Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

Now that dust is starting to settle we have to admit the reality that Amorim is a huge gamble. Not because he lacks talent or is from lesser league but because most likely he will want to change our system to 3-4-4 and we dont have money to fund all of the purchases required for such dramatic shift

A significant switch requires significant money. City had that, for Pep, Arsenal somehow did too for Arteta, we clearly do not. So, wtf are we thinking? How is this supppsed to work?
If you look at the squad it actually fits 343 surprisingly well. Main issue will be left wing back in the short term, but certainly won’t need a major squad rebuild.
 
We should win most games if he’s playing an extra player every week… on a serious note though 3-4-3 suits the players we have now. Mainoo and ugarte at the base, the 3 main CBs. Only position we may struggle is the wing back areas.
Ha! Yes i meant 3-4-3

We have 3 proper CBs for his system only if Martinez, De Ligt, and Yoro are all fit, but I don't think our other CBs are good fit for his system, so we clealy have depth problem.

As for wingbacks, Dalot probably can play, not sure Mazroui is good for that, and we have nobody on the left. Shaw is never fit, Malacia cannot do it, and neither Garna not Rashy are good enough defensively to do it

I think we are missing a lot for his system to work
 
I guess you missed the complete overhaul in structure over the past few months?!

A change in titles personnel and the ideal chain of command is one thing. All of this coming together to alter the way we operate is another.

Under new management and structure, we still made some old mistakes:
- undermined the current manager and let media eat into morale over summer
- recruitment that didn't help the key deficiencies of the squad (I like how they were planning for the future with De Ligt/Yoro/Ugarte, but not adding to the goals - which was a major problem under EtH - was all too familiar)
- dithered over the manager sacking for too long, lost some good options like Tuchel because of that
- giving up on a current season too easily (too many games to EtH, now too many to Ruud, not enough for Ruben to settle in)

The new leadership is yet to show meaningful and tangible improvement to the club. Let's hope that changes with the Amorim era. Good luck to him, he'll need bucketfuls of it with us.
 
Welcome Ruben. Delivering results while transforming the squad will be his challenge. hopefully he doesn't ask for "time and talk about the process".

His first challenge will be to find consistent goals from our Front 5.
 
Ha! Yes i meant 3-4-3

We have 3 proper CBs for his system only if Martinez, De Ligt, and Yoro are all fit, but I don't think our other CBs are good fit for his system, so we clealy have depth problem.

As for wingbacks, Dalot probably can play, not sure Mazroui is good for that, and we have nobody on the left. Shaw is never fit, Malacia cannot do it, and neither Garna not Rashy are good enough defensively to do it

I think we are missing a lot for his system to work
Maguire has looked strong in a 3 for England in the past. May be a different structure to Amorims but I think he might be ok.
 
Ha! Yes i meant 3-4-3

We have 3 proper CBs for his system only if Martinez, De Ligt, and Yoro are all fit, but I don't think our other CBs are good fit for his system, so we clealy have depth problem.

As for wingbacks, Dalot probably can play, not sure Mazroui is good for that, and we have nobody on the left. Shaw is never fit, Malacia cannot do it, and neither Garna not Rashy are good enough defensively to do it

I think we are missing a lot for his system to work
I actually think Shaw and Mazraoui will be used in the 3 CB positions, as both LCB and RCB respectively. As for the wingbacks, the benefits of a 3-4-3/3-5-2 system is that there's less onus on the wingbacks to defend, and from what I understand Amorim has had success employing conventional wingers in those roles. Dalot might be used as our RWB because he seems to be quite adept going forward and seems productive in chance creation, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Garnacho on the other flank.
 
A change in titles personnel and the ideal chain of command is one thing. All of this coming together to alter the way we operate is another.

Under new management and structure, we still made some old mistakes:
- undermined the current manager and let media eat into morale over summer
- recruitment that didn't help the key deficiencies of the squad (I like how they were planning for the future with De Ligt/Yoro/Ugarte, but not adding to the goals - which was a major problem under EtH - was all too familiar)
- dithered over the manager sacking for too long, lost some good options like Tuchel because of that
- giving up on a current season too easily (too many games to EtH, now too many to Ruud, not enough for Ruben to settle in)

The new leadership is yet to show meaningful and tangible improvement to the club. Let's hope that changes with the Amorim era. Good luck to him, he'll need bucketfuls of it with us.
The points you just raised are simply how you have chosen to interpret those things. They aren’t factual and there’s explanations behind each of them which are more than reasonable when you consider just how long the new structure and personnel have been in post collectively. It’s been said by a number of sources that Tuchel was never under consideration and Amorim had been in dialogue with the club for many months. He was the only candidate and it was just a matter of when.

Unfortunately we don’t have the funds to fix everything at once. We have to operate like a football club.
 
From what I'm hearing about him, it's seems that he's the first manager we had in a long long time with charisma and personality that could really motivate our current group. Apart from Mourinho, all of our managers post Fergie lacked that.
 
Ha! Yes i meant 3-4-3

We have 3 proper CBs for his system only if Martinez, De Ligt, and Yoro are all fit, but I don't think our other CBs are good fit for his system, so we clealy have depth problem.

As for wingbacks, Dalot probably can play, not sure Mazroui is good for that, and we have nobody on the left. Shaw is never fit, Malacia cannot do it, and neither Garna not Rashy are good enough defensively to do it

I think we are missing a lot for his system to work
True. It’s a work in progress sure but I think INEOS have already planed for this hence the reason they signed Yoro and Ugarte. They both fit perfectly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries and fits Garnacho/Antony in at the left side for some games where we’re expected to dominate. Rashford will be played in one of the front 3 positions. And Maguire is much better in a 3 than a 2. He’s shown that for England already. I’d say the weak link is the left side in this system.
 
The points you just raised are simply how you have chosen to interpret those things. They aren’t factual and there’s explanations behind each of them which are more than reasonable when you consider just how long the new structure and personnel have been in post collectively. It’s been said by a number of sources that Tuchel was never under consideration and Amorim had been in dialogue with the club for many months. He was the only candidate and it was just a matter of when.

Unfortunately we don’t have the funds to fix everything at once. We have to operate like a football club.

Of course that's how I have chosen to interpret things, it's an opinion.

As for the bolded bit, you're addressing only recruitment.

The mismanagement of narrative with EtH over summer (especially just before and after the final) had nothing to do with funds. Or the timing of EtH's sacking.

On that note, I think no well run club should have a 'let's wait for the next 5 games to see if he turns things around' approach when the previous 50 have gone a certain way. Good leadership should have the ability to forecast how performances can go, and unless there's a major improvement or degradation from that forecasting (or info on why that can happen), there is no reason to extend how long you take to make the decision.

In this instance, I cannot see why we had to wait 9 matchdays to sack EtH. He had done nothing in the first 5 to show major deviation from the norm. In fact, the Spurs game should have been the last game in terms of doing worse than norm. But we still dithered for more pointless games before calling it off. If it was because they were still ironing things out with Amorim, why wasn't it done over the summer? No good explanations for the dithering at all.

So yes, it is my opinion that INEOS has a lot to prove, and a lot of trust they need to earn.
 
Best of luck to him, he will need it. Its hard as a fan to get your hopes up after so many managerial failures.
 
Ha! Yes i meant 3-4-3

We have 3 proper CBs for his system only if Martinez, De Ligt, and Yoro are all fit, but I don't think our other CBs are good fit for his system, so we clealy have depth problem.

As for wingbacks, Dalot probably can play, not sure Mazroui is good for that, and we have nobody on the left. Shaw is never fit, Malacia cannot do it, and neither Garna not Rashy are good enough defensively to do it

I think we are missing a lot for his system to work
- Maguire is good in a three. It would be wrong to discount him from the depth chart.
- Shaw, while having fitness issues, is also perfectly adept playing in the left of a three.
- We will add another CB I am sure, but Evans and Lindelof are reasonable squad players for such a system.
- Mazroui could very well play on the right of a 3, if needed. He's defensively astute enough, and has great mobility.
- Getting Yoro back fit is a must. I think it's fairly obvious to all that we will be going in for Inacio next summer. We wanted him already, but now with Amorim...Inacio was probably his most important player.

- Based on what Amorim has done to date, I think one wingback will be more defensively minded than the other. The other is likely to be more of a winger.
- That said, Dalot will suffice for either side (depending whether he wants the player inverted or not).
- On the opposing side I think we will see a hard working winger. Garnacho is the obvious candidate, but it also potentially opens a door for Antony.
- On the "winger" side, we could also see Amad as an option. Although I think he's far more likely to play as one of the two AMs.

- From what I have learned of his system, Ugarte and Mainoo are perfect for his midfield base, and a rejuventated Casemiro is an asset too. I think we are a CM light. Eriksen will have to be used, but I don't think he has the legs for it. Adding a player like Ederson next summer, will feature highly in our wish list.
- The two AMs are key to his whole set up, and in Amad, Bruno and Mount, I think we have three players who fit his system down to a tee. They check all his boxes, close control, work rate, movement. This is potentially a big chance for Mount, if he can sort his fitness out. He's made for this system.
- Hojlund is an ideal striker for the role Amorim looks for up front, and I am excited by the prospect of him getting service. Think we have a real player on our hands there, and he'll thrive with two AMs behind him, looking to feed him the ball at every opportunity.
- I don't think Zirkzee fits at all, anymore. If he does, it's as an AM. The second choice striker is more likely to be Rashford.
- Speaking of Rashford, he looks like the biggest loser to me. The only two places where I see he fits into the line up is at wingback(winger), but he doesn't have the defensive wits or work rate, and as a striker, running the channels and in behind.
- I don't think Rashford fits the AM role well at all, although at this point I think any player can surprise under the right conditions and motivations.

There will definitely be some adjustments over the summer, as there should be, but I think the squad is actually very good for Amorim's preferred system. The biggest question marks for me are in the wing-back positions, and it's hard to answer that, until we see what he actually wants from those players. People hear wing back and they think Dalot, Mazroui, Shaw etc., but I don't think Amorim plays two full backs out there and tells them to get forward more. I think he plays one offensively minded fullback, and one defensively minded winger - in terms of the profile of player and the natural inclinations of their game.
 
Last edited:
It all seems rather cylical, right down to the annoying voiced Melissa Reddy waxing lyrical on Sky about “one of Europe’s most progressive coaches” and what he will bring to Manchester United.

I think Ten Hag kinda Tony Blair’d me and I have become very cynical, managing my expectations. I just hope three years from now we’re not doing this all over again and people are not posting “has Amorim been sacked yet?”
 
Don't know about anybody else but this one just feels a bit different to me. Like hes supposed to be United manager
 
It all seems rather cylical, right down to the annoying voiced Melissa Reddy waxing lyrical on Sky about “one of Europe’s most progressive coaches” and what he will bring to Manchester United.

I think Ten Hag kinda Tony Blair’d me and I have become very cynical, managing my expectations. I just hope three years from now we’re not doing this all over again and people are not posting “has Amorim been sacked yet?”
That’s a perfect analogy.
 
It all seems rather cylical, right down to the annoying voiced Melissa Reddy waxing lyrical on Sky about “one of Europe’s most progressive coaches” and what he will bring to Manchester United.

I think Ten Hag kinda Tony Blair’d me and I have become very cynical, managing my expectations. I just hope three years from now we’re not doing this all over again and people are not posting “has Amorim been sacked yet?”
It's PTSD in a very mild form. Want to be excited about a new manager and a new style of football but the best thing you can do is expect the worse and hope for the best. Manage those expectations. Bigger managers have been seen off in a few seasons here.
 
It's PTSD in a very mild form. Want to be excited about a new manager and a new style of football but the best thing you can do is expect the worse and hope for the best. Manage those expectations. Bigger managers have been seen off in a few seasons here.
I think you've just stumbled upon the answer to what we haven't actually tried yet - a Big manager.

Allardyce, anyone?
 
Does anyone have any information what this "head coach" title means? So he is not our manager? If not, then who is?
Head coach is not involved in the running of the club, but focus only on the performance of the team.

We now have a team of sporting director, technical director, director of recruitment etc. who are basically doing the manager bit.

It’s interesting that when Ten Hag was sacked they said that Ten Hag had left his role as manager, van Nistelrooy will take charge as interim head coach while the club is recruiting a permanent head coach.

Hopefully what this all means if that if/when we will change head coach again the whole squad won’t need a rebuild as this won’t be the previous managers squad, but rather a squad built by the organisation mentioned above.

I like it and I welcome it.
 
Head coach is not involved in the running of the club, but focus only on the performance of the team.

We now have a team of sporting director, technical director, director of recruitment etc. who are basically doing the manager bit.

It’s interesting that when Ten Hag was sacked they said that Ten Hag had left his role as manager, van Nistelrooy will take charge as interim head coach while the club is recruiting a permanent head coach.

Hopefully what this all means if that if/when we will change head coach again the whole squad won’t need a rebuild as this won’t be the previous managers squad, but rather a squad built by the organisation mentioned above.

I like it and I welcome it.
Yes, about bloody time we've moved to this model!
 
Of course that's how I have chosen to interpret things, it's an opinion.

As for the bolded bit, you're addressing only recruitment.

The mismanagement of narrative with EtH over summer (especially just before and after the final) had nothing to do with funds. Or the timing of EtH's sacking.

On that note, I think no well run club should have a 'let's wait for the next 5 games to see if he turns things around' approach when the previous 50 have gone a certain way. Good leadership should have the ability to forecast how performances can go, and unless there's a major improvement or degradation from that forecasting (or info on why that can happen), there is no reason to extend how long you take to make the decision.

In this instance, I cannot see why we had to wait 9 matchdays to sack EtH. He had done nothing in the first 5 to show major deviation from the norm. In fact, the Spurs game should have been the last game in terms of doing worse than norm. But we still dithered for more pointless games before calling it off. If it was because they were still ironing things out with Amorim, why wasn't it done over the summer? No good explanations for the dithering at all.

So yes, it is my opinion that INEOS has a lot to prove, and a lot of trust they need to earn.
The explanation for no deal over summer has been given for a few reasons;

- Higher release clause
- Late appointment of Ashworth
- Desire for some consistency/stability in a rushed window

Again, I can fully understand why the kept him on. Much like Clearlake did with Tuchel.
 
Really really hope he is the one to end the 11 years of pain. I dont care what needs to be done. I want us to win big trophies again ffs.
 
Will he travel down this weekend to view the training ground and sign documents etc?
 
Head coach is not involved in the running of the club, but focus only on the performance of the team.

We now have a team of sporting director, technical director, director of recruitment etc. who are basically doing the manager bit.

It’s interesting that when Ten Hag was sacked they said that Ten Hag had left his role as manager, van Nistelrooy will take charge as interim head coach while the club is recruiting a permanent head coach.

Hopefully what this all means if that if/when we will change head coach again the whole squad won’t need a rebuild as this won’t be the previous managers squad, but rather a squad built by the organisation mentioned above.

I like it and I welcome it.

Thank you for the information.

Quite the change I must say.
 
Now that dust is starting to settle we have to admit the reality that Amorim is a huge gamble. Not because he lacks talent or is from lesser league but because most likely he will want to change our system to 3-4-4 and we dont have money to fund all of the purchases required for such dramatic shift

A significant switch requires significant money. City had that, for Pep, Arsenal somehow did too for Arteta, we clearly do not. So, wtf are we thinking? How is this supppsed to work?
Think it's got a chance to be honest
 
Good luck to him. I hope the players get behind him and he's given the tools he needs to succeed.

I'll be excited when he starts performing, but I'm rooting for him.
 
When the ball hits row Z cos Casemiros at 10, that's Amorim.

Needs work.
To the tune of come let us adore him

Oh Ruuu-ben Amorim
Oh Ruuu-ben Amorim
Now we can’t stop scoring
Goals, goals galore
 
Time will tell, but ultimately we need a coach that players will run through brick walls for.

I get that feeling with Klopp, SAF and Guardiola. Not many other managers I get that feel for.

A manager a player is scared to cross or upset, and a manager people fight for and would put everything on the pitch for.

Is Amorim that coach? I don't have much knowledge about him.