Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has issued a stark warning regarding Portuguese manager Ruben Amorim’s job security, asserting the coach is “playing Russian roulette with his job” due to a perceived tactical inflexibility. Ferdinand’s comments come amid continued discussion in England about Amorim’s coaching philosophy.
Speaking on his podcast, Ferdinand acknowledged Amorim’s achievements but stated, “I admire what he’s done, but up to a point. I think he’s playing Russian roulette with his job. I don’t think he’s changed anything drastically, he just adjusted.”
Ferdinand specifically critiqued Amorim’s preferred 3x4x3 tactical system. He argued that it is unsustainable to “press, press, press for 90 minutes unless you have a team of enormous quality. PSG does that. But this coach cannot do it with this squad.”
Amorim’s tactical approach, centered on three central defenders, has indeed been widely discussed by football commentators in England. The Portuguese coach has consistently remained faithful to his core ideas.
Ferdinand also presented a hypothetical scenario linked to his former club. “Six months from now we might have Manchester United finishing in Champions League spots or something like that and he’ll probably say ‘well, if I had changed, I probably would have been fired because I would be doing things that are alien to me’,” Ferdinand added.