressing room Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
The coach made headlines after he gave a scathing assessment of his squad following their 3-1 loss to Brighton at Old Trafford on Sunday. United have won six of the 15 games they have played since Amorim replaced Erik ten Hag in November and they currently sit 13th in the Premier League table.
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While Carragher said United have been "a joke" for some time, the former Liverpool defender was baffled by Amorim's comments and argued they were unnecessary and may have a negative impact on a squad already low in confidence.
WHAT CARRAGHER SAID
Carragher said on : "I don't know Man Utd's history as well as Gary Neville but I must say it was one of the most bizarre and ridiculous things I've ever heard a manager say. Why you would make a comment like that… that's the type of comment a pundit would make, someone in my position, and you'd have to defend that. I don't know what he gains from that, what the benefit is. We all know it's a poor Man Utd team. They'd lost another game at home to Brighton, they'd done that in the last couple of years anyway. We know it's a tough season, we know it's a poor team. He has just loosened it up. That will be a quote that follows him for the rest of the season. He said to the journalists there: 'I'll give you your headline'. Why you would like to do that as a manager, I'll never know."
He added: "It doesn't help you confidence-wise going forwards. I've not got much sympathy for the players in the Man Utd dressing room, they've been a joke for a few years now. A few weeks ago, after they played Liverpool, where Lisandro Martinez was talking about the mentality that was different – I nearly couldn't stop laughing when I saw that. The amount of times Man Utd have thrown the towel in with bad performances over the last four or five years. What I would say is how can the manager go into the dressing room between now and the end of the season and continually try to build them up and give them belief to beat the opposition, whoever they come up against, when he has said they're one of the worst teams in Man Utd history? At no point can I see what he'll gain from that."
AFPWHAT NEXT FOR UNITED?
United were unbeaten in three matches before losing to Brighton and Amorim will hope his players can shake off his criticism to bounce back with a win against Rangers in the Europa League on Thursday.