Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

His wiki page says he was appointed on Sep 8th, which isn't exactly mid season but would've obviously not been anything like a June appointment where he had a full summer to train and bring in new recruits.

I agree with you on the latter bit. There's no credible talk about getting rid of Amorim this soon, especially given that he seems to be Omar Berrada's guy, who went out of his way to bring him to England mid season. Ruben will receive two years before a proper assessment will be made imo.

Amorim will be sacked next Christmas in my opinion, I just cannot see this working out for many reasons, there is no way Ineos let this continue for more than 1 year
 
Amorim will be sacked next Christmas in my opinion, I just cannot see this working out for many reasons, there is no way Ineos let this continue for more than 1 year

Unless we're in complete free fall going into Christmas, I think he will get a full 2nd year. That is of course worst case scenario. The best case one is we buy and sell immaculately this summer, get everyone fit, have the benefit of a proper pre-season and start strong. I suspect the latter scenario is the more likely one.
 
Two things can be true, Its more than a decade of mismanagement, its the entire rot of the Glazer ownership which has sucked the club dry. At the same time a top or a promising young manager should be able to make the most of what he has. RVN made an OK job of maximising things, We dont have the squad for Amorim which makes us foolish to hire him and him foolish to accept. He has made us worse defensively and offensively. Its not about principles its about pragmatism, coaching and man management We are in a mess, not clear he will last much of next season unless things really improve. We cant rely on spending alone given the financial constraints.

Again, what does he have? A broken team that is severely lacking to compete.. I truly believe most managers would struggle here this season.

And RVN won three games, two against Leicester on the brink of sacking a manager and against a greek side in EL.
 
Eh?

People rightly criticised Ten Hag for not playing the Ajax way, the very reason as to why he was hired, Ten Hag even openly admitted the players aren’t capable of playing the Ajax way, & he rightly got criticised for changing his style to suit the team.

Now Amorim is getting criticised for NOT changing his style to suit the team
Not how I remember it, but it could be like multiple witnesses to a car crash seeing different things. The players he had were not able to play transition football , if you recall Old Man Ronolad ambling about the pitch, and Casemiro getting taken out with one pass. Sticking to his “principles” would be trying to use that squad in the nest approximation of what he thought was needed to win. Which is what he did. The failing was in his coaching, not the overall settings.

Amorim seems to be having problems with both.
 
The squad that has drastically changed since then is quite obviously that bad, yes. Have you tried reading through the names of the players in the matchday squads recently?
De Gea was costing us with his kicking, so we went and spent £47m on one of the best GK with the ball at his feet, or so we thought!

Martial was considered a crock high wages always injured sick note, remember.

Hojlund for £72m should have been an upgrade physically strong and fast

Weghorst was only a loan deal
Joshua Zirkzee for club and country is considered an upgrade and he scores more goals so that’s an upgrade just!

Rashford and Anthony both started and stared in those games( who forced them out without replacing them?)

Sancho was on hiatus and Ganaucho should be much better now than then he was 2 years ago as should kobbie Mainoo!

We definitely have a similar defence in options and possibly this defence has more pace I will agree that Sabitzer, Mctominay and Fred gave the midfield more mobility and goal threat and Casemiro for 7/8 months was Elite.

My point is you’re right but it should never have been like that, especially with after a £400m spend on new players.

I will concede, however that team had an awful lot of players that are in that 25-29 bracket at the time we payed that game and we currently have a lot of players who are under 24 in key positions.

I don’t think the players we have are as bad as most would have you think, I do however think that we have too many young players in key positions, especially in our attack?
 
Unless we're in complete free fall going into Christmas, I think he will get a full 2nd year. That is of course worst case scenario. The best case one is we buy and sell immaculately this summer, get everyone fit, have the benefit of a proper pre-season and start strong. I suspect the latter scenario is the more likely one.
Hope springs eternal.

I don’t see anything in his coaching to indicate he’s just been unlucky or otherwise deserved to win. For me, he’s earned every defeat. And I don’t think that’s going to change without Individual FC taking over. We are not selling or buying competently, let alone immaculately. We will add a couple of Dorgu-level players and hope to suddenly find form.
 
Amorim will be sacked next Christmas in my opinion, I just cannot see this working out for many reasons, there is no way Ineos let this continue for more than 1 year
I think you’re being wildly optimistic, SJR had 7 managers in 5 years at Nice. He’s had 2 in 12 months so far at United!
 
Two things can be true, Its more than a decade of mismanagement, its the entire rot of the Glazer ownership which has sucked the club dry. At the same time a top or a promising young manager should be able to make the most of what he has. RVN made an OK job of maximising things, We dont have the squad for Amorim which makes us foolish to hire him and him foolish to accept. He has made us worse defensively and offensively. Its not about principles its about pragmatism, coaching and man management We are in a mess, not clear he will last much of next season unless things really improve. We cant rely on spending alone given the financial constraints.
Look at the number of games RVN played. If you had taken over for one game then stepped down would you speak about yourself as a 100% win rate manager? There is no point, using samplesizes so small. Amorims sample size is barely enough.
It was more compact when Wilcox forced him to change tactics.
And it was tactics that aren't sustainable when you have ambitions to play like a topclub. Put men behind the ball and then go for counter is nice and all and for one off games it is a great tactic. But it can't be the only plan we have.
Sancho was on hiatus and Ganaucho should be much better now than then he was 2 years ago as should kobbie Mainoo!
Mixing it up, nice one.

I don’t think the players we have are as bad as most would have you think, I do however think that we have too many young players in key positions, especially in our attack?
Yes. Because the players who should be the starters in those positions are as bad as most would have you think. And bad recruiting of course. There are environments, where players like Rashford and Garnacho will flourish. I have no doubt about it. But those environments require functional setups that are well balanced and will still work with players in them, that have a few lacks in their skillset.

I don't really know why you bring up the recruitment again and again. I mean, it is pretty clear at this point that we made a lot of bad decisions. Noone needs convincing of that. The important piece now is to make sure to not repeat those mistakes. And that means, don't overspend, don't go solely for youngsters, value athleticism but don't make it the only attribute. All those things will be essential. No matter who the manager is.
 
Unless we're in complete free fall going into Christmas, I think he will get a full 2nd year. That is of course worst case scenario. The best case one is we buy and sell immaculately this summer, get everyone fit, have the benefit of a proper pre-season and start strong. I suspect the latter scenario is the more likely one.

Perhaps your best case scenario will happen and I hope it does I'd rather look like an idiot on the internet than watch United play like we have been for the last 18 months bar a few odd games here and there.

But here is where I don't see it happening I just don't see him getting the players people are wildly optimistic saying 3 additions will change everything I don't see it like that, I think to make this work we need a minimum of 5 first team players and I don't think we have the money to do that and he won't get the results he needs without them
 
Hope springs eternal.

I don’t see anything in his coaching to indicate he’s just been unlucky or otherwise deserved to win. For me, he’s earned every defeat. And I don’t think that’s going to change without Individual FC taking over. We are not selling or buying competently, let alone immaculately. We will add a couple of Dorgu-level players and hope to suddenly find form.

Consider the totality of factors he's faced since arriving.

- He was basically forced into arriving mid-season by way of a "take it or leave it" offer from Berrada. This alone more or less guaranteed we would underachieve this year because we knew he was specifically hired to implement a completely different system and formation without the benefit of the players needed to accomplish it.

Therefore, through no fault of his own, he was needlessly dropped into an impossible situation from the start. That is strictly on Berrada, who was left clutching at straws after keeping Ten Hag after the FA Cup, then spending precious funds to buy players like Zirkzee to pacify an extended Ten Hag stay. All of that is on Berrada and has nothing to do with Amorim's managerial prowess.

- He has had to deal with the Rashford situation. It is what it is and hasn't helped our lack of goals, which is once again a result of spending £100 on Hojlund and Zirkzee. Consider the calibre of striker we could've bought for 100m instead of those two, then extrapolate that into our lack of goals over the past two seasons. This was again, a failure of executive leadership to greenlight such calamitously useless transfers.

- He has had to deal with an absurd amount of injuries. Maybe not as bad as Spurs but not far off. How would we have fared this year with fit, in form varieties of Shaw and Mount ? What about the availability of Mainooo, Amad and Martinez for the entire year ? This again, has nothing to do with Amorim and is simply a matter of bad luck.

When you combine each of these factors, it quickly becomes pretty self-evident that not only is Amorim not the problem, he himself has been a victim of converging circumstances which more or less guaranteed a horrible year or results.

When you remove each of these factors for next year, you are left with a brand new set of possibilities, and the sky is the limit. This is why I think there's a good chance we will recover strongly next year if we buy a top striker and maybe compliment with a couple of Amorim style players such as Quenda etc.
 
Pretend you have the power: what’s your call?

I agree with everything you wrote and think it’s madness to continue with this style and/or head coach.
Dunno. Just reckon most coaches, unless they are elite ones at the top of their game, are pretty expendable. So I think I would pull the plug on this particular experiment, overhasty and overly dramatic as that might sound? :(

Sometimes things are extremely misaligned, in practise if not in theory, even accounting for mitigating factors. In those instances it's better to admit your fault and take swift remedial measures (with a more thorough understanding of what went wrong with your assessment processes in the first place and what not to do in the future), instead of persisting and wasting precious resources. And I quite like Amorim since his Sporting CP days too (likewise for Ten Hag since his Ajax days). It's nothing personal, you move on in a respectful and professional manner, and strive to do better with the next appointment.

The fundamental issue, which won't ever go away, is that it's extremely difficult to pull off a high-level 343 base. Doubly so with an orthodox one, where the manager won't adapt like Alonso or Nagelsmann would (or possibly tweak it to make is more threatening like a Cruyffian 3133). And even harder to sustain your success and performance on a year-to-year basis. You need wingbacks who are credible offensive and playmaking threats who will be respected by the opposition and also capable of shunting up and down the pitch while making a difference practically all on their own (or you get pinned back with little offensive width to speak of), you need midfielders who are freaky athletes with irrepresible engines and technically wonderful and capable of constructing the game (shortcomings in any of those aspects can have a domino effect on the rest of the team), you need centerbacks who are expert progressive passers and ball-carriers and capable of covering wide areas (if these centerbacks are not progressive you are again pinned back), and so forth. So much of the team has to be comprised of “unicorn players” to dominate and succeed at the top end of the Premier League vis-à-vis Liga Portugal with a 343 base (and unicorns are unicorns for a reason, they are extremely rare and in great demand).

It's high-difficulty mode football, when there's no need to have a high-difficulty approach, and margin for error is minimized. It's easier to hide your flaws and adapt to non-optimal circumstances in other bases. Which is part of the reason why they are so widely used and considered the norm, by also-ran and elite teams alike (elite teams aren't elite every week and every year, and they too need to adapt and hide their flaws from time to time). There's really no need to reinvent the wheel, when the burden of proof across the modern history of football (or even in the current year with likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona (all of whom play with a 433 or 4231 base)) is against us. Most of our flaws are not going to get resolved anytime soon, so it makes little sense to persist with an unyielding 343 base that amplifies our flaws. And the project itself might not even have an incredible medium term payoff, which is the underlying expectation when you put in so much time and effort surely, because even if you get everything right with regard to recruitment and development, it's comparivitely harder to sustain your success and performance on a year-to-year basis in an orthodox 343 base (which lends itself to boom-and-bust cycles and player churn).

Given where we are it makes more sense, at least in theory, to appoint someone with these characteristics...
  • Hiding the squad-construction flaws of Manchester United and putting players in positions to succeed with a hybrid positional-relational modus operandi, as opposed to highlighting and underscoring our shortcomings and also putting square pegs in round holes. Making do with the personnel at hand in 4231 or 433 bases, while the technical team attempts to improve the squad over a multi-year timeframe with 3-ish reinforcements of the appropriate standard, or at least talent level, each season (this can be scaled upwards, in terms of quantity and assured quality, as the money situation improves).
  • Having the collective perform a higher level than the sum of parts, and improving individual levels via coaching as their footballing tutor (something we aren't quite seeing with this head coach). The head coach needs to concentrate on improving individuals as well the collective, and being good at in-game and man management; leaving other tasks to the technical team.
  • Trying to qualify for Europe and meeting certain objectives by hook or by crook. In this day and age, not qualifying for the Champions League in particular is akin to getting relegated with regard to the financial and competitive shock and we pay a dear price for each non-qualification (which inhibits the rebuild we so desire). Flippantly burning through multiple seasons in the hopes of maybe, hopefully doing well (relatively speaking) in the future seems borderline suicidal for a club that absolutely needs to claw its way back into the Top 4 to enable the refurbishment of the squad.
Essentially someone who will arrest the tailspin we seem to be in and help restore us as a somewhat respectable Top 4-6 club as soon as practically possible (it's not completely unrealistic with good coaching and man-management and one good summer window where we prioritize a goal scorer, midfield organizer and playmaking fullback most of all). Once you reach that level it's easier to continually reshape the team because you have higher revenues and seem more appealing (to players and potential head coaching upgrades alike), so you enter a positive feedback loop where the process fuels and reinforces itself as long as the decision-making of the technical team (in charge of the assessment and recruitment of players and head coaches) is mostly on point.
 
@Woziak's post that you quoted didn't sound like it was calling for him to be sacked, but rather explaining the reasons why the hierarchy might be considering that decision
Listen, when you have a record like his then you are under pressure, all you have to do is read the room and the media, I’m actually saying either back him or sack him you can’t do an in between because it will just get worse and more and more fans will waste their time and life calling each other out on threads like this one minute agreeing than not agreeing, a coach that is failing is always divisive so let’s agree to disagree and I’m well aware what a ‘strawman’ is however you clearly used at least twice out of context.
I agree BBF but I couldn't be asked to keep looking for more examples. Woz my strawman comment was in response to the newbie who said no one has been calling for Amorim to be sacked.
 
I agree BBF but I couldn't be asked to keep looking for more examples. Woz my strawman comment was in response to the newbie who said no one has been calling for Amorim to be sacked.
Ok we are cool, all United fans want is just to get excited again every time our team plays and I repeat I was one of Amorim’s biggest champions when we recruited him because he offered something very fresh with his unique version of 3421, physical, mobile, compact, rotating triangles, working as a unit offensively and defensively but he had his wing backs high and in the limited time we saw Amad, I genuinely thought he was excellent as a right wing back and I just hope we get the 4 correct options we need to fulfil the most important players in this position, for his system to work.

Diego Leon if he settles looks a great buy to go with Dorgu, but he could and should have given Amass, Mantato or Scallion a go as well, even for 15/20 minutes in a game at wing back, to at least rest the current options.

He must find a way and soon to stop our more defensive wing backs to both play so deep, where PL opponents have worked out his system and just push their full backs really high to pen us into this Depressing, defensive 5221 playing on the edge of our penalty box.
 
Dunno. Just reckon most coaches, unless they are elite ones at the top of their game, are pretty expendable. So I think I would pull the plug on this particular experiment, overhasty and overly dramatic as that might sound? :(

Sometimes things are extremely misaligned, in practise if not in theory, even accounting for mitigating factors. In those instances it's better to admit your fault and take swift remedial measures (with a more thorough understanding of what went wrong with your assessment processes in the first place and what not to do in the future), instead of persisting and wasting precious resources. And I quite like Amorim since his Sporting CP days too (likewise for Ten Hag since his Ajax days). It's nothing personal, you move on in a respectful and professional manner, and strive to do better with the next appointment.

The fundamental issue, which won't ever go away, is that it's extremely difficult to pull off a high-level 343 base. Doubly so with an orthodox one, where the manager won't adapt like Alonso or Nagelsmann would (or possibly tweak it to make is more threatening like a Cruyffian 3133). And even harder to sustain your success and performance on a year-to-year basis. You need wingbacks who are credible offensive and playmaking threats who will be respected by the opposition and also capable of shunting up and down the pitch while making a difference practically all on their own (or you get pinned back with little offensive width to speak of), you need midfielders who are freaky athletes with irrepresible engines and technically wonderful and capable of constructing the game (shortcomings in any of those aspects can have a domino effect on the rest of the team), you need centerbacks who are expert progressive passers and ball-carriers and capable of covering wide areas (if these centerbacks are not progressive you are again pinned back), and so forth. So much of the team has to be comprised of “unicorn players” to dominate and succeed at the top end of the Premier League vis-à-vis Liga Portugal with a 343 base (and unicorns are unicorns for a reason, they are extremely rare and in great demand).

It's high-difficulty mode football, when there's no need to have a high-difficulty approach, and margin for error is minimized. It's easier to hide your flaws and adapt to non-optimal circumstances in other bases. Which is part of the reason why they are so widely used and considered the norm, by also-ran and elite teams alike (elite teams aren't elite every week and every year, and they too need to adapt and hide their flaws from time to time). There's really no need to reinvent the wheel, when the burden of proof across the modern history of football (or even in the current year with likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona (all of whom play with a 433 or 4231 base)) is against us. Most of our flaws are not going to get resolved anytime soon, so it makes little sense to persist with an unyielding 343 base that amplifies our flaws. And the project itself might not even have an incredible medium term payoff, which is the underlying expectation when you put in so much time and effort surely, because even if you get everything right with regard to recruitment and development, it's comparivitely harder to sustain your success and performance on a year-to-year basis in an orthodox 343 base (which lends itself to boom-and-bust cycles and player churn).

Given where we are it makes more sense, at least in theory, to appoint someone with these characteristics...
  • Hiding the squad-construction flaws of Manchester United and putting players in positions to succeed with a hybrid positional-relational modus operandi, as opposed to highlighting and underscoring our shortcomings and also putting square pegs in round holes. Making do with the personnel at hand in 4231 or 433 bases, while the technical team attempts to improve the squad over a multi-year timeframe with 3-ish reinforcements of the appropriate standard, or at least talent level, each season (this can be scaled upwards, in terms of quantity and assured quality, as the money situation improves).
  • Having the collective perform a higher level than the sum of parts, and improving individual levels via coaching as their footballing tutor (something we aren't quite seeing with this head coach). The head coach needs to concentrate on improving individuals as well the collective, and being good at in-game and man management; leaving other tasks to the technical team.
  • Trying to qualify for Europe and meeting certain objectives by hook or by crook. In this day and age, not qualifying for the Champions League in particular is akin to getting relegated with regard to the financial and competitive shock and we pay a dear price for each non-qualification (which inhibits the rebuild we so desire). Flippantly burning through multiple seasons in the hopes of maybe, hopefully doing well (relatively speaking) in the future seems borderline suicidal for a club that absolutely needs to claw its way back into the Top 4 to enable the refurbishment of the squad.
Essentially someone who will arrest the tailspin we seem to be in and help restore us as a somewhat respectable Top 4-6 club as soon as practically possible (it's not completely unrealistic with good coaching and man-management and one good summer window where we prioritize a goal scorer, midfield organizer and playmaking fullback most of all). Once you reach that level it's easier to continually reshape the team because you have higher revenues and seem more appealing (to players and potential head coaching upgrades alike), so you enter a positive feedback loop where the process fuels and reinforces itself as long as the decision-making of the technical team (in charge of the assessment and recruitment of players and head coaches) is mostly on point.
Wow, yeah, totally agree. The additional problem with unicorn players is they have to be injury-proof on top of everything else. One injured unicorn and the system limps along or not at all.
 
10 league games left: are there no expectations on any of them? Can he lose all 10, win the Europa* and then he gets next season? I think we are even or maybe favorites in 3 of the last 10. If we win only those 3 it seems wild to accept a manager who will have won 8 out of 28, regardless of excuses. There are always excuses, injuries, bad luck, Egyptian curses, bad referee decisions. My opinion is he has to win by hook or by crook. If he doesn’t win he’s sacking himself, I just don’t know how many of the remaining 10 would be the limit.



*we aren’t winning the Europa
 
10 league games left: are there no expectations on any of them? Can he lose all 10, win the Europa* and then he gets next season? I think we are even or maybe favorites in 3 of the last 10. If we win only those 3 it seems wild to accept a manager who will have won 8 out of 28, regardless of excuses. There are always excuses, injuries, bad luck, Egyptian curses, bad referee decisions. My opinion is he has to win by hook or by crook. If he doesn’t win he’s sacking himself, I just don’t know how many of the remaining 10 would be the limit.



*we aren’t winning the Europa

The likeliest scenario is the most rational one. We're not getting relegated, we're not winning the EL, and we're obviously not going to finish in the upper half of the table. We're simply going to finish somewhere between 11th and 16th. The sooner we can begin our transfer business the better.
 
10 league games left: are there no expectations on any of them? Can he lose all 10, win the Europa* and then he gets next season? I think we are even or maybe favorites in 3 of the last 10. If we win only those 3 it seems wild to accept a manager who will have won 8 out of 28, regardless of excuses. There are always excuses, injuries, bad luck, Egyptian curses, bad referee decisions. My opinion is he has to win by hook or by crook. If he doesn’t win he’s sacking himself, I just don’t know how many of the remaining 10 would be the limit.



*we aren’t winning the Europa
If I was a betting man I’d put money on is not winning another game this season. I doubt we will even score 6 league goals in that time.
The players are poor but not this poor. If we don’t win again this season, how can he stay? Would be rediculous to keep him when we might only be able to give him 2 or 3 players due to PSR. Relegation fodder for next season.
 
So, 3 new signings would be the "open heart surgery" everyone is talking about? On the other hand, you can buy the best striker on the planet he would fail as our other players literally cannot serve him with good passes, crosses. Can you imagine Haaland in our team? The guy couldn't score 10 goals in one season. So i guess 3 new signings wouldn't be enough. We literally need a complete overhaul which seems actually impossible due to the poor economic situation of the club.

The moment Obi stepped on the pitch, he suddenly found chances. And he's 17.

Hojlund doesn't show natural movement and always ends up behind defenders.
That's one of the reasons we get insane amounts of blocked crosses.

Haaland would recieve and shield the ball, and go for 1-2s.

Rasmus's first touch is a short pass currently..
 
Just reckon most coaches, unless they are elite ones at the top of their game, are pretty expendable. So I think I would pull the plug on this particular experiment, overhasty and overly dramatic as that might sound?
This is it, isn’t it? I don’t know why there’s this disconnect with some fans and seeing players as expendable but not viewing manager’s in the same light.
 
Amorim will be sacked next Christmas in my opinion, I just cannot see this working out for many reasons, there is no way Ineos let this continue for more than 1 year

I also can't see him lasting the entirety of next season. I don't even think there's a guarantee if he survives this season, there will undoubtedly be a few more losses in the upcoming weeks.

The problem for Amorim is he's given himself too much to do. There's been absolutely no improvement to the team whatsoever. Everything is bad from the defence through to the attack. Fans will change the narrative in his favour to cope with diminished expectation, first it was not having a pro longed training session due to the schedule when he was hired, now it's transitioned to injuries. After the summer window it will be something along the lines of needing even more players or having to wait a few months for things to click.

It's almost nonsensical to assume that signing newer players will exalt the performance levels of the team. The biggest issue isn't the results but the performances, I don't think there's enough positives in what Anorim is attempting to do to capitalise on the success of it by spending money.

As it stands a 200+ million pounds investment will be wasted. The rhetoric will then be used to ridicule the owners as opposed to critiquing the managers usability of the newer acquired players in question.

Pending nothing short of a footballing miracle I reckon it takes Amorim his entire contract to reach top six plus an additional year and that's with the hope that the top 10 in the league don't improve too significantly.
 
Ok we are cool, all United fans want is just to get excited again every time our team plays and I repeat I was one of Amorim’s biggest champions when we recruited him because he offered something very fresh with his unique version of 3421, physical, mobile, compact, rotating triangles, working as a unit offensively and defensively but he had his wing backs high and in the limited time we saw Amad, I genuinely thought he was excellent as a right wing back and I just hope we get the 4 correct options we need to fulfil the most important players in this position, for his system to work.

Diego Leon if he settles looks a great buy to go with Dorgu, but he could and should have given Amass, Mantato or Scallion a go as well, even for 15/20 minutes in a game at wing back, to at least rest the current options.

He must find a way and soon to stop our more defensive wing backs to both play so deep, where PL opponents have worked out his system and just push their full backs really high to pen us into this Depressing, defensive 5221 playing on the edge of our penalty box.
We play Harry Maguire, we will always play a low block as long as he is in the back 3.Bar Dorgu and Ugarte we have no physicality.
He needs the time to build that nobody wants to give him anymore.
 
Dunno. Just reckon most coaches, unless they are elite ones at the top of their game, are pretty expendable. So I think I would pull the plug on this particular experiment, overhasty and overly dramatic as that might sound? :(

Sometimes things are extremely misaligned, in practise if not in theory, even accounting for mitigating factors. In those instances it's better to admit your fault and take swift remedial measures (with a more thorough understanding of what went wrong with your assessment processes in the first place and what not to do in the future), instead of persisting and wasting precious resources. And I quite like Amorim since his Sporting CP days too (likewise for Ten Hag since his Ajax days). It's nothing personal, you move on in a respectful and professional manner, and strive to do better with the next appointment.

The fundamental issue, which won't ever go away, is that it's extremely difficult to pull off a high-level 343 base. Doubly so with an orthodox one, where the manager won't adapt like Alonso or Nagelsmann would (or possibly tweak it to make is more threatening like a Cruyffian 3133). And even harder to sustain your success and performance on a year-to-year basis. You need wingbacks who are credible offensive and playmaking threats who will be respected by the opposition and also capable of shunting up and down the pitch while making a difference practically all on their own (or you get pinned back with little offensive width to speak of), you need midfielders who are freaky athletes with irrepresible engines and technically wonderful and capable of constructing the game (shortcomings in any of those aspects can have a domino effect on the rest of the team), you need centerbacks who are expert progressive passers and ball-carriers and capable of covering wide areas (if these centerbacks are not progressive you are again pinned back), and so forth. So much of the team has to be comprised of “unicorn players” to dominate and succeed at the top end of the Premier League vis-à-vis Liga Portugal with a 343 base (and unicorns are unicorns for a reason, they are extremely rare and in great demand).

It's high-difficulty mode football, when there's no need to have a high-difficulty approach, and margin for error is minimized. It's easier to hide your flaws and adapt to non-optimal circumstances in other bases. Which is part of the reason why they are so widely used and considered the norm, by also-ran and elite teams alike (elite teams aren't elite every week and every year, and they too need to adapt and hide their flaws from time to time). There's really no need to reinvent the wheel, when the burden of proof across the modern history of football (or even in the current year with likes of Real Madrid, Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona (all of whom play with a 433 or 4231 base)) is against us. Most of our flaws are not going to get resolved anytime soon, so it makes little sense to persist with an unyielding 343 base that amplifies our flaws. And the project itself might not even have an incredible medium term payoff, which is the underlying expectation when you put in so much time and effort surely, because even if you get everything right with regard to recruitment and development, it's comparivitely harder to sustain your success and performance on a year-to-year basis in an orthodox 343 base (which lends itself to boom-and-bust cycles and player churn).

Given where we are it makes more sense, at least in theory, to appoint someone with these characteristics...
  • Hiding the squad-construction flaws of Manchester United and putting players in positions to succeed with a hybrid positional-relational modus operandi, as opposed to highlighting and underscoring our shortcomings and also putting square pegs in round holes. Making do with the personnel at hand in 4231 or 433 bases, while the technical team attempts to improve the squad over a multi-year timeframe with 3-ish reinforcements of the appropriate standard, or at least talent level, each season (this can be scaled upwards, in terms of quantity and assured quality, as the money situation improves).
  • Having the collective perform a higher level than the sum of parts, and improving individual levels via coaching as their footballing tutor (something we aren't quite seeing with this head coach). The head coach needs to concentrate on improving individuals as well the collective, and being good at in-game and man management; leaving other tasks to the technical team.
  • Trying to qualify for Europe and meeting certain objectives by hook or by crook. In this day and age, not qualifying for the Champions League in particular is akin to getting relegated with regard to the financial and competitive shock and we pay a dear price for each non-qualification (which inhibits the rebuild we so desire). Flippantly burning through multiple seasons in the hopes of maybe, hopefully doing well (relatively speaking) in the future seems borderline suicidal for a club that absolutely needs to claw its way back into the Top 4 to enable the refurbishment of the squad.
Essentially someone who will arrest the tailspin we seem to be in and help restore us as a somewhat respectable Top 4-6 club as soon as practically possible (it's not completely unrealistic with good coaching and man-management and one good summer window where we prioritize a goal scorer, midfield organizer and playmaking fullback most of all). Once you reach that level it's easier to continually reshape the team because you have higher revenues and seem more appealing (to players and potential head coaching upgrades alike), so you enter a positive feedback loop where the process fuels and reinforces itself as long as the decision-making of the technical team (in charge of the assessment and recruitment of players and head coaches) is mostly on point.

You perfectly summarized my thinking. As a bit of a Football nerd I like the idea of 343s but if you think about it from a tactical standpoint it's easy to understand why they are not common. To me it's one of these formations that can only be applied opportunistically, if you somehow stumble on the appropriate group of players by all mean use it otherwise don't built a squad for it the same applies to 442 diamonds, 4321s or narrow 4222.
 
Give the man a break, he did not want to joint us mid season, but somehow he did and I bet he is regretting it (or is he ).Maybe what he is going through now would have been the same come the start of the new season. He has had time to see who fits in and who does not.also it has given him time to evaluate the younger players.Like everyone on here I am pissed off as well.But I can see some green shoots and I am remaining hopeful going froward.Only time will tell.
Nope sorry. He chose to ignore his own misgivings and took the job now instead of the summer.

He lost all right to that excuse when he bowed to the pressure and didn't listen to wisdom.
 
We play Harry Maguire, we will always play a low block as long as he is in the back 3.Bar Dorgu and Ugarte we have no physicality.
He needs the time to build that nobody wants to give him anymore.

You cannot build without results, we need to get up the table to get European football to deliver greater revenue which then allows you to spend more money on better players, any build from the position we are in will have to be done on the cheap and that's not an easy thing to do otherwise most clubs would be doing it
 
I want to see some belief in the presser tomorrow and obviously during the match on Thursday. Yes we're shite, but it's a cup competition and it's our last chance at salvaging anything this season.
 
Nope sorry. He chose to ignore his own misgivings and took the job now instead of the summer.

He lost all right to that excuse when he bowed to the pressure and didn't listen to wisdom.

United made it clear to him the job would not be available in the summer, so he had to either take it or leave it. This was on United, not Amorim.

The rewriting of history is absurd.
 
So, 3 new signings would be the "open heart surgery" everyone is talking about? On the other hand, you can buy the best striker on the planet he would fail as our other players literally cannot serve him with good passes, crosses. Can you imagine Haaland in our team? The guy couldn't score 10 goals in one season. So i guess 3 new signings wouldn't be enough. We literally need a complete overhaul which seems actually impossible due to the poor economic situation of the club.

I think your aggrandising how useful Hojlund really is we are talking about a severely limited footballer with no IQ to boot.

Haaland would definitely score in this team due to his sheer physicality but as seen with the likes of Alvarez tonight, Isak and Gyokores etc there are strikers who can make space for themselves and influence results. Hojlund is a terrible barometer to be assessing how other strikers will do.

But aside that there's a very valid aspect in your point concerning creativity and the midfield is the issue. I actually can't think of many central players in world football who improve Amorim's system especially domestically in the league. It's a midfield pivot and the wingbacks are significantly further ahead so no inverting movement to provide a passing option. You can also freeze frame United in possession to see how far apart everyone is.

Amorim will need to amend his philosophy to rectify those things.
It's not entirely the teams shape that is the issue but how it's accommodated. As stated majority of this forum would have taken Alonso in the summer and even though he and Amorim play a similar system they are fundamentally kilometers apart in philosophy.
 
And hopefully that is the view of the majority of the fans because this is the actual truth.

We are skint, probably won’t have European Football next year and Ruben just doesn’t inspire any confidence. There is a reason why the media is being briefed that the club may change its manager in the summer and all of a sudden we are linked with ; Xavi, Joachim Low, Allegri, Unai Emery, Ernesto Valverde, most of them are older and have years of experience.

All I’m going to say; is it ok now that every weekend or midweek game against any opposition, most United fans think we will be lucky to score a goal and maybe scrape a draw?

Is that really what we are now?

Is a squad that should have been improved this summer really that bad after wining two trophies, got to three finals, knocked out Barcelona over two legs in a European competition and finish 3rd then 8th in the last two seasons really as bad as 1.12 point per game and barely a goal per game?

I honestly think if we accept this then we are on the same path as Leeds were, the club needs to Set RA definite targets if he is to remain as coach next season?

At least another 18-20 points in the EPL and a semi final in Europa league, if not bye, bye Ruben?
Firstly you keep mentioning the media briefings about new managers.

Call INEOS SPINEOS, wouldn’t it make more sense for them to spin, how great Amorim is behind the scenes to justify there choice…..

Or maybe the media are reveling and click baiting, the maximum they can out of us being Sh1t.

Secondly this isn’t the same squad that finished 3rd.

Rashford gone, Fred gone, Varane gone, Shaw permanently injured, AWB gone, Eriksen legs have gone, Casemiro not the same, Mctominay gone and Weghorst is better than Hojlund atleast he could hold up the ball, DDG gone and Martial gone.

The fact ETH has replaced the majority of the above with crap, for extortionate prices is the reason we are where we are, the team that finished 3rd doesn’t exist here anymore.

If we accept it we are going to go the way of Leeds….

They went under, due to their board gambling on ITV Carlton TV revenue which never came, so had a fire sale and huge financial issues.

Looking at the cost cutting from INEOS and all the reliable financial experts, highlights the fact we are in serious trouble financially, without INEOS putting actual money in the club who know the situation we would be in, the Glazers wouldn’t put a penny in to save us from administration.

That doesn’t mean I am justifying anything they have done, I do not agree with all of it, but a business that hasn’t made a profit since 2019 and is losing money clearly is underperforming and bloated.

18-20 points if we added that onto what we are on now, that would put us 3rd behind Arsenal.

If that is your barometer for Amorim, you are having a laugh, he deserves some criticism but you think this team is gonna go on a run and start scoring goals for fun to win that many games.

You must truly be delusional, just like your usual £300m transfer window fantasy.
 
I think you’re being wildly optimistic, SJR had 7 managers in 5 years at Nice. He’s had 2 in 12 months so far at United!

Despite taking their shareholding 12 months ago, Ineos Sport had no real control over football matters until the end of the season, when they appointed their new management team (who technically all work for Utd, not Ineos).

Two of those 7 Nice managers were stand-in caretakers, appointed when a manager was sacked halfway through the season.
So by your reckoning, they've been through 3 managers at Utd , in the 8 months they've been in charge.

At Nice, they inherited their first manager, Patrick Viera and gave him time, but after 18 months he had to go..
The first season was uninspiring, but after dismal results in the first half of the following season, they decided to sack him.
A caretaker manager (Ursea) was brought in to complete the rest of the season.

Galtier was given 1 season in charge and finished 5th in the league.
He wasn't fired.
He left the club when PSG poached him at the end of the season.

They then brought back a former Nice manager, Favre, but he was a disaster and was sacked in the January of his first season.
The reserves manager Digard, was asked to step in and fill the post until the end of the campaign.

A full time manager, Farioli was signed at the end of that season (2 year contract).
The team started the new season positively, but it went downhill after the New year and they ended the season poorly, so off he went.

The current manager, since last summer, Franck Haise, has turned Nice's fortunes around.
They are currently 3rd in the league, in a CL spot, with 10 games left.
Just 3 points behind 2nd place Marseille.
PSG with their €€millions, are runaway league leaders, as usual.

Haise is the 4th manager appointed full time since Ineos bought the club.
They have sacked 3, one of which, Viera, who they inherited and didn't appoint.
One left to go to PSG and their 4th appointee is doing well at the present time.

Note also, Nice's heyday was in the 1950's.
For nearly 60 years since, they've been a mid to lower league team, with a few spells in the 2nd division.
Before SJR took over, they've only had a few fleeting moments of finishing in the top 6 or getting to a cup final.
Looks like they're now making progress.


.
 
I think you’re being wildly optimistic, SJR had 7 managers in 5 years at Nice. He’s had 2 in 12 months so far at United!
If he has replaced ETH in the summer, he still would have had 2 in 12 months, so I don’t get what your point is.
 
As things stand at the moment I will be astounded if Ineos stick with him passed the summer.
 
As things stand at the moment I will be astounded if Ineos stick with him passed the summer.

Also consider the demeanor of Amorim in interviews and post match media he's under pressure. I think fans have invented this scenario where he can finish in an abysmal league position and he remains irrespective.

I reckon INEOS have given him support but no reassurance. He mentioned the objective for the club winning the league even if he's not the man in charge. That doesn't sound like someone with the same level of backing from the hierarchy as fans believe.
 
I think your aggrandising how useful Hojlund really is we are talking about a severely limited footballer with no IQ to boot.

Haaland would definitely score in this team due to his sheer physicality but as seen with the likes of Alvarez tonight, Isak and Gyokores etc there are strikers who can make space for themselves and influence results. Hojlund is a terrible barometer to be assessing how other strikers will do.

But aside that there's a very valid aspect in your point concerning creativity and the midfield is the issue. I actually can't think of many central players in world football who improve Amorim's system especially domestically in the league. It's a midfield pivot and the wingbacks are significantly further ahead so no inverting movement to provide a passing option. You can also freeze frame United in possession to see how far apart everyone is.

Amorim will need to amend his philosophy to rectify those things.
It's not entirely the teams shape that is the issue but how it's accommodated. As stated majority of this forum would have taken Alonso in the summer and even though he and Amorim play a similar system they are fundamentally kilometers apart in philosophy.
Adam Wharton is the one, has showed he can do it in the PL at Palace, would just cost a fortune.
 
As things stand at the moment I will be astounded if Ineos stick with him passed the summer.

A few on here have convinced themselves that we are going to go out and spend a load of money in the Summer buying him the players he needs to overhaul the squad but the truth is the club is skint (and will be even worse off without the income from European football and the related loss of Sponsorship) so simply cant afford to do that and will be starting next season with mostly the same squad Ruben is failing to get perormances out of now.
 
United made it clear to him the job would not be available in the summer, so he had to either take it or leave it. This was on United, not Amorim.

The rewriting of history is absurd.

Which does make you wonder how much they actually see him as the man they want to take their project forward if they couldn't even wait 6 months to hire him.