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By WILL PICKWORTH Published: 09: 01 AEDT, 19 February 2025 | Updated: 09: 04 AEDT, 19 February 2025 87 View comments Ruben Amorim's Manchester United tenure went from bad to worse on Sunday when his depleted side suffered a 1-0 defeat at fellow strugglers Tottenham. Amorim, 40, has endured a difficult start to life at Old Trafford since arriving from Sporting Lisbon in November, losing nine of his first 21 games in charge. This has included United suffering defeats in five of their past six Premier League home matches, while the Spurs loss means the Portuguese coach has just 14 points from 14 Premier League games. United are languishing in 15th place, 15 points off the top four - and they are just 12 clear of the drop. While there are no suggestions that the faith of Sir Jim Ratcliffe in Amorim is wavering, there is no doubt the 40-year-old is coming under increasing pressure in his role. Mail Sport revealed last week how some players are beginning to doubt Amorim's preferred 3-4-3 system, while the heat is increasing from fans and pundits. Ruben Amorim is coming under increasing pressure after a tough start to his Man United tenure United's 1-0 loss at Tottenham leaves the club languishing in 15th in the Premier League This has been evidenced in the attitudes of Man United legends Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane and Gary Neville. All four expressed their excitement at Amorim's appointment in November and, while they have stopped short of calling for his head, their criticisms of the Portuguese coach have increased dramatically in recent weeks. In light of this, Mail Sport has taken a look at how Ferdinand, Scholes, Keane and Neville turned on Amorim - and what this could mean for his future. When Amorim's appointment was confirmed, Rio Ferdinand was effusive in praising the work of United executives Jason Wilcox, Dan Ashworth and Omar Berrada in securing the services of the Sporting boss. Amorim gained rave reviews for his work in Portugal and had previously been linked with the likes of Man City and Liverpool. Ferdinand could barely hide his excitement, insisting Amorim was on another level to predecessor Erik ten Hag, before he hailed his 'charisma and character'. 'If Pep Guardiola had gone, I think that Amorim would have been someone that City were looking at, ' the former defender said in November. Rio Ferdinand hailed Amorim's appointment in November, but said he now fears for relegation Ferdinand lauded United executives like Omar Berrada (above) for recruiting the Portuguese 'There are similarities to what Erik ten Hag was doing at Ajax but what I would say is that Amorim took a club that was on a barren spell. 'They couldn't compete with Porto or Benfica, hadn't got near to winning the league. Disenchanted fanbase. Turmoil behind the scenes. He went in there and immediately turned their fortunes around. He changed their style of football, style of play, and expectations. 'I think the biggest difference between the two (Amorim and Ten Hag), from what I am hearing from people who have played for but also been around, is the character and charisma compared to Erik ten Hag will be the big difference. ' It's clear the picture has changed markedly over the past three months, with Ferdinand left fearing for United's status in the top flight following the defeat at Spurs, although he insisted on social media that Amorim shouldn't be sacked. Speaking on Monday, Ferdinand said: 'Manchester United are absolutely struggling at the moment. Only Wolves and West Ham separate my club from the relegation places. Do you realise we're that close? 'Someone said we need 11 points just to stay up and I'm starting to think like that. I've got the fixture list here and I'm looking at the games and I'm being serious here. Go through it. 'The only place I potentially see us getting anything – and I'm not even saying a win – is Leicester. We've slapped up Leicester a couple of times already this season so we've got their number. 'Normally you look at the fixture list and you can see where the points are coming from. Ferdinand insisted he was left fearful when looking at United's remaining top flight fixtures 'We just looked at the fixture list and I'm not seeing outright wins, I'm not looking at it thinking there's three points here and there's three points there. That's the problem. ' Roy Keane is never one to mince his words and although the hard-hitting pundit was left impressed by Amorim's appointment, he insisted it wouldn't be smooth-sailing. In fact, Keane claimed the move to United would be 'the biggest challenge of his career', pointing to the 'big problems' at the club, while he also pleaded for patience among fans. And amid the difficult start to Amorim's tenure, Keane's criticisms of the Portuguese coach have increased. Speaking in early January following a torrid festive period that saw United lose four games in a row to Tottenham, Bournemouth, Wolves and Newcastle, Keane let rip at his former side. 'If you look at the stats, my goodness, they are so bad, ' he said. 'Obviously, the new manager has come in and there has been no response from the players which is a big concern. 'They don't look like a great group. They've got no world-class players. They haven't got a striker that can get them out of jail. The goalkeeper is not great. The players have to be held accountable. Roy Keane pleaded for patience at the start of Amorim's tenure but he seems to have snapped Keane launched a furious rant at United at half-time of their 2-1 FA Cup win against Leicester 'I just want a bit of passion in their performance. It's disgraceful what they're doing week in, week out. ' Meanwhile, one of the few positive results in recent weeks came when United narrowly beat Leicester 2-1 in the FA Cup, yet Keane launched another rant at his former club following an uninspiring performance. 'It's been shocking, really really poor, ' Keane fumed at half-time of the clash. 'They are boring now. They should remind the players in the dressing room what the game is about. 'There is a goal that end. No energy, there is no energy in the stadium, they are waiting for something to happen. 'A lack of confidence, the urgency, giving it away cheaply. I just look at it from a United point of view and I'm thinking, "My goodness, is this what it has come to? " Nowhere near good enough. ' Paul Scholes has been increasingly outspoken on the struggles at Man United over recent times. However, back in November, he was one of many Old Trafford heroes to express their excitement at Amorim's appointment, claiming it was a 'real coup'. Paul Scholes had hailed Ruben Amorim's appointment from Sporting Lisbon as a 'real coup' But Scholes' initial excitement seems to have started to wane amid a dismal run of form 'I think with Ruben Amorim, everyone is looking and they are a little bit jealous, because I think some of them really, really wanted him, ' he said. 'I know he has been spoken about with City once Pep goes, so he has been thought of in that high regard. 'This is the first one (appointment) where you think, "yes, this is a real coup". We have got in there ahead of three, four, five top clubs around Europe and it is exciting. I can't wait for him to come. ' Yet, Scholes' initial excitement seems to have started to wane, with things coming to a head following United's aforementioned FA Cup win over Leicester. The Red Devils signed Patrick Dorgu from Leece for £25m in January, and the Danish defender was widely expected to fill the void at left wing back in Amorim's system. Yet, on his debut against the Foxes, Dorgu was picked at right wing back, something that infuriated Scholes. Taking to Instagram, he wrote: 'Inverted wing-backs… you saw it at OT first, ' before he swiftly deleted his story. However, he later reflected on that decision further and said it pointed to a confused attitude from Amorim. Scholes was left baffled by the decision to play Patrick Dorgu at right wing back on his debut 'Look, I'm not at the point where I'm thinking it's the wrong decision [to appoint Amorim] because he came into a mess and it still feels like a mess, but the rest. .. ' Scholes said. 'The league form, the way they're playing now and you talk about cup competitions. As I said before, a big concern for me is that we've been crying out for a left wing-back. 'They buy one [Dorgu] and it tells me his [Amorim] head is a little bit fried and confused at the minute because he plays him at right wing-back and keeps Dalot on the left. What's going on here? There are a few things that are concerning. ' Gary Neville was similarly enthusiastic in his early support for Amorim, claiming the appointment was ambitious, while he hailed the 40-year-old's character and lack of Premier League baggage. Neville was then full of praise for Amorim's decision to drop Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho for the Manchester derby amid concerns about their attitude and training performance. However, Neville has begun to lose patience in the Portuguese coach and things came to a head during the Tottenham defeat on Sunday. As United's midfield pairing of Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro were repeatedly exposed, Neville took aim at Amorim's tactics on co-commentary. Gary Neville's initial optimism in Amorim's appointment has since turned to extreme frustration Neville even said that Amorim is a long way from returning to the club to better times 'The distance between the two centre midfielders for United is all wrong, ' Neville said. 'Look where (Bruno) Fernandes is, look where Casemiro is. It breaks all rules of football. It's absolute madness. The structure of the team is awful. The two in midfield are split. 'You wouldn't see this in Under 9s football. Look at the space in midfield. Shocking. ' Speaking later on the Gary Neville podcast, the former right back offered a bleak assessment of United's future as he added: 'How quickly can Amorim and the recruitment team at United get to a point where they can adapt this squad into a 3-4-3 squad? 'It's going to be a minimum of two to three transfer windows because of the investment that's been made and we know clubs on the edge of PSR. 'They've lost £300m in the last three years, so there's a real struggle and a real fight to be able to spend the money that they need in the transfer market as well. There's been a lot of waste in the last few years. ' The quartet of Keane, Neville, Ferdinand and Scholes have never been the like to hound United managers out of the club. None of them have explicitly called for Amorim to go, but it is clear the initial welcoming mood has been replaced by fierce criticism of how things are going. They did their best to support previous managers, although the criticism towards Erik ten Hag grew both last season - and before his departure in October - after United showed no signs of improvement under the Dutchman. Despite their struggles over the past decade, the noise around United is like no other English club and although Ten Hag's departure was a result of his side's dire form rather than pundit criticism, the reach of Scholes, Ferdinand, Neville and Keane can have an impact. When they speak, people listen, and while there is still plenty of time for Amorim to turn his ailing ship around, he needs to show some signs of improvement soon to avoid the pressure rising to untenable levels. Published by Associated Newspapers Ltd Part of the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group