Wayne Rooney agrees with Rio Ferdinand about Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United future, ‘crazy to say’

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Wayne Rooney says Ruben Amorim’s actions during and after Manchester United’s embarrassing defeat at Grimsby this week showed there is ‘something broken’ at the club – but questioned who would replace him at Old Trafford.

United had to come back from 2-0 down against Grimsby on Wednesday, before losing on penalties to their League Two hosts to crash out of the Carabao Cup.

Amorim said he and the club will ‘think things through’ during next week’s international break and could not watch the shoot-out at Blundell Park. He added that something had to change, and United couldn’t simply overhaul their squad again.

Reacting to those comments, club legend Rooney said they suggest something at United is ‘broken’, and was a ‘breaking point’ for Amorim.

Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand raise same concern over Ruben Amorim position at Manchester United

The Grimsby defeat raised questions over Amorim’s future at United, not least because he suggested himself that talks will take place.

On social media, former United defender Rio Ferdinand reacted to a speculative list of replacements for Amorim including Eddie Howe and Andoni Iraola, simply replying with an emoji of hands covering the face, suggesting he was unconvinced at the choices.

Rooney offered a similar view, telling his BBC Sport podcast that no manager in world football would jump at the chance to replace Amorim with United in their current state.

Rooney said: “The problem we’ve got now is who would want to take it? It is crazy to say that [but] you’ve got one of the biggest clubs in the world and you’ve probably been just sitting there thinking… not now. How quick it’s changed.”

Wayne Rooney says Ruben Amorim failed to protect Manchester United players this week

Rooney also said the manner of the defeat exposed the problems facing Amorim at United. “Just the way they lost, it was disheartening,” he said. “There’s something not right, that’s clear.

“The biggest concern is the manager saying that. His words after the game were damning on the players. Being in a position where I’ve been in the dressing room – if your manager comes out with those words, there’s something broken.

“When you’re doing an interview after the game, you have to protect your players, whether you want to or not.

“What we forget is he’s 40. It’s completely different [to Sporting]. When you’re not winning games that can start to get to you. It looks like [Grimsby] was a breaking point for him.”