I feel for Amorim. Say what you will about him as a coach, I can't think of many coaches at the top level who have a tougher job than him in this moment. Fresh of the back of 45 minutes with 10 men, he's now had to put pretty much the same group of players through 120 minutes that end up being for nothing. Now he has to pick them up for another crucial game, away, in just a few days, against another team that will no doubt be salivating at the at the idea of kicking this giant whilst they're down.
And if this guy is anything like me (he's not, but go with me), then its not the on field performances that are giving you headaches. He'll be resigned to the lack of quality by now, and the effort & fight shown by the players has been good (if not great) since Everton. Its everything else that will be killing him. The state of the club, the layoffs, the press, what seems like every corner of the internet that isn't talking about Trump. Christ I hope the poor guy doesn't read redcafe.
But more than anything else its his lack of options that'll be killing him. Having to bring on a 17 year old and hoping he does something because your 22 year old isn't doing it (and has never shown he can do it). 18 year old Heaven on for Maguire because Martinez is injured. Dalot on the left, again even though he's shown a complete inability to deliver quality into the box, because your new 20 year old January lifeline showed the immaturity of a 20 year old against Ipswich. He's had to adapt to that with maybe 1 training session in between, which he's probably spent doing set pieces because he has quite astutely realised its our best chance of scoring (and he's been proven right).
Now he's got to pick these guys up again after 120 exhausting minutes of a game that they actually had the better of, ahead of the most important tie of the season. Again, with maybe 1 training session. Wish I could buy the poor bastard a beer.
I commonly see a lack of flexibility leveled against him, but all I see is him having to make compromises. Like yesterday - we know he doesn't want to play on the counter, but if you have to drop Bruno into midfield then you know he's going to release and he's going to do so with the patience of a toddler. I love Bruno but stable controlled possession is not his game. He wants his 10 dominating the centre, but after losing Amad, Mount, and Bruno (to midfield) you're left with Eriksen who can't cover ground, and Garnacho who always drifts wide (blocking the wb), won't pass and can't score.
I think this chaos is whats allowing me to hope. The hope being that he gets his players back from injury, gets a preseason to train, gets the odd parts and old legs out and gets players in he can use and slowly everything calms down. Now to be honest, I said the same about Ten Hag. The difference is I can actually see what Amorim is trying to do, which I didn't ever see with Ten Hag. I just hope beyond hope Ineos stick by their first appointment, and focus instead on fixing all the other issues with the team, that would be there regardless of whether they get rid of Amorim or not. Solve one thing at a time.
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I also think we'll look back on his handling of Garnacho in years to come as a really interesting early example of his management. For all the talk of his tactical inflexibility, his use of Garnacho is a genuine example the opposite. I think Amorim recognises the intensity and spark that Garnacho brings to a game, and he has publicly called out his strengths in 1 v 1s. He recognises his value, and yet I'd be astonished if Garnacho is here come September.
You look back at the post Fergie years, and we've rarely regretted letting a player go too early. Evans, Welbeck, Blind maybe - please remind me if I've forgotten anyone (and I think I'm being generous there). Our problem has been the opposite - getting rid of players too late.
Now I like Garnacho the player, though he could do with a little bit of maturing as a character. As a player though he's direct, intense, skilkful, capable of the spectacular. A joy to watch at times. Still - time to get rid. His negative traits will need time to coach out (if they can be coached out). Namely his inability to get his head up and find the pass, his poor conversion rate and his poor decision making. Regardless of whether or not you want to give Amorim a team, these are traits that the next manager would have to deal with.
But there is potential there, so there is still a risk of selling him now for a price that undervalues the player he will become. That makes him fairly unique in the backing Amorim question, because whilst everyone else that needs to go, and all the profiles you need to bring in are fairly universal (wbs excluded), Garnacho and his potential are a bonafide sacrifice to the Amorim way of playing. It is vital then that Ineos get a good price for Garnacho, because otherwise forcing him out at any price will always be a stick to beat Amorim with.
