Ruben Amorim | United meet Sporting release clause

[pocco]

Listening to Andy Mitten just now on Irish radio. My god, he absolutely makes me sick listening to him. Sounds like he is trying to make out majority of fans are idiots who “only wanted deLigt in the summer and said he is brilliant because his name isn’t Harry Maguire” and also wanted McTominay sold but are now realising he’s top class. Worst comment was, fans were telling him “Ugarte is the Messi of midfielders”.

He then went on to suggest that someone told him, but he wouldn’t say who, that the new manager is going to be a disaster.

Christ, has he lost the plot or something? Doesn't sound like the sort of stuff he normally comes out with. He was on SSN yesterday and seemed a bit downbeat after the sacking.

I respect his knowledge and love for the club but I don't find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says. But he's not usually the one to be talking so negatively. I find him a bit annoying in how he seems to be a bit of a positive mouthpiece for the club half of the time.

 

[Withnail]

Listening to Andy Mitten just now on Irish radio. My god, he absolutely makes me sick listening to him. Sounds like he is trying to make out majority of fans are idiots who “only wanted deLigt in the summer and said he is brilliant because his name isn’t Harry Maguire” and also wanted McTominay sold but are now realising he’s top class. Worst comment was, fans were telling him “Ugarte is the Messi of midfielders”.

He then went on to suggest that someone told him, but he wouldn’t say who, that the new manager is going to be a disaster.

That really doesn't sound like anything Andy would say. Are you sure you paraphrasing him correctly? He's usually quite measured and not at all sensationalist. Got a link?

 

[saik]

I'm just more interested in what Amorim could do with Hojlund.

Same. He theoretically should be able to get a lot out of Hojlund considering what he did with Gyokeres, albeit in the Portuguese League. I've been banging about this since yesterday.

 

[DRJosh]

I like his vibe and he has a bit more personality than others we’ve had. I can’t help but hope this sparks us into life. Not asking for a turnaround but a decent 6th placed finish would be great.

 

[croadyman]

Watching this I'd say it'll suit the majority of our players including Bruno and Dalot. I don't see how Rashford will manage it though as he can't play in these tight spaces at all so he'll be a backup striker.

The only major gap I can see is at LB but we had that issue with Shaw and Malacia anyway.

Who would do you think is the best LWB we could bring in, ideally January but certainly next summer

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

First Ronaldo, then Nani, then Bruno & now Ruben Amorim. Grandpa must be sick of the sight of us.

 

[thisisnottaken1]

Not gonna lie, I did feel for him while watching that video.

 

[P4rthen0n]

As opposition fans how you feel about him? What do you think his tactics lack or may be an issue in the PL where every game is a battle?

Amorim is great. I always rated him as a player (even though he was no star), but he's a much better manager. I wish he was Benfica's manager for the past 3 years.
Well spoken and gives great press conferences. He's not robotic nor boring.
He will admit to mistakes and he will own the bad results. He is not known to blame the refs, which is very very rare in Portugal (everyone blames the refs).
He is not hostile towards rival clubs, he's very respectful in fact.
He gets the players to buy in. He'll focus on improving the team dynamics, which in turn also improves the individual players.
He promotes alot of youth players and develops them into fully fledged starters.
He is also too stubborn at times, as in he will keep playing underperforming players no matter what, even past the point where the fans are desperate for a change (like he feels he's in debt to said players? or out of a sense of loyalty?). Only way to solve this is for the club to sell those players, otherwise he'll keep playing them. Most notable examples are Esgaio, Paulinho and Adan.
Amorim has never had to deal with players with massive egos, not even a single one (he's always kinda been the underdog and Sporting is not a star buying club). It remains to be seen how he'll handle the big egos in the Man Utd locker room.

Having said all that, I have no idea how he will fare in the Prem. Will he play 3/4 at the back? 1/2 strikers?
Being honest, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool are too strong at the moment, so I do not believe in a top3 place this season, I think top 5/6 is more reasonable. Then work up to the top4 next season and go from there.


But at the end of the day, he's a great manager. And I'm VERY glad he's leaving Sporting, which means Benfica will get a decent chance to claw back some points and hopefuly win the league.
To put in perspective what he's done at Sporting for the last 4 years, it's like if Atletico won 2 La Ligas and were the clear front runners to win back to back this year. That's what he's done.

 

[Rolaholic]

 

[Raoul]

Se

Seeing as he's played with Ronaldo, maybe he'd be able to get the best out of him, so therefore we should bring him back?

I’m sure they spoke.

CR7 is only on £3.1m a week, so why not.

 

[simonhch]

For the first time in a very long time, I am actually excited to watch United again. Understand it will take time but we were going nowhere under Ten Hag, and couldn’t be more delighted with this change.

 

[criticalanalysis]

I'm sorry, apart from the WC 22 final, the last football game I saw was some 6 or 7 years ago, I totally retired. Just piqued my interest to look at fan reactions as nostalgia.

Wow that's a proper break! Fair play to you. Would probably do wonders for my own mental health and general life enjoyment if I could walk away from it too..

Amorim is great. I always rated him as a player (even though he was no star), but he's a much better manager. I wish he was Benfica's manager for the past 3 years.
Well spoken and gives great press conferences. He's not robotic nor boring.
He will admit to mistakes and he will own the bad results. He is not known to blame the refs, which is very very rare in Portugal (everyone blames the refs).
He is not hostile towards rival clubs, he's very respectful in fact.
He gets the players to buy in. He'll focus on improving the team dynamics, which in turn also improves the individual players.
He promotes alot of youth players and develops them to fully fledged starters.
He is also too stubborn at times, as in he will keep playing underperforming players no matter what, even past the point where the fans are desperate for a change (like he feels he's in debt to said players? or out of a sense of loyalty?). Only way to solve this is for the club to sell those players, otherwise he'll keep playing them. Most notable examples are Esgaio, Paulinho and Adan.
Amorim has never had to deal with players with massive egos, not even a single one (he's always kinda been the underdog and Sporting is not a star buying club). It remains to be seen how he'll handle the big egos in the Man Utd locker room.

Having said all that, I have no idea how he will fare in the Prem. Will he play 3/4 at the back? 1/2 strikers?
Being honest, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool are too strong at the moment, so I do not believe in a top3 place this season, I think top 5 is more reasonable. Then work up to the top4 next season and go from there.


But at the end of the day, he's a great manager. And I'm VERY glad he's leaving Sporting, which means Benfica will get a decent chance to claw back some points and hopefuly win the league.
To put in perspective what he's done at Sporting for the last 4 years, it's like if Atletico won 2 La Ligas and were the clear front runners to win back to back this year. That's what he's done.

Thanks for the write up! Very insightful and encouraging, although the constantly playing underperforming players bit is very alarming to hear.

As for the expectation, I am of the same opinion. It would be delusional to expect a title challenge. It's sad to say but if he can get us to a level of being a solid top four team, that would be the realistic aim.

 

[DarkLord1984]

I’m sure they spoke.

CR7 is only on £3.1m a week, so why not.

We can afford it! Third time's a charm, right?

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

I really want him to effect change quickly, I'm done with the patience, I don't expect a top 4, but we should beat teams lower than us most of the time, and get closer to the top 4, too much time to effect change means he's not it.

 

[DSG]

He’s gonna have to swap out the Nike’s for a pair of Superstars

No no no. Nike Blazers, air Jordans 1 with the North Carolina color way or platform Gazelles. It has been written.

 

[DSG]

I was also excited about Ten Hag, have become sober and is now drunk again on Amorim.

All you need to know:
Erik (‘ei’+’rikr’=eternal+ruler) ten Hag (‘ten’ of the + ‘hag/haag’ hedge)

= The eternal ruler of the hedge.

So basically a garden gnome (gotta love those, mind).

Then:

Ruben (‘rubeus’ = red) Amorim (‘amor’ = love)

= Red love / Lover of Reds

You just can’t beat that.

Dope.

 

[marcus agrippa]

Listening to Andy Mitten just now on Irish radio. My god, he absolutely makes me sick listening to him. Sounds like he is trying to make out majority of fans are idiots who “only wanted deLigt in the summer and said he is brilliant because his name isn’t Harry Maguire” and also wanted McTominay sold but are now realising he’s top class. Worst comment was, fans were telling him “Ugarte is the Messi of midfielders”.

He then went on to suggest that someone told him, but he wouldn’t say who, that the new manager is going to be a disaster.

Very curious who this person is, how they know this, and whether they could kindly give me next week's winning Lotto numbers.

Wasn't Mitten the one with the Twitter poll about keeping ETH after the FA Cup final? Must be gutted after all that.

 

[klayton88]

He's in for a right treat when he arrives at Manchester Airport. He'll have to walk six miles because the plane stopped at Gate 112 and the flat escalator things have been broken/turned off since 2001. It's such a grim airport isn't it.

 

[croadyman]

That was anticlimactic. He went straight down the tunnel with barely a wave.

Can understand him doing that because maybe he will be there for the game on Friday

 

[noelyman]

He's in for a right treat when he arrives at Manchester Airport. He'll have to walk six miles because the plane stopped at Gate 112 and the flat escalator things have been broken/turned off since 2001. It's such a grim airport isn't it.

It really is. I currently live in Hong Kong which makes Manchester Airport look like a 3rd world airport. Whenever I meet guests at Mcr Airport, and they want a trolley. I always feel extremely embarrassed to tell them that you have to pay a pound for one.

 

[klayton88]

It really is. I currently live in Hong Kong which makes Manchester Airport look like a 3rd world airport. Whenever I meet guests at Mcr Airport, and they want a trolley. I always feel extremely embarrassed to tell them that you have to pay a pound for one.

Don't tell them about the drop off fees at departures. I'm flying to Abu Dhabi early next year and that's going to be night and day. In more positive news, Ruben the Red will be flying soon, any flight tracker people on it?

 

[Chipper]

Not gonna lie, I did feel for him while watching that video.

Same here, one of a few thoughts I had watching it.

The others were that I miss caring about football as much as that, and that I'm glad I don't at the same time. All over the place.

 

[RDCR07]

Sign him up

I think if we does well even after Amorim leaves then he is the real deal and not just a system player.

 

[Cessna]

I wonder if his style can also fit well into the PL.

 

[croadyman]

I wonder if his style can also fit well into the PL.

Yeah that's my biggest concern, do we have enough players in squad capable of being able to play it. Ideally he would also have managed in one of the top 5 leagues already too.

 

[Red Comet]

I really want him to effect change quickly, I'm done with the patience, I don't expect a top 4, but we should beat teams lower than us most of the time, and get closer to the top 4, too much time to effect change means he's not it.

I don’t have a league position in mind, but as long as the team looks like it’s coming together and there is a semblance of a plan and proper playing style I’m happy.

 

[lex talionis]

As we've seen with Emery with Villa, and of Klopp with Liverpool, it doesn't take a long time to take a solid squad and turn into a great team. Arteta is another case study in how much the right manager can change the fortunes of a good squad, although it took a bit longer for Arteta to get side side purring like an Aston Martin.

It remains to be seen whether we have the right man in Amorim, but confidence in his ability to turn what is in truth a pretty decent but woefully underperforming squad into a functional squad and soon thereafter a powerful squad is not out of order.

 

[Teja]

Amorim is great. I always rated him as a player (even though he was no star), but he's a much better manager. I wish he was Benfica's manager for the past 3 years.
Well spoken and gives great press conferences. He's not robotic nor boring.
He will admit to mistakes and he will own the bad results. He is not known to blame the refs, which is very very rare in Portugal (everyone blames the refs).
He is not hostile towards rival clubs, he's very respectful in fact.
He gets the players to buy in. He'll focus on improving the team dynamics, which in turn also improves the individual players.
He promotes alot of youth players and develops them into fully fledged starters.
He is also too stubborn at times, as in he will keep playing underperforming players no matter what, even past the point where the fans are desperate for a change (like he feels he's in debt to said players? or out of a sense of loyalty?). Only way to solve this is for the club to sell those players, otherwise he'll keep playing them. Most notable examples are Esgaio, Paulinho and Adan.
Amorim has never had to deal with players with massive egos, not even a single one (he's always kinda been the underdog and Sporting is not a star buying club). It remains to be seen how he'll handle the big egos in the Man Utd locker room.

Having said all that, I have no idea how he will fare in the Prem. Will he play 3/4 at the back? 1/2 strikers?
Being honest, Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool are too strong at the moment, so I do not believe in a top3 place this season, I think top 5/6 is more reasonable. Then work up to the top4 next season and go from there.


But at the end of the day, he's a great manager. And I'm VERY glad he's leaving Sporting, which means Benfica will get a decent chance to claw back some points and hopefuly win the league.
To put in perspective what he's done at Sporting for the last 4 years, it's like if Atletico won 2 La Ligas and were the clear front runners to win back to back this year. That's what he's done.

Hi - thanks for the detailed post. What do you make of comments that he's not very flexible tactically and doesn't have a lot of new ideas?

The crux of his system is the same back 3, two wing backs to provide width, somewhat workman like midfield two and a narrow front 3. The way it seems to work is you try to get a midfield overload by keeping the 3 attackers and 2 midfielders in the middle. If the opposition sits narrow to counter, the wing backs will hurt you. If you spread out wide, the attackers have space. This has been the case for about four years now.

It's a fairly basic system 5 ATB system. If we get a bit more into the nuance, I can tell there are about 3 different build up structures.

1. The center center back steps into midfield and makes a midfield two with the DM and wing backs out wide for support. Think Stones with Pep. Some amount of positional rotation.

2. Striker makes runs into the channels and the wide center backs are expected to be good enough passers to hit that ball into the channel.

3. The normal 3-2 or even 4-2 if you include the GK with 3 defenders in a straight line and two mids infront of them.

I guess does he really have the innovativeness of an Arterta, let alone a Pep? Or is he just a one or two season manager that needs to be moved on when things get stale?

On the press there seems to be a standard 4-4-2 / 4-2-4 type structure. They got man to man sometimes which is obvious to execute but also maybe the opposition knows how to bypass equally easily. They got zonal in some others but I haven't looked too deeply at this.

 

[1988]

Are we expecting official news today, or tomorrow out of respect for the match tonight?

 

[Ahmer Baig]

Antony still the most one footed player ever though even here. His right foot is completely irrelevant and immaterial.

His right foot only aids him in walking and nothing else.

 

[croadyman]

Are we expecting official news today, or tomorrow out of respect for the match tonight?

Well couple of Sun journos (yes I know) suggested him and his backroom staff could fly into Manchester today. I would personally prefer to wait for more reliable sources though