RUBEN HITS ROCK BOTTOM

Now no margin for error if Amorim wants to keep job

- David McDonnell

SUDDENLY the Erik ten Hag era, which yielded two trophies and European football in successive seasons, does not seem such a blot on Manchester United’s recent troubled history.

The same cannot be said of his successor, Ruben Amorim, who has dragged the once great club to their lowest point of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era in just nine months.

After last season’s 15th-placed finish in the Premier League, United’s lowest since relegation in the 1973-74 campaign, Amorim knew he could not afford a poor start to the new term.

But one point from United’s opening two league games was followed by Wednesday’s abject Carabao Cup exit to League Two Grimsby, which has increased the pressure on Amorim.

The head coach admitted as much on United’s preseason tour of America this summer, and when he conceded he had used up all of the credit he had in the bank when he arrived.

Now, just three games into the season, Amorim faces a must-win fixture at home to Burnley tomorrow, with fans starting to turn on him.