Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

[Mr Anderson]

The only blame Ruben has is the severe lack of tempo. This is like LvG days. Too slow, too deep, allows teams to regroup and easy to defend against us. The transition is shocking and cumbersome.

He needs to get us moving the ball quicker and not side to side. You’d say something if the players kept fecking up forward passes and moves but we always play the ball back to defence and always move it sideways. That is on Ruben’s head - it happens in most games so it is a directive or he is as bad as Erik for not been able to address it.

We look scared, waiting for things to happen rather than making them happen. Even Moyes has Wverton playing better ffs, we have regressed. Sure our squad is poor, but it isn’t bottom 10 poor either. Signing players is not the solution either if we keep playing as slow and deep. Ruben needs to wake up

 

[Ronaldo's ego]

He’s played it smart by making it clear we’re crap and expect to suffer a lot. The fanbase have eaten it up and are treading a dangerous line by putting everything on the players and in turn absolving the manager for this horror show. I know he’s done it in Portugal but this is a different league, when he starts building his own squad then the pressure will be on big time because the ‘shit player’ excuse will start wearing thin.

 

[The Mitcher]

It depends though. Barca with Xavi/Inesta/Busqueys pressed immensely without many/if any athletic freaks. They just had a system and were aggressive/fit. Our system seems designed for a lot of broken play/counters which then, in turn, demands more athleticism. It doesn’t have to be that way it’s a choice.

They had PEDs too.

 

[afrocentricity]

I'm pretty sure I've seen you running around defending his honour.

You still at it Robbie

 

[crossy1686]

It depends though. Barca with Xavi/Inesta/Busqueys pressed immensely without many/if any athletic freaks. They just had a system and were aggressive/fit. Our system seems designed for a lot of broken play/counters which then, in turn, demands more athleticism. It doesn’t have to be that way it’s a choice.

When we have a midfield containing those players we might keep the ball better also. Don’t need to run if you never lose the ball do you?

 

[kouroux]

When we have a midfield containing those players we might keep the ball better also. Don’t need to run if you never lose the ball do you?

That's without mentioning the backline technical level.

 

[The Mitcher]

There you go

 

[crossy1686]

That's without mentioning the backline technical level.

Well there you have it, we just need a treble winning team and we won’t have to run too much.

 

[The Mitcher]

Nuno is doing a great job, yet Spurs got rid. Sometimes it is just timing and support a particular manager need to succeed.

It also takes luck. They wouldn't be where they are partly without a City collapse. It also could have ended in relegation last season.

 

[Jezpeza]

When we have a midfield containing those players we might keep the ball better also. Don’t need to run if you never lose the ball do you?

True, that Barca side used to press intensely just after losing the ball. It was never an all game thing, because, as you said, they never lost the ball

 

[The Mitcher]

You still at it Robbie

I'm not the only one he's accused has he? The only post in here that is a defence was pointing out Ole had zero choice to play the team in empty stadiums and it's not an argument against him. I haven't said anything more.

 

[Escobar]

I like him and he will bring us back glory days. However, he needs to start fixing some big issues quickly. A settled starting XI would be a good start

 

[Oscar Bonavena]

I admit, I didn't see much of Sporting when Amorim was manager there, but did they pass the ball around as slowly as United do now?

 

[KStandBarmyArmy1993]

Oh okay, let me jump on the wagon then...
*cough cough*

AMORIM IS A FRAUD, WORST MANAGER EVER, SACK HIM NOW BEFORE HE DESTROYS US IN THE SUMMER!

When do I post this about Ireola, november this year or february next?
Tough to keep an eye on the schedule.
Also, am I allowed to post after a win?

There's massive middle ground here that everyone is probably purposefully missing.

The football is shit. The formation isn't working. The players are seemingly getting worse. In domestic games, our few remaining creative players seem to be getting more and more isolated. He's too stubborn.

That being said, we need to obviously give him time. Clearly not everything his fault but everything wasn't Ten Hag's fault either...

If he keeps losing every fecking league game, he will force INEOS into making a decision.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Is a manager that can only play 1 formation a potentially excellent manager?

 

[RedRocket9908]

I like him and he will bring us back glory days. However, he needs to start fixing some big issues quickly. A settled starting XI would be a good start

I really dont think he will bring us back the glory days, he only has 1 way of playing so even if he is given a load of money to spend on the players he needs to make it work its highly likely his way of playing will quckly found out by other teams and we'll end up back at square 1 with yet another new manager starting yet another rebuild.

 

[Licha-Vidic]

So Guardiola is not a good coach by this logic, he required his own players, Tixi came into city a year or so before and did work on buying his type of players. Even after that it took him a few £100m's to get his defence profile right.

His team has fell off a cliff and guess what, he is buying himself out of it.

This squad is mediocre and let's not kid ourselves, McTominay saved us many times last season, this season Amad is doing the same, we can't keep relying on individual brilliance to save us.

We clearly have a bad squad, in my opinion Collyer played better in our last match, than Ugarte today, and helped control the midfield better, if Ugarte continues erratically like today we need to start Collyer ahead of him.

Ruben made some mistakes today but that does not excuse the level of the squad. It's rubbish.

Another lie that has been thrown around frequently.

Pep had Kompany, Aguero, KDB, Fernadinho, Silva from previous managers and Pep was able to achieve 100 points in a season with them being the main spine of the team.
Let nobody cheat you that you need 11 new players to win anything. Good managers should know how to play with what you have.

 

[Sir Marcus]

The man is a mess, complete and utter mess.

 

[Marwood]

Oh I was rather thinking ahead. If/when Amorim needs replacing, it will be very hard to do without another shift in system. Could've brought in someone who builds a squad that doesn't need immediate replacing again for the guy after him

Why which players in a 343 won't function in a 433?

It's being talked about like this system is from another time or something. It's basically the same.

The wingbacks are pretty much it. The only specialist role. But even then, a wingback is just a winger who's willing and capable of putting the graft in to get up and down the line all game.

If Dorgu turns out to be a good player do you think really think he'd be redundant in a 433?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Another lie that has been thrown around frequently.

Pep had Kompany, Aguero, KDB, Fernadinho, Silva from previous managers and Pep was able to achieve 100 points in a season with them being the main spine of the team.
Let nobody cheat you that you need 11 new players to win anything. Good managers should know how to play with what you have.

Yes, but those are world class players. Ours are not.

 

[Woziak]

Who would implement his system and would require even more players. It's a never ending cycle of failure. It has to stop somewhere so that's why I think INEOS will stick with him. If it does turn to shit and we end up down among the dead men, INEOS can always point to the prior regime even though they opted to allow it to continue. Funny how we haven't heard a peep from Ashworth since he left. I'm sure he'd have some good insights to share.

Didn’t Ashworth say it was suicide to change to a 3421 system?

He wasn’t enamoured by Amorim apparently so look we do need to see how this plays out, I’m no fan of Amorim because he simply too honest and talks too much, sometimes reign it in and go sort the issues out on the field!

Here’s my three penith for what’s its worth.
Currently there are four Portuguese Coaches in the EPL.

Nuno Espirito Santo - Mainly plays a 433 system but is happy to change to a 3421/3412 like he did against Brighton Yesyetday, has huge PL experience with Wolves and Spurs as well as taking Forrest into CL contention. More importantly knows the value of Pace and power in the EPL
PL Record this season
P24 W14 D5 L5 Points 47 Pts per game 1.96

Macro Silva - Mainly plays 4231 or 433 however is flexible enough to play a 3 at the back system, he’s had a few years and his recruitment is excellent mixing acclimatised Latin players with a point to prove with young British based players (Yes Iwobi and A Robinson are more English than they are Nigerian and American!) He has the experience like Nuno and will get Fulham playing a decent brand of football and a top 10 position with far less resources than we have?
PL Record P24 W9 D9 L6 Points 36
Points per game 1.5

Victor Perreira - Started on 19th December for relegation doomed Wolves.
PL record P7 W3 D1 L3 points 10
Pts per Game 1.5

Ruben Amorim -
Pl record since he took charge ;
P13 W4 D2 L6 Points 14 - Pts per game 1.1


All these coaches are Portuguese, they all play three at the back however all bar one is flexible and will adapt to a 4231 or 433 in certain games, especially within the EPL, all of them bar Amorim manage what is considered a mid to bottom table English PL team, most of them are older coaches late 40’s to mid 50’s they also don’t. Call out their players to the press and they especially don’t ruin younger players as they are developing.
Playing Kobbie as a false 9 will ruin him, playing Garnaucho as inside narrow 10 will ruin him and saying that you’d rather pick Your 63 year old goalkeeping coach rather than Rashford when your averaging 1.1 point per game in the EPL and also saying his squad is the worst in United history is not going to enamour him to this current squad, who probably already are counting the days until he’s Sacked, so he needs to get his own players in and quick because if this home form carries on, I can’t see him making it to November 2025!

 

[tomaldinho1]

When we have a midfield containing those players we might keep the ball better also. Don’t need to run if you never lose the ball do you?

They ran more than anyone. Doesn’t have to be that extreme anyway, they’re just an obvious example.

 

[arthurka]

So now what? We change again right?

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Oh no, someone with 8k posts on an internet forum laughed at me.

It seems you found time to check my profile.

Well done. You've still not gained any credibility though.

 

[astracrazy]

Is a manager that can only play 1 formation a potentially excellent manager?

No

 

[The Mitcher]

Why which players in a 343 won't function in a 433?

It's being talked about like this system is from another time or something. It's basically the same.

The wingbacks are pretty much it. The only specialist role. But even then, a wingback is just a winger who's willing and capable of putting the graft in to get up and down the line all game.

If Dorgu turns out to be a good player do you think really think he'd be redundant in a 433?

It says a lot that Ruben's hopes are pinned on a 20 year old fullback from Lecce.

 

[gulli_G]

Another lie that has been thrown around frequently.

Pep had Kompany, Aguero, KDB, Fernadinho, Silva from previous managers and Pep was able to achieve 100 points in a season with them being the main spine of the team.
Let nobody cheat you that you need 11 new players to win anything. Good managers should know how to play with what you have.

Incorrect, Tixi Bergestien joined around 2012, Guardiola joined for the 2016/17 season. That gave him plenty of time to get in the players that suited his system. We should not accuse people of lies without checking the facts.

 

[Drainy]

Incorrect, Tixi Bergestien joined around 2012, Guardiola joined for the 2016/17 season. That gave him plenty of time to get in the players that suited his system. We should no accuse people of lies without checking the facts.

Also Pep famously chopped and changed his team with many transfers before they got his game well enough..

 

[roseguy64]

So who do people think would do a better job with this squad, people keep saying anybody. Does anybody have a surname. Would a new manager love having this squad and a chance there isn't much money to spend in the summer? Ones mentioning Conte, is big issue is exactly not having money spend.

An experienced manager like Howe, Frank, Moyes, De Zerbi, Conte, etc would have had us in the top half by now. I doubt European places but it would have looked better.

 

[Infra-red]

United setting him up to fail? If I was him, I'd be a bit worried by the lack of backing in this window - Ineos hedging their bets in case a change is needed in the summer?

 

[The Mitcher]

United setting him up to fail? If I was him, I'd be a bit worried by the lack of backing in this window - Ineos hedging their bets in case a change is needed in the summer?

We don't have enough money and have bought him a CB and a WB/FB.

 

[Redstain]

Another lie that has been thrown around frequently.

Pep had Kompany, Aguero, KDB, Fernadinho, Silva from previous managers and Pep was able to achieve 100 points in a season with them being the main spine of the team.
Let nobody cheat you that you need 11 new players to win anything. Good managers should know how to play with what you have.

Great point Amorim has shown a severe lack of adaptability in his approaches.

For a manager with his lack of experience, mentioning suffering and storms is relatively mute when he's here on a shorter term contract with everything to prove.

I think INEOS have massively hampered the planning of both his arrival and the window. Too much heavy lifting constrained into a narrow period.

 

[chris123]

Is a manager that can only play 1 formation a potentially excellent manager?

How many managers do you know that play multiple formations?

 

[roseguy64]

They have chances in literally every game. They don’t score them. Are we creating bucket loads? No, but they perform horribly when they get them and they also have terrible movement so they don’t get into good positions.

Our chance creation for our forwards is not good. Hojlund has some of the lowest shots attempted in the league and I'm sure Zirkzee is close to him.

 

[tomaldinho1]

So now what? We change again right?

No, Amorim just needs to show something. No tweaks or experiments, play the system he knows and we should see improvement surely? People like over egg the idea we have a load of players who should be in league 1, but it’s just blind faith in the idea they like a certain manager. I hope Amorim stays but we should see performances gradually improve towards the end of the season. Then back him in summer.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

An experienced manager like Howe, Frank, Moyes, De Zerbi, Conte, etc would have had us in the top half by now. I doubt European places but it would have looked better.

They probably had a look at some of them during the summer and declined them. Howe was going nowhere, why would he leave Newcastle. He will be eyeing the England job next. Sure we interviewed Frank, Moyes oh aye that would be a right forward step, De Zerbi didn't his Brighton team fall off the pace when he well out with the owner. Conte on cusp of winning Serie A with Napoli, so why would he come here and is another difficult character who wants to spend money.

 

[tomaldinho1]

When @tomaldinho1 said that I thought 'No bloody chance with this lot'.

We used to get completely outplayed by high pressing relegation fighting Southampton with a midfield of ward prowse, Romeu, Hojberg… it’s about the system and how well drilled into the players it is.

 

[Leftback99]

Seems like no new forward coming in then. Going to be a slog to the end of the season.

 

[Woziak]

His system is very basic - literally just based off graft and pressing. Would be probably the easiest style to build off (it’s no different on paper at all high level to Jose/Ole ball really). Amorim seems to not really want a high press, not really want uber high possession, it’s all a bit of a mess and as much as some players need upgrading, so do most other teams and managers have the same issues. Conte is a back 3 nutjob and he’s on track to win serie A having changed to a back 4.

Exactly this, his system at sporting was a revolutionary take on a 3421 with an elite nine backed up with attacking 10’s and wing backs that constantly changed positions and even a dominant CB like Diomende stepping into Midfield, his tactics were built on triangle patterns through the thirds with good ball retention but then he would demand all out attack, while I agree he needs his own players, I also think he’s genuinely shocked at the quality of the EPL and his lack of experience is costing the team, he’s experimenting in nearly every game at the cost of losing points especially at home, if he doesn’t stop tinkering and find a settled side, he’ll be gone by November 2025.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

We used to get completely outplayed by high pressing relegation fighting Southampton with a midfield of ward prowse, Romeu, Hojberg… it’s about the system and how well drilled into the players it is.

It can take time to drill a system into players, they also have to be players capable of playing it. People say about Iraola, but look at the ropey start he had with a pre-season before it clicked, it is this season everything has fallen into place.