Being still new to the Café I am spending a lot of time getting to know the etiquette of the forum and to see what kind of debates and views are held by members who post frequently on here. It is a bit disquieting to see what I think are some knee jerk reactions to the apparent lack of progress Amorim is making, as the match wore on against Fulham the amount of people hammering the players and our inability to create clear cut openings seemed like pure frustration to me and nothing more.
Being arguably the biggest club, certainly the most famous club in the world means the scrutiny on every aspect of what we do is pulled apart and reconfigured to serve a multitude of functions. Every two-bit hack spins their own two cents worth on what players are thinking, feeling, who’s in, who’s out. There are some interesting pundits and ‘analysts’ out there but in the main I tend to go along with Amorim’s own early assessment, that Man Utd is the ‘engine’ of the Premier league, and it keeps ratings up endlessly everywhere by peddling headlines with every scant bit of gossip real or imagined keeping many people in jobs. But we have also been a club in serious cultural, material and financial decline post Fergie, and arguably the rot set in well before the great man left when despite his wonderful achievements, our legendary manager possibly sowed these bad seeds over his falling out with the Irish boys over that bloody racehorse.
Regardless, ever since Fergie left the Glazers haven’t cared less about who or what was enriching themselves with a succession of dodgy transfers and poor commercial decisions that we are reaping today. The culture of the club changed to one of mercenary player power, and we’ve had quite a few of these, from Alexis Sanchez to Pogba, Sancho, Antony, the list goes on. Players knew we were a soft touch, and hell probably knew deep down they weren’t cut out for it but couldn’t turn down the chance to engineer a hefty pay check on a long contract, Casemiro being the most recent example. It’s quite telling that before Antony went out on loan, you have over 50 million pounds in wages per year either on the bench or not even in the squad! The mind boggles.
I believe that Ruben has been brought in to finally break apart and clear out this scourge of player power that is killing our club from the inside out, and that means pain in the short to medium term. Ruben is using every psychological trick in the book to out these charlatans that are only here to enrich themselves, and slowly he’s starting to get somewhere, and this means taking on the poster boy Rashford, one of the main pernicious influences in our dressing room the past 18 months for sure. Under previous managers, the players just dug their heels in whenever they didn’t like something, now their feet don’t touch the floor on the way out the door. Because Ruben has to break this toxic culture mid-season without time to properly train and bed in a different system, we have seen chaotic and unpredictable performances on the pitch. It’s not that the players can’t play three at the back, this is more down to they haven’t been moulded into a proper collective before and they forgot all the extras that come with that.
Genuine togetherness, camaraderie and desire to achieve only comes from a shared vision, a vision where you are prepared to die for the cause and for each other in the combat of Premier League football, when I was watching the Fulham game I wasn’t expecting to see free flowing attacking football, because Ruben has already explained this will be the last piece in the puzzle. We have become a low block counter attacking transition team, changing these habits and instincts into the progressive front foot football we all crave will happen but it will take time. Of course personnel have a major part to play in all this, but the squad is not as bad in places as some might think, once that collective spirit is ignited in the flames and sparks of desire, the magical alchemy of football can begin and will (hopefully) gather momentum with good signings of young, hungry athletic smart and ambitious players that are willing to sacrifice their egos to become one with Ruben’s philosophy of play and behaviour off the field.
I thought we did okay against Fulham, the things I was looking for were there, structure, cohesion, hard running when we lost the ball, the energy and dynamism of Collyer clearing off the line, the fight and spirit and will to win, to keep the opponent out, the energy of the away fans, it meant something to them all. Of course there are no certainties in football, but I hope that the board did their homework on Ruben, I hope they back him to the hilt, because if he is able to instil that collective spirit and togetherness and get everyone pushing each other to the limits of what is humanely possible, then we will by hook or crook, climb our way back into contention for the big prizes, I could be wrong but this is the feeling I get from everything that’s happened since Amorim arrived at the club.
In Ruben we trust!
? De Gea can‘t pass out the back and made horrendous mistakes.