'It's stressing me out!' - Usain Bolt publicly pleads with Rio Ferdinand to help Man Utd fix glaring issue

United staged a remarkable comeback in October after a rocky start to their 2025-26 campaign as Ruben Amorim's side won three successive Premier League matches against Sunderland, Liverpool and Brighton. It was finally looking like the star-studded attack that the club had assembled in the summer transfer window was finally delivering as they quickly climbed up the table.

However, the Red Devils have experienced yet another dip in form at the start of November, recording back-to-back draws 2-2 draws against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham.

Eight-time Olympic champion Bolt has admitted to being "stressed out" by United's performances this season. After the Spurs draw, Bolt reached out to United legend Ferdinand with a voice note and pleaded with the former England star to help the club fix a glaring issue.

In the voice note, played on Rio Ferdinand's podcast, Bolt said: "I just watched the United game, one of our biggest problems is when we invite pressure onto ourselves. They're always running back, all we do is invite pressure. Please (Rio), I'm begging you man. Get to the team and say something. You are one of the greatest defenders Man United ever had, please bro, it's stressing me out. I know you have nothing to do with this but tell the guys to pass the ball quicker. Oh my God, bro. They don't know how to defend one-on-one. Shaw is the only one who seems like he understand. All they know is system, lineup and play well. 'They don't know how to step up, push the defender and then go back into your line. I push up (as a defender) and the midfield slots in. Please, Rio, get to somebody."

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Unlike Bolt, Ferdinand was less scathing with his analysis of Amorim's side as he said: "There were times against Spurs where it (United's defence) wasn't working as a cohesive unit. We're still in this rebuilding phase and I think that's why we've got to manage the expectations of fans. I've seen some people going off on one, going crazy saying, 'the manager ruined it with his substitutions'. But if he didn't make any subs and we still got the same result, everyone would be going, 'why didn't he change it?'. He's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't sometimes. Arne Slot won the league last year, went to [Manchester] City this year and got it totally wrong. It does happen."

Amorim agrees that there is still plenty of work to do to further improve the team's performances, as he told TNT Sports after the Tottenham game: "During the game we felt like the three points were there to take home. But then with everything that happened, Harry Maguire and Casemiro coming off and conceding two goals... we scored again and it's a point. When you cannot win you don't lose, once again we did that. We have so much to grow as a team, because today was our day to win this game.

"We need to look at ourselves, we were not pressing with the same intensity, we felt comfortable but we need to understand that if we had more bravery we kill the game. But sometimes this happens, you have a better first half than second. We believe in our capacity to score goals until the last minute. It's a little frustration, but also pride at the response of the players at the response to second goal of Tottenham. This is the tip of the iceberg, we are at the beginning of becoming a strong team, so we have a lot to do."

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