Liverpool is the heavy favorite for Sunday's game against Manchester United, with Ruben Amorim's time in charge so far actually making things worse rather than better. Gary Neville cuts a gloomy figure at the minute, expressing dread at the prospect of the upcoming fixture, but he has suggested one change the new manager might soon feel compelled to make.

While Arne Slot is making the replacement of Jurgen Klopp look easy at Anfield, most of those associated with Old Trafford seem more or less out of ideas. Players and coaches have come and gone since Alex Ferguson, but nothing has arrested the steady slide for very long.

Yet even against this backdrop, the latest chapter feels particularly bleak for Manchester United. Amorim has never even really threatened to produce a new manager bounce, while the extent of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's radical overhaul at boardroom level has been to make a series of brutal, morale-draning cutbacks, complain about the tidiness of the office space, and clamp down on working from home.

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At best, that's a very long-term move, a cultural reset of sorts which might reap dividends many years down the line. At worst, it's performative nonsense, a symptom of a behemoth that is at an utter loss over how it can correct its troubling course.

On the pitch, appointing Amorim was at least a bet on something. The former Sporting coach has arrived with a specific idea and tactical blueprint — it's going terribly so far, but settling on an identity and a direction of travel does feel like a necessary step at a club where joined-up thinking has been sorely lacking for a long time.

But how do you know when you've settled on the right identity, or at least an acceptable one? How much patience can you extend to the vague notion of a philosophy when results are not forthcoming?

As far as Neville is concerned, the clock is already ticking for Amorim ahead of the meeting with Liverpool. He has suggested that the 39-year-old might soon be tempted to follow in the path of Louis van Gaal and abandon his three-at-the-back principles:

"He should stick with it but the only thing I would say is he did mention he needs to get results," Neville told Sky Sports. "If you remember Louis van Gaal when he first came to United, it felt like he signed about three or four left-sided defenders to play that sort of wing-back system because he played it with Holland.

"He ended up changing it to a back four in about six to eight weeks and it seemed to change very quickly. So I just wonder whether the more he says this, the more he gets the results that he's getting.

"If the results continue as they are there may come a point where he has to change or do something slightly different because obviously United can't go any lower than they currently are. They would be in danger of relegation."

Looking to the Van Gaal era for inspiration more or less sums thing up for Manchester United. It is a club which has gone stale.

Amorim's arrival, of course, was an attempt to address this. He was meant to shake things up and inject new life — so what kind of message would it send if he abandoned his whole playing style for the Liverpool game, just months into his tenure?

Yet if the alternative is getting sucked into a genuine relegation battle, Neville may be right. All options look bad, and recreating a short-term bounce from Van Gaal's tenure might be as good as it gets.

Liverpool.com says: Manchester United is no longer in an identity crisis. It is a team that plays three at the back, and it is a team that loses.

Yet there's an understandable reluctance from Neville and others to suggest Amorim changes up the tactics. He was appointed on the understanding that he would play a certain style, these are the principles he believes will ultimately bring success, and any other approach would be brand new to him.

But the manager has also acknowledged that Man United could be in a relegation fight. The only thing worse than changing his system might be not changing it.

And there's also the uncomfortable truth that merely having a defined way of playing does not automatically make a good manager. Liverpool had a similarly ropey squad when Klopp took charge in 2015, but he instantly lifted the mood and the performances, in a way Amorim has comprehensively failed to do.

Liverpool can never take anything for granted in this fixture, regardless of how Man United sets up, but this is surely the biggest gulf in class that has existed between the two teams in decades. The Van Gaal era looks like the glory days in comparison to where the Red Devils are now, and Amorim faces an uphill task whether he listens to Neville or sticks to his guns.