Manchester United: Gary Neville says Ruben Amorim must end ‘negativity spiral’ at club this summer after Europa League final defeat | Football News

Gary Neville says Ruben Amorim must end the “negativity spiral” at Manchester United and “get a grip” of the club after a nightmare season.

United are 16th in the Premier League table and go into their last game of the campaign at home to Aston Villa reeling from Wednesday’s Europa League final loss to Tottenham.

After that defeat, United defender Luke Shaw said: “All of us have to question ourselves. Are we good enough to be here? Because for this club, this season it’s not acceptable. We know that and it’s down to us.”

Neville believes those comments are an alarming reflection of how the players are feeling and Amorim must swiftly move to correct the culture in the club and dressing room if he is to achieve a significant improvement next season.

“I want to point towards Luke Shaw’s interview, where he talked about, ‘we’ve got to look ourselves in the mirror and decide whether we’re good enough to play for Manchester United’,” said Neville on The Overlap show It’s Called Soccer.

“Luke, it’s not your job to determine that. A player at Manchester United should have no control as to whether they’re there or not. The manager of the football club decides whether you’re good enough to play in that football team.

“When the players are starting to come out and question publicly whether they’re good enough to play for the club, you know how bad it is internally there. You imagine what they’re saying to each other inside.

“I have this thing about negativity spiral in my businesses, in my life. If I hear the energy-sapping negativity spiral starting to move, whereby you can feel people starting to have an influence over the others, and Luke’s an experienced player now, honestly, I think you’ve got to wipe it out. You’ve got to wipe out every single player in that dressing room who doesn’t believe that they’ve got total and utter confidence to play for that football club.

“There were some players on that pitch and some players on the bench who I think can still do a good job for Manchester United. I don’t believe it’s a case of get rid of them all. I think there’s some talent in there. I believe that. And this idea that they don’t care, I’ll repeat what I’ve said many, many times again, never, ever think that of football players.

“Do they want to lose football matches? Do they want to be criticised on social media? The answer is no. They do care. They’ve worked thousands of hours to get to this position of playing for the club, but the club is eating them alive. The club is eating them alive, it’s too big for them.”

Arteta an example for Amorim

Neville called on Amorim to take swift action this summer, comparing the situation to how Mikel Arteta has played a big role in the overhaul at Arsenal in recent years.

“Someone’s got to get a grip of that club, and I think it has to be the manager. Ruben, you’ve got to get a grip of that club,” said Neville.

“Mikel Arteta’s done a great job at Arsenal. From day one, he imprinted his standards on the club, he put the coaching systems in place, there’s been progression all the way through, and he’s got five years now under his belt, six years under his belt.

“Ruben Amorim needs to look at next season, how he gets into the top six, how he basically wipes half that squad out, how he transforms it into a dynamic team that plays exciting football from the rigid stuff that we’re currently watching, and he needs to think about which players in that dressing room can do a job for him.

“Because if the players are starting to question their own belonging in that dressing room, you’ve got a huge problem.”

Sky Sports to show 215 live PL games from next season

From next season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.

And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games next season are on Sky Sports.