Jamie Carragher ridicules Sir Jim Ratcliffe's vote of confidence in Ruben Amorim - and reveals why he hasn't helped the under-pressure Man United boss

Jamie Carragher thinks Sir Jim Ratcliffe's recent comments supporting Ruben Amorim actually harms the Manchester United manager. 

Ratcliffe claimed that Amorim needs 'three years' to prove he is a 'great coach' earlier this month. 

But after leading Man United to a worst-ever 15th place finish in the Premier League last season, Amorim has the Red Devils 11th at the time of writing. 

What if United spent the next three years in the bottom half? What if they did even worse? Would Ratcliffe stick by him then? 

For Carragher, Ratcliffe's comments have backfired because they are so far-fetched that they are hard to believe.  

'I understand what the owner is trying to do, he's trying to quell the talk of the manager losing his job,' Carragher told Sky Sports. 

'So he comes out to defend his man and talks about how has got three years.

'But he almost doesn't help him by saying it because nobody believes it. Nobody believes for one minute that Ruben Amorim will be the manager of Manchester United in three years. 

'If he'd have said, "we've got no plans to change our coach over the next 12 months," I think we'd go, okay, maybe they can get to the end of the season, maybe things could improve, they can get someone in January.

'That would almost feel like a vote of confidence and quell the talk of the manager losing his job.

'But to go out and say three years, we all know, if results keep going as they're going, he's going to lose his job unfortunately. 

'Even though he's come out to try and help him, I don't think he actually has helped him with those comments in the end.' 

United come into this one having won two of their last three games, while Liverpool have lost their last trio, which is some encouragement for the visitors to cling to. 

The Red Devils will face Brighton, Nottingham Forest, and Tottenham before the international break and could climb into the European places by the time it rolls around. 

Hit a poor run of form, though, and they could be dragged towards the bottom three - 18th-placed Forest are only five points behind.  

Given that nobody can see far into the future, Amorim himself has suggested that Ratcliffe's vote of confidence could ring empty, even if he does appreciate it. 

‘It’s really good to hear that because of the noise,’ said Amorim ahead of Sunday's clash with Liverpool at Anfield.

‘He tells me all the time, sometimes with a message after games, and Omar (Berrada) and Jason (Wilcox) tell me. I feel it every day.

‘But you know, I know and Jim knows that football is not like that. Even with owners, you cannot control the next day in football, so I know that.’

Amorim is also wary that such a show of support could create a comfort zone within the club and his squad which he doesn’t want.

‘I think it helps also our fans to understand that the leadership understand it's going to take a while,’ he added. ‘But at the same moment I don't like that because it will give a feeling that we have time to work things out, so I don't want that feeling here in our club.

‘Sometimes the pressure that I put on the team or on myself is so much bigger than them. I know that it's going to take a while, but I don't want to think like that.’

Amorim admitted he has no idea how long it will take United to close the gap on arch rivals Liverpool as the two clubs prepare to clash in their 100th Anfield meeting on Sunday.

Liverpool equalled United’s total of 20 titles last season and are one of the favourites to win the Premier League again this term despite losing their last three games in all competitions.

Asked when United could realistically be genuine challengers to Liverpool again, Amorim replied: ‘That I don't know. Sometimes things change really fast, but if you see the history of both clubs you can feel it that sometimes you have one club that is winning, winning, winning and the other club is having a bad moment.

‘That happened with Liverpool when Manchester United was winning everything, and that happened with Manchester United when Liverpool was winning everything.

‘So we just have to acknowledge that, to be really honest with the fans – but we can win any game.

‘If we are going to fight and to be at the same level of Liverpool in the future, that is the idea. I don't know how long it is going to take.

‘I know that it is special for our club. I know that they are fighting all the time (with Liverpool) for the number of titles. I know what it means to the fans, but again it's one game that we need to prove again that we are playing better.’