Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

[Red Ten]

For me, one of the main things he is going to have to address is the lack of intensity in the team’s play.
I read somewhere recently, iirc it was on The Athletic, where one of their journos spoke to an Analyst from Spurs after the 0-3. When asked where he thought United’s problems stemmed from he said “United’s players like to run forward, they just don’t like to run back.” He also insinuated that every other club knew this.

 

[Blood Mage]

There's a small, ABU conspiracy orientated part of me that makes me feel the over abundance of coverage of Amorim's system is to give the rest of the league ample time to find ways to stop it.
I've never seen an incoming manager have his tactics and even personality over-analysed like this by the media.

If they are trying to jinx us then I counteract their jinx and no backsies.

Nah we're just a massive club and generate far more interest than most other clubs.

 

[MadDogg]

You say that he isnt going to make a long term plan based on a 18 yr old and say he changed styles which shows he had no plan.

He came into season 1 with a plan.. 2 games in shelved the plan and went to a counter attacking style for the duration of season 1, relying on Rashford.

Season 2 pre season tries this 4-1-4-1 system that completely failed.. you say that the team performed better? Last season was one of our worst in terms of results and performances, so no I disagree. The team did not perform better.

Then into season 3 he started with a 4-2-4 system.. 3rd season and he has changed his styles 4 times, none of them that worked. No it didn't make sense because he shelved the plan in 3 games.

Having a plan is something you believe in.. he clearly didn't believe in anything he was doing. Mount is not the only example of this... he spoke about how Maguire / Varane cant play LCB because of angles and rest defence... but they played there.

Mount has barely played in the 8, he wanted to mould him into that.. Ten Hag had managed to mould nothing and no player has improved... they have all actually regressed under his coaching.

The only time he dramatically changed plan was in his first season when he realised he couldn't implement what he wanted so largely went back to Ole-ball. Well, I guess there was also the last few games of last season in preparation for the FA Cup final, although I suspect that was Wilcox suggesting/demanding it rather than ETH doing it by himself.

ETH basically went all-in on how he wanted to play in his second season. What we saw there was his plan. It's why we played virtually the same way every single match from the first game in preseason up until the final four games of the season, despite the fact that every man and his dog could see it wasn't working. Fans bemoaned it, commentators couldn't understand it, opposition managers literally talked about how they took advantage of it. Mount fit that system, which is what sparked this conversation we're having.

He stuck with that plan long enough that it would almost certainly have seen him fired if not for us being in the process of building a new footballing structure around him. He was incredibly stubborn in regards to not changing it, which is the exact opposite of what you are implying here. The fact that he modified it a bit this season (it's hardly a huge change) doesn't mean that he wasn't building towards that system. Plans change. Pep changed how he's set up his team multiple times at City, Klopp did at Liverpool, Arteta has at Arsenal, etc. None of that was any different to what ETH has done over the last 18 months. The difference is what they did worked, whereas ETH obviously failed to an incredible degree.

Oh, and I never said the team performed better in the second season. In the context of the second season, Garnacho performed better and was better for the team than Antony, and Mainoo likewise for a Mount who struggled to get on the pitch and struggled when he did.

 

[MF1138]

I cannot keep up with all the videos posted but I felt this was a good watch.



Shot distance and absolute number of shots was quite interesting. It suits Hojlund quite well.

The part about the defensive issues the back 5 can cause is interesting. We have in Martinez and Shaw(lol) players that are capable of playing in the attacking shape he wants but also defending as a left back in a back 4. So when attacking the left centre back steps into midfield and the left fullback stays narrow and becomes the left center back. That would make room for Garnacho not have to defend as much and not get pinned back.

Would be interesting to see if he adjusts the system not just to suit the players we currently have but also to solve problems.

I expect he'll stick with the back 3 but there are options to play a 4 and not drastically change his set up.

 

[Westerkerk]

There's a small, ABU conspiracy orientated part of me that makes me feel the over abundance of coverage of Amorim's system is to give the rest of the league ample time to find ways to stop it.
I've never seen an incoming manager have his tactics and even personality over-analysed like this by the media.

If they are trying to jinx us then I counteract their jinx and no backsies.

It's really just a way to capitalise on a hot topic to increase click throughs to other content.

Web journos content agenda is largely driven by data analysis, and the data says that news about Manchester United generates more clicks than news any other sports team - this is a constant. I work in this area, though not for sports content. When compounded by a wider current story (such as manager change) that amounts to a large audience coming through the gate due to popular content bringing them in.

There are often comments on the BBC about how they obsess over United due to the amount of articles. They don't obsess over United, they obsess over writing articles that more people will read based on the data being presented to them.

 

[MadDogg]

If you want to compare him to Ten Hag, compare to Ten Hag in his first ~6 months. That's about it. Because after that he abandoned his plans and went to the wrong direction. So saying "but Ten Hag failed..." is not a valid comparison when you take account of a new manager. People change. Ten Hag definitely changed. He abandoned anything resembling 'structure' and 'pattern' to develop Oleball 2.0. I will never understand it.

I don't really agree with this. The only time we looked decent under ETH was when he was playing Oleball in his first season. He started off trying to do his own thing but we got ripped apart in the first couple of games, so we then basically reverted to how we played under Ole for the remainder of that season. We arguably had a better defence and midfield but a worse attack than what we had under Ole, but the general style of play was very similar.

It was when ETH truly implemented his own style in the second season that it went to complete shit. I wouldn't really compare his tactics since then to anything we saw during Ole's time. ETH had us sitting with a deeper defensive line, one man midfield, huge gaps in the middle of the park, less possession, etc.

 

[Sporting1906]

Sporting supporter here. Let me just say that you don’t know how lucky you are to have Rúben Amorim as your Head Coach.

I watch all the Sporting games live, home and away, and the mindset transformation that our club had in the past 4 years was incredible.

So tough for us seeing Ruben's leaving but that's life. Like I said, from a Sporting supporter who, besides that only owned shirts from Man Utd since I was a kid.

 

[Berbasbullet]

Sporting supporter here. Let me just say that you don’t know how lucky you are to have Rúben Amorim as your Head Coach.

I watch all the Sporting games live, home and away, and the mindset transformation that our club had in the past 4 years was incredible.

So tough for us seeing Ruben's leaving but that's life. Like I said, from a Sporting supporter who, besides that only owned shirts from Man Utd since I was a kid.

Thanks for the comment! We’re really excited to see what he can do.

How do you think he will set united up? 343? Do you think there are certain players we have that will fail/succeed?

Does he tend to dominate games with lots of possession?

 

[r0663664]

A back 3 or 5, I think works for United. We have so many central defenders and I think Urgate will help us in this respect. Always as we are hard to score against, we can score an odd goal or 2 means we can climb up the table. Looking for the Amorim's ball, hopefully we can see a distinct style come Feb.

 

[FrankDrebin]

Sporting supporter here. Let me just say that you don’t know how lucky you are to have Rúben Amorim as your Head Coach.

I watch all the Sporting games live, home and away, and the mindset transformation that our club had in the past 4 years was incredible.

So tough for us seeing Ruben's leaving but that's life. Like I said, from a Sporting supporter who, besides that only owned shirts from Man Utd since I was a kid.

Any news on who the front runner is for the Sporting job?

 

[Sporting1906]

Thanks for the comment! We’re really excited to see what he can do.

How do you think he will set united up? 343? Do you think there are certain players we have that will fail/succeed?

Does he tend to dominate games with lots of possession?

Teams coached by Rúben Amorim always play with the same structure: 343. While formations may shift with or without the ball, the foundation remains the same. Amorim prefers a three-center-back setup, with the central defender leading the line—this player doesn’t necessarily need to be quick but should have leadership qualities and, ideally, be tall. Although fans may have doubts about Harry Maguire, he could actually suit this role well. But I bet in De Ligt. The left and right center-backs need to be comfortable on the ball, as they often initiate play and sometimes cover wide areas like full-backs. This system takes time to perfect, but with practice, it can be highly effective.

On the wings, during our championship season (2020/2021), we had Nuno Mendes (now at PSG) and Pedro Porro (now with Tottenham). Currently, we’re relying on Quenda, a 17-year-old former winger, and rotate the left side with Geny, Nuno Santos, and Maxi—also all originally wingers. Recently, Amorim has leaned towards using inverted wingers, with a left-footed player on the right and occasionally a right-footed player on the left.

I’m curious about how he’ll use Bruno Fernandes, whether in a central midfield pairing or on the left side of the attack. Regarding possession, Sporting often finishes with over 60% possession, as shown by statistical analyses on https://goalpoint.pt/todos-os-ratings-24-25_197127 (in Portuguese).

Amorim may surprise you by maximizing performance from players who aren’t currently shining. If I had to bet on his first potential signing (hopefully only after the season ends), it would be Pedro Gonçalves. Amorim has worked with him from day one at Sporting and sees him as essential, even recently saying that Gonçalves would be his priority if he ever left Sporting.

As for our future coach, João Pereira, currently coaching Sporting’s B team, is set to take over. Although he’s not the most thrilling choice, he’s been with Sporting since 2021, initially as a player and then as a coach. He has been groomed for this role, waiting for the right moment when Amorim would move on. https://www.zerozero.pt/treinador/joao-pereira/52119

I hope this helps clarify some details,

 

[Smashin]

Any news on who the front runner is for the Sporting job?

Would be a big surprise (unfortunately) if it isnt our B team coach, João Pereira. He's also a former player.

Amorim did test a 4 man defense this pre-season, as an alternative, but we didnt get to see any of it.