Ruud van Nistelrooy disagrees with Gary Neville over Man Utd assessment

Ruud van Nistelrooy does not entirely agree with former team-mate Gary Neville's assessment of Manchester United. The Leicester City boss takes his team to Old Trafford on Friday night in search of some FA Cup respite after winning just one of their last 10 matches in the Premier league. Van Nistelrooy, who worked as part of Erik ten H ag's coaching staff and then as iterim manager before Amorim was appointed, believes his former team remain a difficult prospect for his Foxes side.

United have seen promising victories against Arsenal and Manchester City, combined with home struggles against the likes of Crystal Palace and Brighton. With the Red Devils only 13th in the table, Neville has not been reassured by Amorim's impact on the team. When Neville's comments suggesting United's form will only make it more difficult for Amorim to act with conviction were put to Van Nistelrooy, the Dutchman admitted he did not believe in sequences of results. His focus is on tackling a difficult opposition despite the side's momentum.

"I’m so happy that I don’t have to analyse the Manchester United squad at the moment. I have enough work to do with my own. I’ll leave that to Ruben. "Of course, we analyse them as well and see where the possibilities are for us and where we have to be careful. I know the players, I know the squad inside out and that’s what my focus. For me, that’s the only thing I’m doing at the moment.".

The ex-Netherlands striker added: "We also have our own issues, you know?. "It’s up to us to look at us. I don’t believe in sequences of teams. You can also win a game of football after you’ve lost a couple. "You can also lose one when you’ve won a lot. Every game is a new, a new challenge. Away to Manchester United, being Leicester City, is always a tough one but we want to represent ourselves in the best way possible and take it from there.".

Neville delivered a damning assessment of United's progress under Amorim. The ex-United captain is concerned the club's defeats will dig a hole the 40-year-old head coach is unable to clamber out of. "I thought it would get better when Ruben Amorim came in, the enthusiasm of him and the new system, the players would buy into and we’d see a bounce,’ he said on The Gary Neville Podcast. "But we’ve seen the absolute opposite and it’s got a lot worse – and that’s surprising. There’s going to be a lot more pain towards the end of the season and it’s going to be damaging – because they’re obviously going to stick with Amorim. But the more you lose, the more difficult it is for the manager to convince the players of his idea.

"In the very early days he said, “I will not change my idea”, and you need the players to buy into that. If they keep losing and they keep getting criticised and the spotlight comes on them more and the fans are leaving unhappy, you know it creates a feeling and you can’t keep losing.". Neville added: "You just can’t. It will depress the thoughts of the players to a point whereby they’ll start to lose faith in the idea and it’ll damage you.

"He can’t change his approach now because he’s died in the ditch on it and rightly so. But he’s lost more games at Manchester United than he lost in the last 75 at Sporting Lisbon which is just absolutely alarming, so he will not be enjoying this. ‘It can’t keep going on as it is and they somehow have to start playing better – because at this moment in time it’s a very sorry situation when you watch United play.".

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