I get that there are a lot of mitigating circumstances for Amorim. But other than the bad situation he’s in, what is he actively doing, other than his interviews and press conferences, that instils you with confidence?
Happy to answer from my perspective as I do see things I like on the pitch, though I would like to underline that: 1. I still put a lot of weight on what he did at Sporting, with good football, youth development, and drastically rebuilding a failing club, 2. His press conferences and general media persona are a significant factor, doing a good job of keeping his head and not deflecting blame whilst he faces a seemingly endless barrage of shit that is out of his control and 3. Whilst he has not done enough so far in the role to convince he is the man, I'd rather solve one big problem at a time, and recruitment and squad quality in THE main issue with the club.
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So firstly I can see what he's trying to do, and in theory I like it. A more structured and automated attempt to win the possession battle in defence and midfield, that then leads to releasing attacking players into space and high xg chances where they can express themselves and be creative. There's an extra defender, but you're still attacking with 5, even a sixth if one of the CMs pushes up, since the wbs can be both winger and defender.
The process of winning that battle at the back has started to show fruit. On plenty of occasions in most games now you'll see some fairly slick passing to beat the press, which then releases our attackers to run at the oppositions back line. Whilst this rarely results in goals (which I put down to the quality of our attackers), I can easily see how better players capitalise on those kinds of opportunities.
At other times you'll see the ball go directly into the 10 or 9 from defence, bypassing the midfield who've drawn the opposition out of the way, again creating good opportunities. Zirkzee has shown real value over the past couple months in receiving the ball like this, turning and setting up good opportunities. But again, a lack of quality elsewhere stops this being possible, and I can easily see how players with better hold up player make this a more consistent process.
I also like just having proper width again. I get a sad little buzz every time that switch is on to the wb who is free high up on the wing. Unfortunately its normally Dalot who is out there, and the opposition don't fear him and would rather cover Dorgu on the other side. Again, better wb options does more for us there.
So yeah tactically I'm up for it and can see it working. Sit back and counter was fun at times under Ole, but wasn't enough in the big games that required more tactical nous. I can't do that tortuous Dutch possession football anymore, its so fecking boring. And Ten Hag's suicide ball was just stupid. Its not going to be relentless pressure ala early Liverpool, but whilst that might be fun I don't think its sustainable with the amount of games you have to play these days. Case in point, I don't think its a coincidence that Liverpool finally win a proper league title now that they've calmed things down a bit - the league is too much of a marathon to be constantly pressing and running.
So I'm totally up for trying this Amorim ball. It needs better quality, but I honestly cannot think of a system that wouldn't require us to drastically rebuild anyway. I keep seeing people say find something that fits the players, but Im yet to see anyone put a convincing argument across about what that would be and how that would get us top 4 with the players we have.
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So that's the structure, and I think you can see improvement in certain players as well. De Ligt is really starting to grow into the player I expected him to be, and I think he's going to flourish as the CCB over the next few years. Maguire as a stand in also looking better than he has in a long time. Casemiro looks reborn, which is a real credit to Amorim, not just in finding a tactical fit for him when he looked so washed, but also how he seems to have bought out a leader in him when I thought he'd checked out towards the end of Ten Hag's time. Zirkzee, who I had frankly written off, is now mourned by many after that latest injury, which tells you how well he's playing even though he isn't putting up the numbers. There's a lesson in the need to actually watch the games and not just look at the stats.
I think he's doing a great job with the kids as well. Heaven, Yoro, Dorgu all have a lot of pressure on them, often thrust in without the freedom to be eased in as kids should. But they're performing by and large. Dorgu is potentially the weakest of the three, but even then I think the criticism of him has been harsh, and he's had more good games than bad. Overall he's shielding these kids and developing them at the same time which is what we need him to do.
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To pre-empt some the counter points - here's where I think he could do better. 1. Surely there's a pacey winger in the academy we can bring in to the run in behind at the end of games. Maybe I'm wrong, but there's too much pressure on Garnacho to be the only runner in the team 2. Could he have done more to help Hojlund improve? Told him to stop wrestling and just get on the end of crosses - I don't know.
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So to summarise, I see what he's trying to do, I see evidence of it starting to materialise, I see really positive attributes in his management, and I think we can be patient with him whilst we sort out squad quality, that would need to be done regardless if he stays or not.
Hope that answers your question.
