Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has said the Manchester United hierarchy "has a lot to answer for" amid the club's worsening on-field form, refusing to pin the blame on head coach Ruben Amorim.

United suffered a fifth defeat in their last six Premier League matches on Monday evening, losing 2-0 at home to Newcastle United, meaning they head into Sunday's huge clash with table-toppers Liverpool at Anfield in the worst possible form.

Amorim has failed to arrest the slide the club was already on prior to his appointment at the start of November, overseeing six defeats in his first 11 games in charge across all competitions. United are currently 14th in the table, seven points above the relegation zone.

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After sacking Erik ten Hag at the end of October, United immediately identified Amorim as their first-choice target to replace him, confident his fresh outlook and trademark 3-4-3 system would be the catalyst to bring the good times back to Old Trafford.

However, Carragher has taken umbrage with the club's hierarchy for spending more than £200million in the summer transfer window to recruit to Ten Hag's needs, only to appoint a coach with a completely contrasting style a few months later.

"United might have found the right man for the job and hired him at the worst time," said Carragher, writing his column for The Telegraph. "The club's hierarchy has a lot to answer for.

"Appointing the prime target as soon as possible is understandable. What is harder to explain is this: how could you have given a £200 million budget to a lame-duck coach who plays 4-2-3-1 four months before recruiting a manager who plays three central defenders and wing-backs?

"The Manchester United executives in charge of football operations are the architects of this mess, not Amorim. Technical director Jason Wilcox said when he took the job he wanted the same system replicated across every level of the club.

"How does that work when you are backing a manager with such a vastly different system to the one you have just sacked? The United hierarchy knew the risks of asking Amorim to take over straight away because it is obvious the current squad are not set up to play his way.

"They have put faith in Amorim to make it work but his formation is so unsuited to the personnel that all the positive momentum that could have been created, had he taken over with a full pre-season and a chance to recruit players of the right profile, has been lost. There are already calls for Amorim to change his formation, but he cannot be expected to shift his philosophy after 11 games."