Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

I actually think we were quite poor at times yesterday, we defended well and kept arsenal relatively quiet, but we really struggled particuly first half to get out and get hold of the ball or really hurt arsenal.

Started the second half better, got the goal and than the red card set the game up to be attack Vs defence really.

Credit though for he has got us in a properly organised defensive structure, and you do need that going away to arsenal and Liverpool and we have come away with positive results from both.

The next three games now will be interesting, there all.games you would expect us to get something out of he has some time with them on the training pitch he is begining to get a settled side, can the team deliver for him?
 
flameinthesun said:
Same was said about Ten Hag. I think Amorim is a good coach however, its still very early.
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There is one major difference, an obvious one.

Ten Hag abandoned his style after Brighton & Brentford, Amorim didn't, even after some horrible losses at home, he still insisted on his style, despite the fact that the squad lacks proper strikers and wing backs.

but I'll give you that Ten Hag was praised once he solidified the team and made them hard to beat.
 
Longshanks said:
I actually think we were quite poor at times yesterday, we defended well and kept arsenal relatively quiet, but we really struggled particuly first half to get out and get hold of the ball or really hurt arsenal.

Started the second half better, got the goal and than the red card set the game up to be attack Vs defence really.

Credit though for he has got us in a properly organised defensive structure, and you do need that going away to arsenal and Liverpool and we have come away with positive results from both.

The next three games now will be interesting, there all.games you would expect us to get something out of he has some time with them on the training pitch he is begining to get a settled side, can the team deliver for him?
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Agree with the bolded, not hating on the game's hero Altay, but his ability on the ball meant we had to go long and even then, Altay's kicking was shit all game, Onana is quite good and passing quickly from his first touch to kicking long and even finding the spare man at times, that's why we could not establish a foothold on the game, Arsenal knew this and pressed extremely aggressively.

Against Arsenal in the league, away to City & Liverpool, we were able to keep the ball and sustain pressure, and forced the oppo teams stand off and not press our backline.
 
OmarUnited4ever said:
There is one major difference, an obvious one.

Ten Hag abandoned his style after Brighton & Brentford, Amorim didn't, even after some horrible losses at home, he still insisted on his style, despite the fact that the squad lacks proper strikers and wing backs.

but I'll give you that Ten Hag was praised once he solidified the team and made them hard to beat.
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hellhunter said:
Not disagreeing with you. As a fanbase, you want to be hopeful and see signs of improvement. We did with Ole and we also did with ETH, like you said.

The difference between our previous two managers and Amorim for me is that you can see what he wants to do. You can see his signature in the way we play, something I felt was always lacking under ETH. Whether that will be enough remains to be seen, but reason enough for me to be optimistic
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Sticking to the formation I'll give you both, although I could make an argument that Amorim has gone a bit more defensive with the wingbacks (maybe forced to do so, however, you could say Ten Hag was forced to go defensive as well in his first season). It's the aspects of we are finally showing fight, finally organised, finally turned the corner, finally showing tactical acumen. This team has had many false dawns under many managers. So far apart from playing 5 at the back (which is what we have been playing in a lot of games instead of 3 at the back), there is nothing so far for me to say things have really changed. With this team as always under every manager is the lack of consistency in performances. If Amorim can get that going then I'll personally start sipping the kool aid. At the moment I'll enjoy the ride and see how it plays out.
 
OmarUnited4ever said:
Agree with the bolded, not hating on the game's hero Altay, but his ability on the ball meant we had to go long and even then, Altay's kicking was shit all game, Onana is quite good and passing quickly from his first touch to kicking long and even finding the spare man at times, that's why we could not establish a foothold on the game, Arsenal knew this and pressed extremely aggressively.

Against Arsenal in the league, away to City & Liverpool, we were able to keep the ball and sustain pressure, and forced the oppo teams stand off and not press our backline.
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Yeah I was cursing altay up until his penalty save and heroics afterwards. Our distribution plan was quite simple hit it long towards our left attacking channel and try and win it from there. But altay kept sailing them out of play. Then his weak punch which he should caught that led to the equaliser.

Amazing how things can change and he is now quite rightly man of the match. Yes hopefully with Onana in the team we will see that control return.
 
flameinthesun said:
Sticking to the formation I'll give you both, although I could make an argument that Amorim has gone a bit more defensive with the wingbacks (maybe forced to do so, however, you could say Ten Hag was forced to go defensive as well in his first season). It's the aspects of we are finally showing fight, finally organised, finally turned the corner, finally showing tactical acumen. This team has had many false dawns under many managers. So far apart from playing 5 at the back (which is what we have been playing in a lot of games instead of 3 at the back), there is nothing so far for me to say things have really changed. With this team as always under every manager is the lack of consistency in performances. If Amorim can get that going then I'll personally start sipping the kool aid. At the moment I'll enjoy the ride and see how it plays out.
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a back-3 formation, even with attacking wingbacks, is by nature and design a secure and a defensive style, I think what Amorim wants to achieve is to make us secure defensively and with the ability to dominate a game and sustain attacks, just like he did with Sporting, also be flexible enough based on the opponent he is facing.

What I am saying is, Amorim has not departed from his philosophy, as he is known for having his team be solid defensively and fluid offensively, as of now, we do not have the personnel in WBs role that will allow for the fluid attacks but the team has shown to be able to defend well as a unit, thanks to Amorim's coaching.

Another thing, you are not wrong in being cautious, I'm also open minded and not getting carried away, jury is still out but I am optimistic about Amorim for one reason, he has the backing of the management, and the players can't hide anymore, they either show up and play well or be sidelined, Amorim has the mandate now.
 
If you exclude those 3 horror games over Christmas then we've actually been consistently good under Amorim.

I wonder what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves because those matches look completely at odds with what we've seen in every other game.
 
Adz_99 said:
If you exclude those 3 horror games over Christmas then we've actually been consistently good under Amorim.

I wonder what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves because those matches look completely at odds with what we've seen in every other game.
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Possibly didnt know his best team and experimented too much.
 
PlasticRed said:
Possibly didnt know his best team and experimented too much.
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I didn't agree with all the back line changes but it was probably important for him to do that so the players felt like they had been given a fair chance at proving themselves under a new manager. He seems to be more settled now everyone got a chance.
 
Adz_99 said:
If you exclude those 3 horror games over Christmas then we've actually been consistently good under Amorim.

I wonder what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves because those matches look completely at odds with what we've seen in every other game.
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We had to rotate alot in those games as well. Wolves we were down to 10 man for the whole second half as well.

Those performances were always going to happen when a manager says this is the only way I want to play and no time to train. Players were not used to the style or had much training.

The fact that RA stuck to his guns and said... No, I am not changing and kept his principles shows the manager he is.

I hope we now kick on and beat Southampton because that is just a big of a game.
 
Adz_99 said:
If you exclude those 3 horror games over Christmas then we've actually been consistently good under Amorim.

I wonder what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves because those matches look completely at odds with what we've seen in every other game.
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Bournemouth game wasn't even that bad, I mean the result was horrific but before their second goal (which was quickly followed by a third) we had many opportunities to go level and even take a lead, missing multiple chances. Play the same first half 10 times over and we are probably down in no more than 1 or 2 of these scenarios.

Wolves was a cagey affair before Bruno's red, could have gone either way and while performance wasn't great, you can have one like this every now and again. Newcastle was pure horror but we were basically without midfield.
 
Maybe because of the stubbornness and shit in game management of ETH, but just seeing Amorin making changes before the 80th minute is great. Everybody for the most part is being rotated and throwing that extra energy on ten minutes earlier and being proactive makes a hell of a difference.
 
Adz_99 said:
If you exclude those 3 horror games over Christmas then we've actually been consistently good under Amorim.

I wonder what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves because those matches look completely at odds with what we've seen in every other game.
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Can't remember the Bournemouth game, but for Newcastle we were without Ugarte and Bruno because of suspension. Wolves was the game where Bruno got the red which led to the suspension for the next game.

Just players making dumb mistakes, and even in this (Arsenal) game we still had that. We just have stopped giving soft goals, and we don't make too many mistakes after one is made.
 
klayton88 said:
Maybe because of the stubbornness and shit in game management of ETH, but just seeing Amorin making changes before the 80th minute is great. Everybody for the most part is being rotated and throwing that extra energy on ten minutes earlier and being proactive makes a hell of a difference.
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It’s great because it’s a manager with a plan, reacting to what’s happening on the pitch and trying to win the game. Under Ten Hag it was just more of the same and subs that didn’t make sense. The most annoying thing was that it was clear it wasn’t working and he had no idea how to change it, Amorim seems to make game changing subs when needed.
 
Adz_99 said:
If you exclude those 3 horror games over Christmas then we've actually been consistently good under Amorim.

I wonder what happened against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Wolves because those matches look completely at odds with what we've seen in every other game.
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Wolves was the idiotic red card at 0-0 and Newcastle was a case of us missing our 2 best players as a consequence of the Wolves game.
 
cpresc said:
Can you name a season where Fergie consistently played a Cup Keeper? Or just even regularly rotated a clear number 1 with a backup?
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He definitely used his backup keepers more than ETH and Amorin (up to recently). Romero was used in the EL until the final post SAF.
 
United Hobbit said:
Hoping this isn't another false dawn, but there's possible green shoots emerging

I'm hoping he's drilling the right mentality into them as Bruno said again about its not acceptable to only put in this level of effort against the arsenal's and Liverpools of this world, it should be every single game. I expect to see it against Southampton and Will be annoyed if I don't.

I want to see more composure after we've scored, we still seem to love to shoot ourselves in the foot where we are at sixes and sevens and players make stupid decisions. That 10 minutes after Brunos goal and the opening 15-20 minutes aside I thought we were very good, and played as a team. Didn't rely on individual brilliance, everyone played their part

I think we would have lost that game under ETH when we went down to 10

I'd like to see RA call out the referees where needed, today was shocking, but I don't think he said anything did he? Klopp, while he drove me mad, would have absolutely gone apocalyptic, and annoyingly, it gets them decisions. SAF would also have gone ballistic.
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Maybe he wants to get himself more established in the PL and United in a better position before calling out referees. Doing it can backfire if you are not careful. It might not be his style.
 
The last time we won against a top opposition with 10 men was against arsenal at the Emirates under Jose Mourinho in 2017/18 season.
So proud of Amorim, can’t wait to see us compete under him.
 
crossy1686 said:
Ten Hag’s game management and man management was poor from the beginning and throughout. The only thing you can currently criticise Amorim for at this point is his rotation policy.
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reelworld said:
Amorim in game management is already miles better than ten Hag
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I mean, Ten Hag was getting praised for his in game management after we beat Pool and Arsenal, as well as his man management in his first season after the opening defeats, Ronaldo, getting Rashford back into form etc.

The point being, Amorim is doing well so far in my eyes, but lets not go overboard with him. There is a long way to go. As it stands I wouldn't say he is showing anything drastically different from the first season hypes of our other managers (Moyes aside).
 
People wanted to praise Ten Hag to think we were onto something, to the point where things were being praised that weren’t even a reality. The difference with Amorim is so stark already. He might end up not being the one, nothing is certain, but the signs are a lot more promising under him.

He believes in himself a lot more than Ten Hag ever did. Ten Hag, be it a language barrier, spoke absolute waffle, which most gave up on paying attention to alarmingly quick.
 
2 full weeks for training before the last 2 matches, and you see the difference.
As he did in Sporting in 2021 the team is being organised from the defense. Once that is done, you will see the attacking game settling in
 
Judas said:
People wanted to praise Ten Hag to think we were onto something, to the point where things were being praised that weren’t even a reality. The difference with Amorim is so stark already. He might end up not being the one, nothing is certain, but the signs are a lot more promising under him.

He believes in himself a lot more than Ten Hag ever did. Ten Hag, be it a language barrier, spoke absolute waffle, which most gave up on paying attention to alarmingly quick.
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The difference imo is clear. Ten Hag lost the dressing room because he had 1 rule for 1 player and another rule for the rest.

Rashford got numerous chances whilst other players were quick to be punished.

He signed his players then said he doesnt have players to play Ajax way... which is what he was brought in for.

Amorim, on the other hand has started with his principles and said adapt or leave basically. He wont change the system to suit the players, the players need to change. That is how it should be, if you believe in something, stick with it.

I have always looked at how teams play, you can tell when a team is going to be good. When we play under Amorim, I get that feeling because we dont get bullied as much and we keep the ball alot better.
 
crossy1686 said:
Ten Hag’s game management and man management was poor from the beginning and throughout. The only thing you can currently criticise Amorim for at this point is his rotation policy.
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That is something personally I would not criticise him for but would say it was one of ETH's weaknesses. Keeping players fresh over a long season over multiple competitions so they don't run out of steam at the end is a tough ask. Rotation is important and players need to be trusted. That's why a squad and subs are important.
 
Judas said:
People wanted to praise Ten Hag to think we were onto something, to the point where things were being praised that weren’t even a reality. The difference with Amorim is so stark already. He might end up not being the one, nothing is certain, but the signs are a lot more promising under him.

He believes in himself a lot more than Ten Hag ever did. Ten Hag, be it a language barrier, spoke absolute waffle, which most gave up on paying attention to alarmingly quick.
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Don't agree with this, ETH got his praise for turning it around after a bad start in the first season and rightly so. We were playing some good stuff but we tailed off towards the end. It would be stupid to rewrite history and say he shouldn't be praised for that.

I do agree in terms of the second point where Amorim is a much better communicator.
 
JoaoFM said:
2 full weeks for training before the last 2 matches, and you see the difference.
As he did in Sporting in 2021 the team is being organised from the defense. Once that is done, you will see the attacking game settling in
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This has been said many times, we are seeing it in action and yet for some reason some posters completely ignore it.
 
The fact that he didnt move an inch from his original plan deserves a salute in itself regardless of the outcome. And the outcome is so far satisfactory to me. I cant imagine being in his shoes.
 
After a few weeks of rotating to see who fits in his system and a couple of weeks of actually being able to coach in training it looks like Amorim has worked out his core members of his desired squad from what we have and is beginning to rotate less so he can get those players playing together in his system.

It looks like Mazraoui, De Ligt, Maguire, Yoro, Martinez, Ugarte, Mainoo, Diallo, Fernandes and Hojlund are the core members that will be definitely kept around whilst Dalot, Mount, Garnacho and Collyer are probables so Amorim now has a very good idea of what positions he needs to recruit in and also upgrade in.

I’d say it’s a certainty that Malacia, Lindelof, Casemiro, Eriksen, Antony and Rashford will follow Sancho out the door in the summer if not before whilst I’d expect Heaton and Evans to retire and maybe take up coaching roles but for the first time since Mourinho came in I’m genuinely excited on where we go under a new coach and unlike Mourinho we have the bonus of Amorim not being burnt out or broken by previous clubs.
 
DomesticTadpole said:
Maybe he wants to get himself more established in the PL and United in a better position before calling out referees. Doing it can backfire if you are not careful. It might not be his style.
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From what I heard, even at Sporting He never made a comment about refrees.
 
Redfrog said:
From what I heard, even at Sporting He never made a comment about refrees.
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DomesticTadpole said:
Maybe that is sensible. It is down to your own players to win games, not the referees.
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Its all well and good this but when the pressure hits, managers change.

I remember this time last year or before perhaps where Ange was the same, didn't want to blame ref's, now he is blaming them.
 
TheGame said:
Don't agree with this, ETH got his praise for turning it around after a bad start in the first season and rightly so. We were playing some good stuff but we tailed off towards the end. It would be stupid to rewrite history and say he shouldn't be praised for that.

I do agree in terms of the second point where Amorim is a much better communicator.
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ETH did turn it around on the pitch, but he did it by largely just going back to the style of play we had under Ole. It still wasn't anything that would lead us to true success. The hope was that it was just a place-holder and ETH would then develop a style that could bring long term success as he signed more players and had more time on the training ground. Well he did change it, but unfortunately his changes were basically the exact opposite of what almost all the successful teams of the last 15 years have been doing, and left us further away from where we needed to be than when he started.

Amorim's changes so far have been centred around things that will help develop that long term success. He's focusing on gaining control and implementing patterns of play (both on and off the ball) that will stand us in good stead in the years to come. Whether he can take us all the way or not is yet to be seen, but at the moment I'm at least confident he'll leave us in a better position than where we were.
 
MrBest said:
Best form of attack is a solid defence. We have slowly been building that with the new system. I like the start we have seen.
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JoaoFM said:
2 full weeks for training before the last 2 matches, and you see the difference.
As he did in Sporting in 2021 the team is being organised from the defense. Once that is done, you will see the attacking game settling in
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This is the encouraging thing for me - the organised press. It was absolutely killing the team under ETH, you could see the team just didn’t know when to press/whose job was what. That has been a lot better especially the last 2 games. It’s a pity the red card changed the game as it did as I thought we looked very comfortable with 11, and Arsenal only looked threatening from set pieces.
 
I think what we're seeing from him is sensible without being super high risk/entertaining and it makes sense given he's right at the start of his tenure. I'd argue we are actually still quite a counter dependant team but we just keep the ball now a lot more in non threatening areas to minimise the amount of counters we in turn receive. That, in itself, means we struggle to create lots of chances but I feel like the quality of chances is better now, if it's on it's on but if it's not we won't just force it. I'm sure someone can work this out if needed to prove disprove the idea, but I feel like our xG is basically the same if you compare ETH this season versus Amorim but it has come from fewer shots.
 
TheGame said:
Don't agree with this, ETH got his praise for turning it around after a bad start in the first season and rightly so. We were playing some good stuff but we tailed off towards the end. It would be stupid to rewrite history and say he shouldn't be praised for that.

I do agree in terms of the second point where Amorim is a much better communicator.
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We played some alright stuff for a couple of months in his first season, that was literally it. It was a blip of things going alright and Rashford being red hot. It was acceptable because we all thought and hoped it would lead to better, but it ended up being his peak really, and that was nothing to get excited about at all in hindsight.
 
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