Tag Archives: ruben amorim

Round & Round

Although Amorim’s sacking didn’t exactly come as a shock (formerly seismic events like managerial changes are relatively commonplace at United these days), until his mini meltdown following the draw at Leeds I honestly thought there were tentative signs he was finally getting somewhere. Although punctuated by several demoralising home draws against PL strugglers, we’ve only actually lost twice in the 14 league games since the start of October. So no, I didn’t really see this one coming.

One can only assume that despite unease behind the scenes at the perceived lack of progress, things only escalated once he started throwing out thinly-veiled digs in front of the media. I can sort-of see the rationale since both performances and results still left a lot to be desired, I just don’t quite understand the timing or what we’re gaining by dismissing him now. Fletcher taking charge prior to another caretaker before a full time appointment at the end of the season, is it? Months of mindless speculation as to the identity of the new leading man for the never-ending Man United soap opera. Marvellous – that’s just what we need.

I can’t really accept the idea that making a change now improves the chances of European football either. I never felt confident that Amorim was the man long-term but giving him until the end of the season rather than messing about with further interim appointments would have made more sense. By all means, privately decide he’s toast and seek out a successor now but making another mid-season change strikes me as bafflingly ill-advised. We’ve been here before and it only piles on the pressure and invites further media scrutiny.

You can’t appoint a man to undertake a 4 year job on a limited budget and then sack him after 14 months. Rightly or wrongly, he was stubbornly bound to his 3-4-3 but surely that was part of his appeal to start with? He was supposedly the Ineos candidate, the best in class and would receive unwavering support from the club hierarchy. Are they that thin-skinned that all it took to change that was a couple of mildly inflammatory remarks in a press conference? I thought adopting a definitive system was part of the plan as opposed to pursuing vague notions like ‘club DNA’ and ‘the United way’.

Which brings us to the potential appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as interim manager from now until the end of the season. Honestly, I’m speechless that the idea is even being contemplated given his previous stint as vibes controller from 2018 to 2021. The malignant influences in the dressing room were given free rein to run riot during that time as Ole set out to “put a smile back on peoples’ faces” following the tumultuous last few months of Mourinho’s tenure. Certain people must have very short memories if they can’t recall how bad that period was.

After Ten Hag left I can recall saying here it was imperative we ended the cycle of hiring and firing managers every 18 months. Even with unlimited funds it’s almost an impossible task to dismantle and re-build a squad capable of challenging for the title within such a period. If it’s true the likes of Wilcox and Ratcliffe were trying to impose their own ideas on formations and tactics then Amorim had every right to start kicking off. He was unequivocal about the way he was going to play from day one so I’d suggest any fault lies with the Ineos crew for appointing him in the first place.

Amorim’s reign will rightly be remembered for the poor football and abysmal win ratio but I’ll maintain he did some sterling work in weeding out the dickhead contingent. He binned Rashford, Sancho and Garnacho as well jettisoning expensive Ten Hag flops like Onana and Antony. Both the wage bill and the player’s sense of entitlement was reset completely within a few months of him taking over and despite not getting results, at least we’ve re-gained the sense of being a semi-serious football team. I can’t recall any instances of the players wandering round and appearing not to give a shit over the last few months.

Whoever does come in needs to impose themselves quickly or there’s a risk of the freshly-installed sense of discipline evaporating. Mainoo recovering from injury at the precise moment Amorim departed could have been mere coincidence but looked highly suspicious. His brother and sister could do with winding their necks in too – courting likes and attention from fawning idiots on social media. Your brother hasn’t been imprisoned here, he’s a 20 year old kid on the fringes of the Man United team. If you think such a ‘plight’ is somehow unjust then he’s welcome to try his luck at another club – see how that affects your follower count.

Even Bruno was at it just before Christmas, grizzling to Canal 11, a Portuguese Football Federation-owned channel that the club “wanted me to leave” during the summer. Quite why he chose to go public with this now is a mystery, but even more astonishing is the level of self-delusion on display. Bruno mate, of course they wanted you to leave when your Saudi suitors were promising a £100M cheque in return. You were the club’s most sellable asset in transfer window where they desperately needed to recoup funds and were a billion pounds in debt.

I’m not sure why he’s harbouring any resentment because it looks like they simply put the offer on the table and said “it’s entirely up to you”. He’s lucky he was even consulted as I’m certain any other club in United’s position would have ushered him out of the door irrespective of his own thoughts on the matter. Bruno has put in a great shift as a United player and will be remembered fondly once he’s left, but let’s have it right – he’s also been highly remunerated too. Don’t be banging on about loyalty when your employers have just made 400+ redundancies whilst you’re still trousering £15M a year.

What’s now certain is that any lingering hopes of the Ineos management team proving themselves more capable than Woodward and Arnold have now been extinguished. Indeed, the current bunch seems more dysfunctional than ever given that Berrada, Wilcox and Ratcliffe still require ultimate sign-off from the Glazer lair in Florida. Given that both Ashworth and Brailsford have left the club since the last time they were recruiting a manager, I suppose there’s a slightly improved chance of everyone being in full agreement this time out. They have to get this next decision right. (Spoiler alert: they probably won’t.)

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Beaten To The Punch

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After a frantic last few days, the transfer window slammed shut and I think it’s fair to say it was mission accomplished barring the signing of a new midfielder. The bomb squad were successfully jettisoned, we’ve got a brand new front 3 and perhaps most crucially, the club eventually decided to bring in a new goalkeeper. It’s too early to tell if we’re in a significantly better position now but even if the new signings ultimately flop, at least the corrosive influence of certain personalities around the squad has been removed.

What’s abundantly clear, given he’s played every card he was handed this summer, is that Amorim loves a gamble. Despite Onana being a complete disaster for 2 years he was still the most experienced keeper at the club. Replacing him with a 23 year old Belgian kid represents a huge risk. Likewise, the decision to give up on Hojlund and swap him out with a relatively unproven like-for-like replacement in Sesko. I mean, I wish the pair of them all the luck in the world but it wouldn’t be a major shock if this all backfired spectacularly.

As I stressed last month, they simply had to sign a goalkeeper. Results will never improve if you’ve got a keeper guaranteed to make a mistake every single game. The season has started demonstrating precisely that with both Bayindir and Onana making the same routine gaffes that have become almost inevitable over the last 12 months. Although he’s an enormous dickhead, I would have been tempted to go for Martinez ahead of Lammens, personally. We need someone who can step in immediately and can ill-afford a period of adjustment or settling in.

It’s pretty much the same story with Sesko and I’m left scratching my head why they’ve gone down this route again. Just like Hojlund, there’s clearly huge potential there but it’s going to take time for it to be realised. Assuming he doesn’t hit the ground running, how long before he too is on his way to Italy on loan and the striker search begins again? Honestly, I’d have been tempted to give Hojlund another season and invest the cash in a midfielder instead. I’ve just got a really bad feeling about this one, we’ve been burned by the Bundesliga too many times.

I do feel sorry for Rasmus as he clearly loved playing for United and he’s still only a young lad. If he’d been signed as a 3rd/4th choice option and integrated into the team slowly we might have been reaping the benefits by now. Instead he arrived with a ridiculous price tag and was expected to thrive in a dysfunctional team against a backdrop of a club in turmoil. The odds were against him from the start and after a reasonable goal return in his 1st year, his confidence drained away completely as everything unravelled last season.

The fact he was a Ten Hag signing probably didn’t help his cause when he was pushing to stay and fight for his place. I hope he thrives in Naples and then depending on how Sesko fares, it might be worth giving him another shot after his loan period comes to an end. Then again, I might be talking complete bollocks and he is in fact the carthorse he resembled during those last few months. I’ve really got no idea anymore. What is certain is that we’ve become very adept at not realising the potential of virtually any new player arriving at the club.

Amorim signalled his intention to persist with Bayindir during the pre-Derby presser and you just know that isn’t going to end well. He’s a known target now due to his lack of physicality on corners, as witnessed in both the Arsenal and Fulham games already this season. Not only does he not manage to lay a glove on the ball, he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time scrambling round on the floor. Expect Lammens to be starting as soon as he demonstrates even the slightest bit of competency on the training ground.

I recognise that we had a budget this summer and there was a list of priorities in place, but the lack of midfield options will likely cost us dear in the coming months. It’s hard to win football matches if you can’t consistently control them. Amorim doesn’t seem to fancy Mainoo or trust Ugarte which leaves Casemiro as his most likely starter in the middle, meaning we’re likely to continue getting overrun more often than not. Given the lack of funds available to bring in extra legs, the decision to let Toby Collyer go out on loan looks puzzling as we’ve even fewer options there than last season. Mason Mount, naturally, is injured again.

Fears we’d be short of glamorous destinations due to missing out on Europe were allayed when the League Cup draw pitted us against Grimsby Town. I’m not even joking either. As domestic cup draws go, this one was about as good as you can possibly hope for. Seaside town in late August, somewhere we’ve never been before and only a couple of hours away? Absolutely sensational stuff that almost felt like recompense for those 500 consecutive home draws we suffered through a couple of years back.

Cleethorpes turned out to be quite nice as well. Not a run-down shithole at all, although it did feel a bit like stepping into a time machine and going back 50 years. A sizeable number of the locals proved to be archetypal tracksuit-clad, Free Tommy inbreds but I suppose you encounter that pretty much everywhere now. The only downside apart from the inevitable calamitous cup exit was the how difficult it was finding a drink after the game, with virtually every pub there closing its doors at 11pm. You don’t get that in San Sebastián.

Defeat on the East coast made Burnley the first of what’s likely to be numerous must-win games this season. It wasn’t pretty and despite doing our best to chuck it away, we got there eventually affording Amorim some breathing space ahead of the subsequent international break. With City, Chelsea and Liverpool incoming over the next few weeks he desperately needs something to click with this team. Failing that, the current goalkeeping conundrum might soon become someone else’s problem.

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3ft High and Rising

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Gulp. I think we all expected another tough season but I don’t think many anticipated the R word might become a possibility at any point. In true modern-day United fashion, everything that can go wrong is currently going wrong and the team (predictably) looks utterly bamboozled by the demands of the new manager. If Ruben Amorim wasn’t aware of the size of the task ahead of him when he first joined the club then he certainly is now.

Talk of relegation is probably being dramatic but it’s fair to say the club has sunk to its lowest ebb since the late-80s. Changing the manager mid-season was incredibly risky, especially considering how Amorim was determined to impose a new formation on a group of players who routinely make the very basics of football look mind-bendingly difficult. The PL is an unforgiving environment to try out new ideas and opponents have been quick to capitalise on the general air of confusion. Honestly Ruben, a 5 minute chat with literally anyone who’s watched us for the last 2-3 years could have warned you of this.

Some of the things witnessed over the last month or so have defied belief. I’ve been following United for over 4 decades and I’ve never seen a goal scored direct from a corner – yet somehow we contrived to concede in this manner in consecutive games. This came after the debacle at Arsenal where Onana, faced with Arsenal’s much vaunted corner kick routine, decided that the best way of dealing with it was to stand rooted to his goal line as opposed to attempting a clearance or god forbid, catching the thing. It was utterly pathetic.

Amorim’s attempts to rotate and give everyone a fair opportunity haven’t really worked and if anything, have only added to the chaos. It’s not entirely his fault as out of the squad he took over only Amad and Mazraoui have shown the slightest bit of form over the last few months. The rest of them have been mainly atrocious since the start of the season. Ten Hag got criticised for being aloof and taking the hardline approach and Amorim seems similarly unperturbed about ruffling feathers. I’m absolutely fine with that, personally – though I don’t expect it will end well for him.

The decision to remove Marcus Rashford from the starting XL came as no surprise as rumours about his discipline and re-fuelling habits have persisted longer than his decline in form. Although I appreciate Amorim trying to make it clear about what is and what isn’t acceptable, I don’t see him winning this particular battle. Rashford knows he has the club by the balls and is free to decide his own future. Whilst I’m sure the club are regretting that long term contract signed in July 2023 and would love to get him off the books, I don’t see anyone outside of Saudi willing to stump up £50M+ and take on his extortionate wages.

Rashford seems to be in full denial of his own shortcomings, hence the now trademark sulky demeanour and lack of application on the pitch. It’s Sancho all over again – mollycoddled player refusing to accept that responsibility is ultimately theirs despite the club bending over backwards to try and accommodate them. Multiple warnings, 2nd chances, pat on the back, arm round the shoulder, blah blah – all for nothing. Meanwhile the player’s personal failings remain unaddressed as their ‘advisors’, the people paid a huge chunk to guide these young millionaires through their careers, only enhance their sense of entitlement by convincing them their conduct is justified and it’s everyone else who’s in the wrong.

That’s essentially why I’ve lost it with Rashford and there’s no going back whatever happens in future. It’s nothing to do with his skin colour, dress sense or choice of holiday destination. I couldn’t care less about where he was born or the fact he’s been at the club since he was a toddler, it just makes his career decline all the more disappointing. Compare and contrast with Diogo Dalot, a limited talent by comparison and often a defensive liability but you could never question his commitment or desire to play for United. Yes, he’s a bit of a knobhead going round hi-fiving all and sundry but if his more-esteemed colleagues matched his energy and enthusiasm I suspect we’d be a lot higher than 14th in the table.

The Rashford contract was another Arnold/Murtough cock-up that will continue to have repercussions until it expires in 2028. And it will expire, because he’ll never sign another like it unless he decides to accept the Saudi lucre earlier than planned. The latest round of briefings from his camp were careful to state that as well as rejecting 3 offers so far he is also (surprise, surprise) “open to staying at United”. Of course he is. We can only hope the club holds its nerve and continues to back Amorim during this current stand-off. Ineos haven’t got very much right in recent months but they at least backed Ten Hag after he decided to dispense with Sancho under similar circumstances.

The Newcastle game was another low point, one that most would have predicted once news broke that Amorim was starting Casemiro and Erikson in midfield together. Again, a deeply flawed decision that was always likely to backfire spectacularly. Zirkzee was hooked and bore the brunt of the OT crowd’s frustration, unceremoniously booed off after only half an hour. Obviously, this was out of order and provided terrible optics to amplify what was an already dire situation. I mean, it’s not his fault is it? He might well be useless and not last very long here but he’s just the latest in a long line of questionable signings. I know everything is crap at present, but let’s not lose the plot completely.

The almost relentless doom of the last month was at least punctuated by a couple of encouraging performances. The unexpected injury time win at the Etihad was possibly eclipsed by a very credible point at Anfield where the team demonstrated what they can achieve once everyone applies themselves. It was our best performance of the season by a distance with players snapping into tackles and leaving everything out on the pitch. We very unlucky not to sneak the 3 points in the end and hopefully sets a benchmark for what needs to be repeated over the coming months.

These are still the early days of Amorim’s reign and it’s been a rocky start to say the least. He’s taken over a struggling team that’s an uneven mix of kids, new signings and a fair few who know they’ll be shipped out once their contracts are up. I don’t think we’re as bad as the league position suggests but it’s clear he has a job on his hands trying to build a team out of what he’s inherited. Honestly, I don’t know where we go from here given the schizophrenic nature of most of these players. I hope they step up for him but honestly, it wouldn’t be a shock if it blew up in his face and he was canned before the end of the season. Who knows what’s coming next.

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