Completely agree with your posts.
I think many on here are channeling their frustrations in the wrong direction. And what I mean by that is, that say you're the CEO for example and for arguments sake, you go ahead and appoint a head coach without my input (I'm the DoF). What my job as the DoF is to then understand who the head coach is and how he sets up his team and how his system functions, and then go about setting a recruitment plan to help the coach succeed in implementing his system of play via the recruitment process. This is where Wilcox failed and he failed miserably and it would've got most coaches the sack due to his complete lack of understanding of recruiting players for a style of play in the present day EPL where the top teams are dominating games by sacrificing defensive stability for goals by having strong build up potential from the back and strong rest defense capabilities out of possession in a higher line.
I couldn't care less who appointed the head coach but it was absolutely the responsibility of Wilcox to direct the recruitment towards aiding the development of the head coach who was appointed at the club. And this is what the crux of the matter is imo.
It doesn‘t matter if the coach you've hired employs a back 4 formation or a back 3 formation. Because the fundamental requirements to implement a system of play that is proactive, requires the same positions to control the game in both the build up phase and also the rest defense where managing space out of possession greatly aids towards controlling the game. The game now is controlled by the collective in and out of possession and not like individual players did in the past. Because in the past, the amount of space that was afforded to the deeper players meant they had a abundance of time and space to pick their passes. In the present day, teams are applying coordinated pressure on the ball and having vertical passing ability at a high level within your CB and deeper midfield lines along with the ability to evade and resist pressure which is a key fundamental requirement to overcome the high pressing threat of the opponent. What we do as a team to overcome that problem is to bypass the midfield completely which works in some games but it hinders us in many other games. And this is the reason we don't have the ability to control the game and pin the opponent in their own half, especially against the decent teams in the league.
Any coach coming into Man Utd post ten Hag has to prioritise the CB and midfield connection to create the conditions to implement a system which has strong build up play from the back and into midfield and then that has to be backed up by the same players having the ability to manage space in a higher line. When you create this foundation in your team, you then have the foundation to create a style which sacrifices defensive stability for goals and sets us up to control and dominate the game. But as soon as many hear that a coach utilises a back 3 formation, then they can't seem to look past wingbacks and the reality is that a wingback is only as important as a fullback or a wide forward would be due to the requirement of horizontally stretching the pitch.
So with Amorim at SCP, he had a backline that could break lines at will and a central midfield pivot in Hjulmand who provided a strong presence in midfield where he was the first receiver of the pass and his ability to retain possession and vertically progress the ball was of a good level. So I'm not saying all of those 4 layers in defence and midfield were perfect but that 4 player dynamic where they had the ability to collectively progress the ball and defend against the transitions of the opposition was the foundation of SCP. And due to that 4 player dynamic it made the rest of the players even more effective, especially the wingbacks. Because when you have huge progressive ball playing from the backline and midfield as a collective then the ball is going find it's intended targets and hence the system is going to function.
Wilcox did nothing to aid the development of the system and instead like a rookie he directed far too much funds towards the forward line. And hence predictably the conversation was always going to turn towards the manager having to adapt to Wilcox's incompetence. And he was unlikely to survive the inevitable due to having a incapable first phase dynamic that has plagued us for years.
Exactly, you may not like the decision, you may think he won't last, but you still have to do the job for the good of the club, because the decision has been made. You can make some contingency by not spunking cash on hyper specialist roles, like wing backs, but there are clear fundamentals of a successful team he's demonstrably ignored. It's never been more apparent with the league now, the team that is running away with it just don't give up chances - their attack is pretty average, only half their goals come from open play. "Lesser" teams are able to pick up attacking talent so easily now, making them extremely dangerous on the break. This only exacerbates the need for the profiles we're discussing. Before Isak and Wirtz, the 3 record transfers were Enzo, Caicedo and Rice and they all had willing suitors to pay top dollar for them. Arsenal still dominating without a real striker, yet our recruitment team determined focussing completely on attack was the right . Take Amorim, the formation, etc out of it - they just don't get the league we're in.
Agreed, I think he's wasted time, which isn't a given in our situation. We're now walking a tightrope to get European football, because it's going to difficult for anyone to trying to play a proactive style with the squad. I know he can always say, we can adapt for the players we have and this season play more counter attacking and become more expansive next season, but why not just set the squad up with the right profiles and you can build from a stable base? It makes zero sense to have a strategy of lurching between systems every season.
Amorim was never my first choice anyway, as I always thought the system would become the main focus as in England we just can't get onboard with 3 backs, United fans especially will find it hard to ever get on board with it, as it's only ever associated with being defensive. That's not to say he couldn't be a success with it, but without that key CB and midfield connection, it was never going to show what it could be. Watching Martinez step into midfield has given us a flavour of what it could been - but he's meant to stepping into midfield to be additive to the quality there, not the only real quality on the ball. I genuinely think having someone solid in possession and ability to cover ground would make an incredible difference and we could get away with Bruno in there having someone like that for this season. This is not even a defence of Amorim's system, because I think the same thing can happen under a new manager and formation. They will need that player, whatever level of quality it might be. Funny thing is the Sabitizer and Amrabaat loans weren't that bad, they were a low quality version of a midfielder we needed. I don't see how we couldn't have found someone a step up from them in the summer, for a reasonable price.
The only thing I can say about Wilcox now, is he's such a rookie and his first big role, that maybe this is just an expensive mistake, he'll learn from it and has a real opportunity to show he understand what we need. It's frustrating it will probably cost us a small fortune yet again, but maybe we'll finally start focussing on the right profiles. If we don't I give up!
