Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

[Quinze]

Appaling tactics from him today.

I don’t even understand what the plan was, playing Garnacho and Amad so wide, almost like wingers. Our WBs may be poor/bad fits, but all that does is encroach their area, leaving no one in the box. All we did all game was pull it back to Bruno at the edge of the box for hopeful crosses to no one. We’re never going to score like this, especially without a proper striker.

What’s maddening is that Mainoo played well at AM in midweek, and now, just because he scored, he's playing him up top in a completely different position. It’s giving real Ten Hag desperation vibes, clutching at whatever straw seems to be working.

Really worrying that we don’t look any closer to having a settled XI.

 

[M Bison]

I strongly believe that the evidence of the past 3-4 years proves that this group is exactly what it is - shit. The reason not to have stuck with ETH was that he was complicit in building and enabling this shit-show.

I’m not saying we should be pushing for a title but equally, we shouldn’t be anywhere near bottom third! Ruben has made us worse and is refusing to budge on this ridiculous formation and structure, playing 5 defenders.

 

[VP89]

Well said.

The revisionism here is crazy. People forget this squad was 13th before Amorim came, and that was for a manager who "played to their strengths" over a focused style of play.

Being much closer to top 4 than he is now.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Have you seen the teams Pep has had? Why would he go to a low block?

what should amorim change in his system? and why would it improve our results?

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Someone who has been at Real, Barca, or Bayern. If not possible then someone who is proven in the PL and plays 4231 would go a long way.

I have zero faith whatsoever that that would work. We’d just end up in the same cycle in which we’ve been.

 

[HookedOnAPhelan]

Not saying he should be sacked (obviously), but us being worse than ever isn't reflecting well on him.

I get it, so many of our senior players are either constantly injured (Shaw, Mount, now Martinez), or finished (Rashford, Casemiro, Eriksen), but surely it's possible to get this lot playing better than this? Why is the team so completely inept at everything at the moment?

 

[lilcurt]

You can write pages about this but I very well think we have enough quality to beat mid table teams at home. I am 100% right as well.

There is nothing wrong in firing an incompetent manager. You can either chose to change or be ready to be changed. As simple as that.

Well I am 100% right in my statement that you are 100% wrong.

So there, I win.

 

[JG3001]

If we’re being honest, he would have been sacked already if it weren’t for the fact United are now completely skint. Irrespective of the quality of the players, this chopping and changing of positions every week is bizarre. 10 years + and we’re still square pegs & round holes.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

He's made us such a dreadful watch. Genuinely think this is the worst I have ever seen us play.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Guardiola is an absolutely terrible example. If anything, he overthinks and tinkers too much

who is a top modern manager that has fundamentally changed his style?

 

[Bojan11]

It reads like I’m on Twitter. So many fans are influenced by the get rich quick fan channels. No patience, everything needs to be done quickly or we need major changes type. Complete head loss.

Yeah, the thread should be very positive that we lose nearly every home game under Amorin and it's all going smoothly.

 

[OverratedOpinion]

I don't understand why he played Mainoo as false 9 after the really good performance he had as a 10.

Because he saw over the last couple of matches that Mainoo can create real moments of danger in the box when he isn't asked to defend too deep.

Neither of our strikers have done anything of note in a month so he probably wanted to give Mainoo a chance to just cause havoc. It didn't work after a couple of bright moments early on but I'd imagine that is why.

 

[hellhunter]

who is a top modern manager that has fundamentally changed his style?

Conte for example. But it doesn't need fundamental changes, just show literally any flexibility

 

[Ayush_reddevil]

If we’re being honest, he would have been sacked already if it weren’t for the fact United are now completely skint. Irrespective of the quality of the players, this chopping and changing of positions every week is bizarre. 10 years + and we’re still square pegs & round holes.

You can't be serious honestly. Who the feck sacks manager after 3 months when brought in mid season

 

[acnumber9]

You have to give him a summer and some time next season at least but he’s not exactly impressing so far. Hard to see where we get better without considerable investment.

 

[giggs-beckham]

Why the feck was he experimenting with different players in different positions. Just when a good feeling was taking over again now its gone. This one's on him. Still think he's the one

 

[Sly]

I'm a believer and want to continue being one, but it's not easy. Need some input from our resident Sporting fan.

@Sly , did you guys go into this deep, dark cave with him back then too?

Well when he started we went from 3rd to 4th and finished the season on a bad note. Then he started clearing out players and getting his own and we won the league the following year. Then due to his stubbornness of not buying another striker we played the whole year with freaking Paulinho as sole reference and again we finish 4th. Then our football structure played a blinder the following year with buying Gyökeres and Hjulmand and we won the league again. He was instrumental in reorganizing the football structure, taking advantage of our academy and earning the team alot of money. Took him 4 years though. Two league wins, some cups and some decent european runs.

 

[Jev]

No, you are inconsistent because players need to get used to making the right decisions and allow it to become intuitive and therefore faster, rather than embedding in the system you are moving away from.

In theory this system should be better at defending against transitions, but set pieces and individual errors in duels are costing us defensively.

Attacking we lack directness from wings and obviously upfront we're too young and lacking in goals

We’re not inconsistent. If we were inconsistent, that would be encouraging because it would mean there were glimpses of hope. We’re very consistent.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Yeah, the thread should be very positive that we lose nearly every home game under Amorin and it's all going smoothly.

Not saying that it shouldn’t be negative. But people need to apply nuance.

 

[Fracture90]

70-30% posession, 11-0 corners.

We dominated the game, absolute shit goal for palace while we hit the post or sky the ball.
Amad and Bruno with terrible game.
Maguire was playing them onside every counter they made.

Yes, we were unlucky and manager has nothing to do with it.

Tell me you didn't watch the game with telling me. Stats merchant.

We were utter shiit, CP had the best chances.

 

[jem]

Doesn't look like he'll make it. Should have had a proper #9 arrive 1st day of the transfer window if he had any plan. Instead we signed some pray-and-hope out of position relegation quality right winger whos going to play LWB for us towards the end of the window. Glorious months ahead.

Wait, are you blaming Amorim for the failure to bring in a striker at the beginning of the transfer window?

 

[Solius]

Doesn't look like he'll make it. Should have had a proper #9 arrive 1st day of the transfer window if he had any plan. Instead we signed some pray-and-hope out of position relegation quality right winger whos going to play LWB for us towards the end of the window. Glorious months ahead.

Bit of a childish way to frame it but go off.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Right so the plan should be to stick with Rashford, Dalot etc. and coach them? No. We should get someone with a system and vision who can build a squad over 2-3 years. The ship has long since sailed with this squad.

why should we ask amorim to 'build a squad'? it shouldnt be his job. his job should be to coach the players we have and someones elses job should be to provide the best players possible for the club.

amorim has a single job, coach the players he has, and he has so far done poorly albeit early days. he is getting outplayed consistently by teams with worse players, which is my barometer for poor coaching.

 

[Redstain]

Problem for Amorim is defence. If United buy another wingback in the summer and inside wingers / forwards, does that contribute to improved defence?

I had Amorim's sporting as defensively responsible I have no idea how and why this defence is so dreadful with more internationally recognised players compared to what he was using in Portugal.

INEOS just spent big money on rejuvenating that area and I'd argue it being hard to drastically improve on what is available.

The game today there was a dearth in midfield, once again there's no overloads through the middle the defenders have no options to play directly into a narrow space, they keep recycling the ball amongst themselves.

I can see the shape the identity etc but does Amorim have the coaching impetus to allow even newer players to flourish under the concurrent system.

My concern as stated is despite building him a team the defence will continue to be dreadful because the players aren't being coached on how to mitigate spaces out of possession, that's why Ruben is overcompensating playing 6 defenders including the central defensive midfielder.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Conte for example. But it doesn't need fundamental changes, just show literally any flexibility

what flexibility should he show? what specifically should he change and why would it improve the results?

 

[The Mitcher]

what should amorim change in his system? and why would it improve our results?

He can stop pretending this is 343 and not 523 by actually playing 3 defenders and 4 midfielders.

 

[Jev]

what flexibility should he show? what specifically should he change and why would it improve the results?

Stop playing five defenders at home.

 

[Holocene]

Why would we do that though? It really doesn’t matter if we finish 8th or 16th. The priority is getting rid of these crap players and having a clear plan about who we recruit. There’s no guarantees but the later actually seems to be happening. Rashford has been fecked off and we seem interested in players who actually fit this system.

The idea we should be getting someone to get more out this squad would be insanity. The ship has long since sailed with them. Even if things were better than 13 points in 12 games we’d only go through the same cycle long term.

Well said.

 

[Leftback99]

You can write pages about this but I very well think we have enough quality to beat mid table teams at home. I am 100% right as well.

There is nothing wrong in firing an incompetent manager. You can either chose to change or be ready to be changed. As simple as that.

We ARE a mid table team full of mid table players. Sometimes we'll beat other mid table teams other times we'll lose. This is what it's like being Palace level.

 

[Dan_F]

Quenda can play winger as well, right? So he won't automatically become deadwood next Christmas

I don’t think modern, athletic footballers we buy will suddenly become deadwood because we change system. Modern players are flexible. No system can’t make use of a top striker, midfielder etc.

Whoever is retained from our current full backs will eventually form part of three back three.

 

[ForeverRed1]

Unless we get relegated im not putting anything on Amorim.

This squad is horrible. We offer no threat going forward because we built around poor ill fitting players.

The “Manchester United” rely on two young strikers that have never scored up to 15 goals a season and a bunch of academy players in attack.

Our best player is Bruno. Flawed players but he’s forced to fill in so many gaps (CM today, 10 tomorrow, DM the next game, wingers under other managers).

how many top signings have we made since fergie retired, and I mean top. Players that have come here and smashed it in all aspects? World class signings.

How much have we spent?

Point being, this is nothing new. We’ve been saying the same shite for 11 going on 12 years.

Our recruitment is amongst the worst in world football pound for pound given the money and pull this club has. It’s shambolic. This is all nothing new. It’s at the point where it’s tiring talking about it.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Unless we get relegated, you guys are drama queen. This is the storm right now, deal with it. It’s obvious to see that we are struggling with the physicality, pace of this league nowadays. We simply can’t compete. The squad building is absolutely atrocious.

But on a positive note, the Europa League is there for the taken and unless we fail to win it I will not be too harsh on him. Not his team at all.

I don't see how the Europa League is there for the taking, Lazio, Bilbao etc should beat us comfortably on current form. Even if United are capable of great performances on their day, the chances of winning 3 straight ties in a row then a final are limited I think.

 

[Cathy Ferguson]

Coming into this thread after a loss is a car crash

If it only was one loss. Therein is the problem, losing in the PL on a regular basis and no progress playingwise. No other top club is this mismanaged on all levels.

 

[lilcurt]

Being much closer to top 4 than he is now.

Headline: manager who recruited most of the team, does better than manager who plays different style and doesn't want most the squad.

Are we now a team that measures success on how close we are to top for?

Can we maybe consider playing the (not so) long game and give the new manager a preseason and summer window at least.

 

[jem]

I’m not saying we should be pushing for a title but equally, we shouldn’t be anywhere near bottom third! Ruben has made us worse and is refusing to budge on this ridiculous formation and structure, playing 5 defenders.

We are bad (not sure if any worse than the dark days of ETH), but I'm all for the shock therapy, rather than putting the proverbial bandaid on it and finishing...8th.

 

[Crashoutcassius]

Stop playing five defenders at home.

so play a different player at right or left back and keep system identical? how should he change the system??

 

[OverratedOpinion]

He can stop pretending this is 343 and not 523 by actually playing 3 defenders and 4 midfielders.

Well he's just signed a wing back the first chance he got so I reckon that's the plan.

 

[waza7111]

Once he has brought in players in key positions like ST, CM, RWB, AM and GK, then I will judge him.

I'll give him another year at least no matter what happens between now and then.

 

[Garethw]

I’m not saying we should be pushing for a title but equally, we shouldn’t be anywhere near bottom third! Ruben has made us worse and is refusing to budge on this ridiculous formation and structure, playing 5 defenders.

Totally agree.

 

[Red Rash]

He's not blameless of course but the double whammy of having players who constantly make simple mistakes alongside the lack of technical ability to do the basics and he is in a tough spot.

We need to know plays Dorgu and Amad as wingbacks for the rest of the season and then try and bring Quenda or someone similar in the summer to be able to play Amad more advanced.