Gary Lineker believes Manchester United are a counter-attacking side and struggle to break down teams who play a low block.

United appeared to turn a corner after securing positive results against Liverpool and Arsenal, but they took a major step backwards at the weekend when they lost 3-1 to Brighton.

Ruben Amorim said his United might be the "worst team in the club's history" and the 39-year-old must attempt to galvanise his squad ahead of facing Rangers in the Europa League.

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Amorim has inherited a squad that was built for Erik ten Hag and the players are struggling in his system. Some pundits have suggested the manager should change formation, but he has insisted he won't, while fans desperately want new signings in the January transfer window.

Speaking on the Rest Is Football podcast, Lineker reflected on the performance against Brighton and concluded United deliver their best when they can counter-attack the opponent.

“Exactly my point," replied Gary Lineker to a comment about Amorim operating with a squad that was built to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation, not the 3-4-3 system that he has introduced.

"I said even after the two good performances against Liverpool and then Arsenal in the cup, talking about them being a counter-attacking side that the test would come against the weaker teams because Manchester United can’t play counter-attacking football against teams at the other end of the table.

“We saw it, they were trailing against Southampton 1-0 until the very end and Amad bailed them out with that late hat-trick and we saw it again against Brighton.

“Brighton are very good, they can play the high press and they can counter themselves, which they’re very good at, so yeah, they’ve still got massive issues there and there's no quick fix."

Alan Shearer added: "Whoever who went in was going to face this scenario. They need massive recruitment now in the summer and it's going to take a lot longer than that to get things right.

"They're actually worse now than they were under Ten Hag because of what the manager wants to do with the system. They can't play the way he wants to play, the players can't do it."

United are 13th in the Premier League and have suffered 10 defeats from 22 matches.