Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

We are in trouble and have been for a long time. Players that aren‘t good enough on massive contracts that we can‘t get rid of.

We are a poison chalice for Amorim. He has to make do with what we have. Promote some youth.

The strategy of the board has been better, we just need more time to fix our financial situation.

Our squad isn‘t completely shiit. We just cannot invest right now to fix the issues: striker, lwb, replace Antony.
 
LARulz said:
Didn't Amorim himself in December say we can't buy anyone cos of the finances? Seems like a bollocks article
Click to expand...
I suspect it's just Luckhurst/the headline creating a bigger narrative than reality. I imagine it's a bit of both, Amorim is probably frustrated but at the same time, it's not exactly a broken promise. He can still be a bit frustrated, even if he was aware of what's happening.
 
Pogue Mahone said:
I think people need to stop obsessing about signings “to make a system work” and accept that we need to spend the same amount of money to turn a poor squad into a good one, whatever formation the new manager is hoping to use.
Click to expand...
Agreed, quality players should be able to function in any system or style, we lack quality in the squad and the club will have to spend but perhaps couple of good specialist WBs and a striker can be a starting point, we don't need to spend 300m to make it work, it can be done with smart signings and promotion of quality youth players.
 
The-Mezzala said:
With FFP in place now. No chance we can spend that sort of money again. We need to invest in better scouts and develop talent with a point to prove.
Click to expand...
The scouts have never been the problem, it’s the previous decision makers at the top.
 
romufc said:
Regardless of what it means, you have clearly ignored the content showing that you have no responses.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what you're expecting a response to. It's pretty obvious to most people that there is a middle ground between not being given any responsibility on one hand and leaning too heavily on the player on the other.

Just because Mbappe is ready to be the key player for his side at a certain age doesn't mean that's the right thing for every young player, and of course the pressures of playing for Monaco are different to the pressures playing in a failing United side.
 
Honestly at this stage - and very mindful of the memes, and kneejerkism in general - we should both mutually agree to terminate his deal.

That's not because I don't think he's not a good manager or can't succeed here (the reality is I don't know, it's hard to extrapolate from his time at Sporting). I really hope he does. But it doesn't look to me like Amorim is a tactical genius let down by his players right now. It looks like we have a flawed system that teams now know how to exploit, combined with players who aren't good enough and aren't suited to it.

I think the risks and fallout of him failing are just too big at this stage. Firstly in terms of toxicity around the club in general if we continue to flounder around 13th. Secondly if we end up churning the squad to fit a niche formation, when are don't have the money to undo that. Right now he seems intent on basically selling all of our wingers except Amad - good luck buying any half decent ones if we go back to any wide player formation.

Right now we need to focus on going from 13th to 6th-4th, and it feels like Amorim's methods are too dogmatic to get there.
 
He isn't excluding anyone out of spite. People are just out of touch on how sustainable finances are supposed to work because Woodwardnomics has conditioned us to hold on to anything half decent.

You need to raise funds to improve and bad players don't sell for 50m. The logic of getting a manager to implement a sustainable system is precisely so your every replacements don't need to cost 100m. It's not going to cost anywhere close to 400m to 'build a squad'. Just look at the profile of players we're already linked with.

edit; If we had the balls and foresight to sell Martial and Pogba back when it was clear they weren't going to hit required standard we wouldn't be where we currently are. Instead we kept bringing in managers to get the most of them, fretting over their real position and lost them for next to nothing and little to show but the odd cup.
 
Last edited:
Eugenius said:
Honestly at this stage - and very mindful of the memes, and kneejerkism in general - we should both mutually agree to terminate his deal.

That's not because I don't think he's not a good manager or can't succeed here (the reality is I don't know, it's hard to extrapolate from his time at Sporting). I really hope he does. But it doesn't look to me like Amorim is a tactical genius let down by his players right now. It looks like we have a flawed system that teams now know how to exploit, combined with players who aren't good enough and aren't suited to it.

I think the risks and fallout of him failing are just too big at this stage. Firstly in terms of toxicity around the club in general if we continue to flounder around 13th. Secondly if we end up churning the squad to fit a niche formation, when are don't have the money to undo that. Right now he seems intent on basically selling all of our wingers except Amad - good luck buying any half decent ones if we go back to any wide player formation.

Right now we need to focus on going from 13th to 6th-4th, and it feels like Amorim's methods are too dogmatic to get there.
Click to expand...
Very difficult situation. Amorim does not inspire me at all and is tactically very rigid. With these poor players and no money we will end up 8-15th this and next season. Another manager might do a better job, Silva, Iraola, but I can’t see us firing Amorim soon.
 
Eugenius said:
Honestly at this stage - and very mindful of the memes, and kneejerkism in general - we should both mutually agree to terminate his deal.

That's not because I don't think he's not a good manager or can't succeed here (the reality is I don't know, it's hard to extrapolate from his time at Sporting). I really hope he does. But it doesn't look to me like Amorim is a tactical genius let down by his players right now. It looks like we have a flawed system that teams now know how to exploit, combined with players who aren't good enough and aren't suited to it.

I think the risks and fallout of him failing are just too big at this stage. Firstly in terms of toxicity around the club in general if we continue to flounder around 13th. Secondly if we end up churning the squad to fit a niche formation, when are don't have the money to undo that. Right now he seems intent on basically selling all of our wingers except Amad - good luck buying any half decent ones if we go back to any wide player formation.

Right now we need to focus on going from 13th to 6th-4th, and it feels like Amorim's methods are too dogmatic to get there.
Click to expand...
And replace him with who? Amorim might inevitably have to go but considering how long we gave EtH he deserves at least a pre-season
 
Greck said:
He isn't excluding anyone out of spite. People are just out of touch on how sustainable finances are supposed to work because Woodwardnomics has conditioned us to hold on to anything half decent.

You need to raise funds to improve and bad players don't sell for 50m. The logic of getting a manager to implement a sustainable system is precisely so your every replacements don't need to cost 100m. It's not going to cost anywhere close to 400m to 'build a squad'. Just look at the profile of players we're already linked with.
Click to expand...
10 players a 40m will not get you top players. Gyökeres might be 80m.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
Very difficult situation. Amorim does not inspire me at all and is tactically very rigid. With these poor players and no money we will end up 8-15th this and next season. Another manager might do a better job, Silva, Iraola, but I can’t see us firing Amorim soon.
Click to expand...
Silva and Iraola would still need different players to what we have to play the way they want. It might look less shambolic in the short term, but it would just be standing still
 
OmarUnited4ever said:
quality players should be able to function in any system or style
Click to expand...
Agree with the general point, the team is crying out for upgrades

But disagree with what I've quoted here, that's never been the case
 
Last edited:
Crimson King said:
Silva and Iraola would still need different players to what we have to play the way they want. It might look less shambolic in the short term, but it would just be standing still
Click to expand...
Silva, Frank and Iraola are proven in the PL and would mean less of a squad change than Amorim and his fullbacks and 2 10s. The decision has been made but I wouldn't sleep so well if I were Berrada. We are a poor team, poor players not helped by the coaching.
 
Greck said:
I can't tell if you're honest in your belief or just trying to make the task look insurmountable.
Click to expand...
We have 2 lucky PL wins since Amorim took over. Getting 2 new players in won't change much. I have zero trust in these players. 100m might get you one wingback and one striker if you are lucky. We spent 40m on Zirkzee...
 
roseguy64 said:
FFP has been in place for years now. It's also being revamped for next season.
Click to expand...

Since Everton and Forest got punished, teams are taking it a lot more serious. Just listened to talk of the devils. It was a pretty grim listen. We are in a bad place financially. The Glazers have killed us.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
We have 2 lucky PL wins since Amorim took over. Getting 2 new players in won't change much. I have zero trust in these players. 100m might get you one wingback and one striker if you are lucky. We spent 40m on Zirkzee...
Click to expand...
2 players is absolutely more than enough to change things
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
We have 2 lucky PL wins since Amorim took over. Getting 2 new players in won't change much. I have zero trust in these players. 100m might get you one wingback and one striker if you are lucky. We spent 40m on Zirkzee...
Click to expand...
Then don't spend 40m on Zirkzee. Functional clubs aren't spending 100m plus on a strike duo that can barely start league games. Under the old regime there was the fallacy that a Zirkzee cost 40m so a starting caliber striker should cost 100m. That's that woodwardnomics.

We should also not be scared to replace big names who don't project to be of standard instead of growing attached and wasting time maximising them. Replacing the spine of the team would be more beneficial long term than spending another half billion swapping roleplayers and talking about not being able to win anything with a faulty core. The core keeps getting a pass for not being able to get basic things done. "Hey but at least they tried. Let's go jump on only the likes of Dalot for our attack not fashioning a single clear cut opportunity in an entire half"
 
Last edited:
Toshey said:
People saying last night we looked worse than we did under ETH really need to watch any ETH game from last season and this one until he got sacked.
We looked miles better and assured.
Finishing is a big problem, we should have been out of sight before 2nd half.

Full support for Ruben!
Click to expand...
I mean, both haven’t been great but I’m more excited about Amorim’s ideas and system than EtH’s. Contrary to what some would have you believe, EtH did have a plan it was just a really really poorly implemented one.

I fully support Ruben. I do really want to see how the wingbacks will operate and what we look like with a striker that can actually score goals and contribute to the overall play. The next few transfers have to be absolute successes. Otherwise, this could be another project that goes badly.
 
NLunited said:
We are a poison chalice for Amorim. He has to make do with what we have. Promote some youth.
Click to expand...

Possibly - sure.

Our only - genuine - hope is that the people who hired him know what they're doing.

I'm getting seriously tired of saying this - but the people who offered him the contract are far more important for United's future than he is (unless he actually turns out to be some kind of grand genius who's both able and willing to do the entire job for them).
 
I won't pretend I'm not bothered about results so far...I'd hoped for better and expected better after some of those initial signs of promise.

But I can't comprehend the idea that we agree to just call it a day, Amorim walks away for a job (soon) some place else and we start looking for someone else. Whether that's an Iraola, a Silva or whoever might be on-trend.

The last 18 months has been seriously grim. All the more if, like me, your experience as match day regular was peak SAF. Now I think more about that, about the way you scanned fixtures, your anticipation, hopes, fears - not many of those in truth - and basic expectations, the harder it is to deal with this new reality. It's not that we aren't winning games, it's that we can't score, can't offer any semblance of control, leak goals when and how you can predict it's going to happen, and are getting turned-over. Again and again. By teams who, not so long ago, you would never imagine beating us in anything but a freakish game.

Sure, there's a risk involved in the Amorim project. It could get toxic and prolonged flailing around in the lower mid-table really feels like staring into the abyss, thinking 'how far are we going to fall?' (realistically, we aren't getting relegated), until you step-back, realise it's already a terrible situation and recognise he needs to get a chance to show what he can do with some key improvements to the squad.

It doesn't really matter who we could bring in as a replacement - let's say Iraola as he's on-trend (and doing brilliantly: he'll probably go to Spurs) - and what system we might shift to, because we have a deep-seated problem, made much worse by the ETH / Arnold / Murtough madness. There are simply too many players, horribly ill-equipped to compete against so many other teams, who just out-compete us as they are generally technically sound, faster, more physical, more able to step it up, adjust and maintain a pace and an intensity. Just stop and think about the number of failed signings we're still relying on, who are never going to do it.

We're not progressing very far without dealing with that problem and giving a coach - regardless of who it is - a better chance by addressing this. In a creative, ruthless, way. Make a start by getting rid of Casemiro, Rashford, Antony, Malacia, Shaw, Lindelof, Eriksen, Mount (maybe), Martinez (maybe) and Maguire (2026) - at the same time as being bold with key sales (I'm open to the idea that Garnacho both won't fit the system and isn't going to be the talent we hoped for) - and please get it right, or at least make it better, by bringing in wingbacks, another midfielder and an experienced striker with a proven record.

That doesn't fix everything but add it to the potential for some emerging younger players and it gives Amorim a chance to make a sustainable difference.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.