Should Manchester United sack Ruben Amorim? Or should INEOS shoulder the blame?
Ruben Amorim’s future is up in the air at the moment, with many Manchester United fans turning on the manager and adamant that a change has to be made in the dugout. Amorim has the worst win percentage in the history of the club, dating back to the Second World War, and Sunday’s 3-0 defeat to Manchester City killed any momentum for the season that was swimming around the club.
Amorim’s success was born in Portugal. Winning Sporting’s first league title in 19 years was no mean feat, but many are under the impression that success in the Portuguese league is so much easier than the Premier League, with the overall level of coaches and players in the Premier League across the board hugely different from the quality in the Portuguese equivalent. The biggest criticism of Amorim is his stubbornness, and in stark contrast to Erik ten Hag, who abandoned his supposed philosophy after two games and refused to go back to it, Amorim has never deviated from his belief in his own system and the 3-4-3 formation that moulds it together.
Amorim’s system is predictable
The issue with having one way of doing things is that once other managers understand the way your team works, they only really need one plan in order to break it down. Managers have begun to realise that if you overload United centrally, mostly with a 4v2, you can more or less win the game. United’s defenders are reluctant to jump into the midfield to track the runners that overload within the opposition, and this means you see the dominance other sides continue to have over Amorim’s team.
It’s not just been an issue under Amorim in regards to defenders jumping. Erik ten Hag’s issues also stemmed from an uneven central midfield pairing, and centre-backs and full-backs who seemed to be unable to bridge the gaps and pick up players in the void between defence and midfield. Amorim is not the only person responsible for the issues at United, and these issues have been going on much longer than just this season.
This, however, could be rectified by Amorim, and he can’t just blame the team’s issues on personnel. As a manager, you need to adapt to the weaknesses of your players, especially if they are as glaringly obvious as the ones within the United team. Pulling the defensive line closer to the midfield line and adding another midfielder into the central area to seal the wounds of the consistent overloads that are killing the side on a weekly basis would be hugely beneficial. 2 man midfields are extremely difficult to maintain within the Premier League, especially if the midfield pairing is Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro playing as two number sixes. It’s extremely difficult to make it work at the best of times, let alone with a pairing like that.
INEOS recruitment has let the manager down too
An area United have let Amorim down is in recruitment. Now, that’s not suggesting they haven’t backed Amorim financially; they have, of course, especially this summer, but with regards to personnel, it hasn’t been impressive. Benjamin Sesko and Matheus Cunha made sense, although the sale of Rasmus Hojlund really didn’t, and if Amorim is behind it as much as INEOS, he should shoulder the blame for that. The biggest gripe recruitment-wise with respect to INEOS has to be the fact that they signed a manager who quite clearly needs pure wing-backs, and have not signed one true wing-back since he came into the club.
Although they targeted Geovany Quenda and lost out, after that, there have not been many palpable links to any wing-backs bar Roger Fernandes. United spoke to Fernandes, we understand, quite a few times, but nothing concrete ever came about with the transfer, and Fernandes ended up signing for Saudi League side Al Ittihad in the end for just £26m. A fee United could surely have afforded, giving them a legitimate wing-back option for a system that truly craves players in those positions who are capable of contributing to the attack.
A midfielder is also somewhere Amorim has been let down. United went for Baleba, but decided no other midfielder in world football could improve a United side without any sort of mobile six within the squad as it stands. How can that make any sense? How can you feel there is not one midfielder within the market who could add speed and tenacity plus mobility to a United side who are struggling so much centrally due to a lack of that?
Midfielder was absolutely vital this summer
It’s a wild situation to look in from. Ederson was targeted in the summer, and concrete discussions took place, but again, United never moved. Carlos Baleba was the main target, and they are determined to wait, but what happens if the club falls even further between now and the summer, and it becomes an even less attractive option than it was this summer?
United have not signed a world-class true central midfielder since Paul Pogba. The midfield signings since Pogba have been nothing short of shocking. Nemanja Matic is perhaps the best of that bunch, but even at that, the Serbian signed when he was 31 years old. After that, it was Fred, Donny Van De Beek, Casemiro and Manuel Ugarte. Bruno Fernandes has been left out of that list due to his more attacking nature, as has Mason Mount. To look at that list and the midfield options at six at the club currently with a manager who plays a 2 man midfield and decide you cannot strengthen that side other than Carlos Baleba is nothing short of incredible, and questions have to been answered for the fact they felt a midfielder wasn’t a true priority this summer, despite briefing it was at the window’s start.
Amorim, in my opinion, should get a bit more time, but he has to take advantage of that time. He has to adapt; he has to release his stubbornness, but he is not the only one at fault for this situation. The next weeks are vital. Can you adapt to the midfield being outnumbered every week? Can you ensure your defenders fully commit to jumping into the midfield? Real Madrid showcased how to do this successfully last night against Marseille, with Dean Huijsen jumping into midfield, meaning Xabi Alonso’s side were pressing almost in a 3-2-4-1 at times out of possession. Alonso was a man seemingly bedded to a 3-4-3 formation, but changed because he knew he had to. Amorim needs to take notes from Alonso’s book because he is quite clearly a good coach.
The 40-year-old is not blind to the issues. He’s in the position he’s in because he is talented. Many of us on Twitter criticise, but are we walking into Sporting and winning two league titles in four years? The exact same system, recruited properly, played Manchester City off the park a month before Amorim left the club to join Manchester United. It can work, but he NEEDS to tweak it. He has the personality to succeed. His communication is world-class. But he has to change some small things to make this system succeed. And I believe he can do this, but only time will tell on Ruben Amorim and Manchester United.
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