Ruud van Nistelrooy responds to Gary Neville’s damning statement about Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd

Ruud van Nistelrooy has brushed off Gary Neville’s damning criticism of Manchester United and insists a trip to Old Trafford is always going to be a ‘tough’ task for Leicester.

Ruben Amorim has struggled to steady the ship since taking over the reins from United’s then interim manager, Van Nistelrooy, back in November, overseeing just nine victories from his opening 19 games at the helm.

The Red Devils had appeared to have turned a corner, winning three on the bounce in all competitions last month, only to suffer a shock 2-0 defeat at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon.

The setback leaves United stranded down in 13th place in the Premier League table and Amorim’s men will be desperate to bounce back in their FA Cup clash with Van Nistelrooy’s Leicester tomorrow night.

Speaking ahead of the fourth-round tie, legendary ex-United right-back Neville argued – not for the first time – that his former club had actually gone backwards with Amorim in charge.

‘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.’

Neville’s comments were put to Van Nistelrooy at the Dutchman’s pre-match press conference this afternoon, to which Leicester head coach grinned and replied: ‘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 former United and 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.’

Leicester enter the contest with United on the back of a 4-0 thumping at the hands of Everton at Goodison Park.

Given the Foxes came away from Tottenham with all three points in their previous encounter, Van Nistelrooy admits it was a surprising and ‘painful’ experience.

Asked what the mood has been like following the loss to Everton, Van Nistelrooy responded: ‘It was disappointment from the game which we didn’t see coming after the Spurs performance.

‘It was painful and it was very disappointing.

‘Of course, we evaluate, we go through the game with the players: where we have to improve and then you start going back to work again.’

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