Roy Keane identifies the 'big problem' that Ruben Amorim must solve at Man Utd

Ruben Amorim will encounter a "big problem" when he takes charge of Manchester United, according to Roy Keane, who has delivered a scathing assessment of "a few players" in the current team.

After days of intense speculation, it was confirmed on Friday that Amorim will succeed Erik ten Hag as the next Manchester United head coach following four trophy-laden years at Sporting Lisbon.

The 39-year-old, who has signed a contract until June 2027, with the option of a further year, will take charge of his first game at Ipswich Town on November 24.

He will, however, take charge of the Premier League club on Monday, November 11 – just a day after Sporting's trip to Braga.

Amorim has quite the job on his hands after United's lacklustre start to the 2024/25 campaign. In fact, Roy Keane says the Portuguese coach will be met with not just one, but two "big" problems on his arrival.

Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Sunday's game between Manchester United and Chelsea, the former Republic of Ireland international criticised the work ethic of "a few players" in the United team – and said Amorim must act quickly to weed them out.

"There’s a few players in the United team in big positions who can’t run, which is a big problem," Keane began.

"But they also have players in the team who don’t want to run and when they do run they don’t run hard enough, fast enough, for long enough so he has to get that into the dressing room, that mentality. The players who aren’t doing it you have to try and move them on.

"This team doesn’t run, that’s a big problem. They’ve got really talented players but if you’re not going to run you’ll get nowhere fast."

He added: "This group of players don’t dig in, when the going gets tough they go under, they go under too easily."

Image credit: Getty

Keane also brought up United's lack of firepower in forward areas. So far, they have managed just eight goals in nine league games.

"The lack of goals is a huge problem for Man United," he said. "Every time I read the league table, after nine or 10 games, minus three goals for Man United, it’s hard to read."

Do you agree with Keane? Let us know in the comments.