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Manchester United has been accused of lacking leaders amid its ongoing struggles under Ruben Amorim.
The Red Devils endured a horrendous 2024-25 season, finishing in 15th place on 42 points — a tally which was once low enough to see a team relegated from the Premier League. Former Liverpool star Emile Heskey compared United's current struggles to Liverpool's less successful periods earlier this century.
Despite not getting over the line in a title race, Liverpool consistently finished toward the top end of the table during the 2000s, and Heskey believes that is largely due to the leaders in the squad he was in.
"Nothing seems to go right for Ruben Amorim," Heskey told Pundit Arena. "Everyone keeps talking about the tactics, but when you put 11 players on the pitch, they’ve got to fight.
"Where are your leaders? I remember playing at Liverpool, I was only 22 at the time, we had Gary McAllister, and he would be on to us. Steven Gerrard was younger than me, he would be on to us, Sami Hyypia too.
"It doesn't look like Man United have any leaders on the pitch, who are really digging people out."
Speaking in August, United head coach Amorim said that he had decided on a six-man leadership group that he was happy with heading into the new season.
"We have a leadership group now," Amorim said. "It's not just Bruno [Fernandes]. It's not just Harry [Maguire]. It's six guys. They are responsible for the group.
"There are some things that in the last year I had to deal with and I said to them this season, you deal with that. Small issues are with you guys. You're responsible. All these small changes, but I think it's helping the group. We have Bruno, we have Harry, Licha [Martinez], Diogo [Dalot], Tom [Heaton] and Nous [Mazraoui].
"So it's not just the oldest ones. Nous is in the group because he's a character that I like and I try to understand the dynamic of the group I try to reach every space. They are the guys responsible for keeping everyone in line."
The new leadership group is yet to bring about much joy on the field, with United having started the season in disappointing fashion.
The Red Devils sit 10th after winning three, drawing one, and losing three of their first seven games. Two of those wins came at home to promoted teams, while the third came against a Chelsea team that played with 10 men for over 85 minutes in Manchester.
Dismal away losses to Manchester City and Brentford led to the most vociferous calls from many United fans for Amorim to be axed, yet he remains in situ, for now — and it sounds as though that will be the case for some time yet.
“We’re results-driven at the end of the day, but we have to be patient and we have to see through the results," United's co-owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, told a new business podcast by The Times last week. "I think there’s lots of good things at Manchester United. We have to be patient and we have a long-term plan. It isn’t a light switch. Ruben needs to demonstrate that he’s a great coach over three years.”
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