Manchester United’s boss Ruben Amorim has been told to take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s book when it comes to the media from a Red Devils icon

Ruben Amorim has been told to take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson’s book when it comes to handling the media as Manchester United boss.

Amorim has drawn huge criticism for claiming his current United team is the worst one in the club’s history. Former United coach Rene Meulensteen believes Amorim was wrong to make such a statement in public.

And he reckons he should look at how Fergie dealt with the media, in a bid to improve his own communication skills. Meulensteen was part of Fergie’s coaching team at Old Trafford.

And the Dutchman told the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast: “It’s really dangerous to say that.

“You have to understand that whatever comes to you, whatever you’re going to say about it, it has a reaction, and the media are very well prepared because they want headlines and they want controversy.

“I think Sir Alex Ferguson was a master in communicating, because everything he said he thought through, he knew if he said this then that would be the reaction.

“I don’t think he hasn’t done that. He’s young, speaks in his second language, and he doesn’t know the size of the task that he’s got ahead of him. It’s an easy catch for the media. The thing is, this will come back, because when you say these things once it gets repeated.”

Meulensteen has also questioned Amorim’s reluctance to change style to get results, and believes that the 39-year-old needs to have more flexibility in his approach to games.

He added: “Amorim has already said ‘I’m not going to change’. I have my reservations about that, because at the end of the day, what you want as a manager is to be successful and you need to start looking at what can I do.

“Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Newcastle laid down a blueprint for how to play against United, which is on the front foot to press them early, be aggressive so they go long and can’t hold on to the ball.

“Southampton did exactly that and I was so impressed by watching them, then obviously you got an 8-minute cameo of Diallo that suddenly sent the tempo up, and there was more quality and more threat in the final third.”

“I find it strange if you look at it, that is what Manchester United has always been and stood for.

“Sir Alex Ferguson was very flexible in his approach. We played with wingers, but if we played with Ryan Giggs on the left and Antonio Valencia on the right, it was completely different than playing with Cristiano Ronaldo or Nani.

“We had the tactical differences within that so we would never get caught up in one particular system.”