The penalties aren't the issue, it's just that the sample size is still way too small. There's a spike in the xG graphs after the last game which might show improvement, but it might also just be the result of playing against Burnley at OT. Early on in the season, even things like an early red card, in favour or against, can skew the numbers.
Ruben Amorim | 2025-26
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The strength of your argument has convinced me.
I'm referring to his general record. OK 4 out of 5 is a throw away comment however....
16 wins in 45 games.
That's the stat that matters and it's awful.
Yes, of course results and performances are the most important barometer by which to judge a manager, but I was responding to a post that was basically saying that Ruben behaving like a nervous wreck in the dugout during penalties was no big deal.
Sorry, I don't agree. How a Manchester United manager projects himself on the sideline to his players and the fans is important in my opinion.
Excellent! Have a lovely day my friend.
You are absolutely right. Some signs of improvement this season overall, matches are not won by xG so I don't really focus on these stats, just actual results. But management, especially at the top is about two things, leadership and tactical/ coaching ability. The fact that he has an entire pre-season but is still moving magnets around a board against a league 2 team, who were nullifying his tactics quite effectively, is a major concern. His lack of courage/ leadership at crunch points, especially penalties, is a major issue. He needs to inspire the players and instill the right mentality. He cannot criticise players for hiding or a lack of bravery when he is too scared to watch a penalty. It sends a terrible message.
No, I didn't need a journalist to trigger me, I thought the behaviour was pathetic at the time, and it's not the first time he's done it.
Surprised by the free ride he is getting in relation to his behaviour. The tactics board thing is due to already being deemed to be out of his depth because of results last season and the fact that it was Grimbsy Town.
His decision to sit like that and not watch the pens does not convey the image that most people have of a manager of a football team, let alone Man Utd - His post match interview compounds it. Both of those things are on him and if, on the off chance, neither of them influence the players then I will hold my hands up - But I cannot see a scenario where elite level (and likely type A) personalities will look at that behaviour as other than a negative.
I like him and want him to succeed but it seems like he has come in too green and I've lost faith. I said at the start of the season that too much money has been spent for us not to control games and win convincingly when we should (no control v Fulham and we won 3-2 at home v Burnley). After the break we have the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool to come - Even if he makes it to Christmas - I cannot see him in post at the end of the season.
His decision to sit like that and not watch the pens does not convey the image that most people have of a manager of a football team, let alone Man Utd - His post match interview compounds it. Both of those things are on him and if, on the off chance, neither of them influence the players then I will hold my hands up - But I cannot see a scenario where elite level (and likely type A) personalities will look at that behaviour as other than a negative.
I like him and want him to succeed but it seems like he has come in too green and I've lost faith. I said at the start of the season that too much money has been spent for us not to control games and win convincingly when we should (no control v Fulham and we won 3-2 at home v Burnley). After the break we have the likes of City, Chelsea and Liverpool to come - Even if he makes it to Christmas - I cannot see him in post at the end of the season.
The xG stats are pointless imho. We have 5 excellent players on the pitch in Bruno, Amad, cunha, Mbuemo and Sesko / Mount. These players will create changes despite the system and not always because of it.
The eye test will tell that we have almost no control of the midfield and there are huge spaces to exploit behind the WB positions with the CB being confused if they have to cover the flanks our step into midfield or step back. It all just does not work.
Any capable opposition coach will see this and exploit the weakness. There is a reason why we finished 15th last season. Squads way worse than us finished above us and coaches with much lesser matches were able to establish an identity way sooner.
As much as recruitment has been an issue post SAF, it has also been poor managerial appointments. The current flavour of the month seems to be to appoint foreign coaches with fixed tactics that have only worked in lesser leagues.
We will continue to play chaos football and will have some great attacking play simply because some of the players are so damn good.
The eye test will tell that we have almost no control of the midfield and there are huge spaces to exploit behind the WB positions with the CB being confused if they have to cover the flanks our step into midfield or step back. It all just does not work.
Any capable opposition coach will see this and exploit the weakness. There is a reason why we finished 15th last season. Squads way worse than us finished above us and coaches with much lesser matches were able to establish an identity way sooner.
As much as recruitment has been an issue post SAF, it has also been poor managerial appointments. The current flavour of the month seems to be to appoint foreign coaches with fixed tactics that have only worked in lesser leagues.
We will continue to play chaos football and will have some great attacking play simply because some of the players are so damn good.
Whatever happened to all the optimism after Burnley?! There's not even been a game since.
We're above City in the table and our new players are yet to really gel.
We're above City in the table and our new players are yet to really gel.
These are strange hills to die on
Good to see stats are getting better at least, once we start taking our chances we could only look better.
He could start 3-4-3 but he can move Yoro or Martinez to the midfield and ask wingbacks to stay little bit back based on the situation. that way we could have some protection in the middle of the park.
It's sad to see even Grimsby exposed our 2 in centre midfield as they didn't get much support from the defence or wing backs, even the Fulham player came out after the match and said the same as their plan was to use the gaps in the centre.
I am sure everyone will look into that so hope we close down those gaps by moving an extra body there.
Regardless of how you feel about Amorim's chances this season, the fixture list has not been kind has it? seems like the past few years every time we try to build momentum we are either hit with an International break, injuries, or face top four teams. Just wish he could have had some breathing space after Burnley. On the other side of the coin he really should have picked up 3 points vs Fulham and the pressure wouldn't be as severe.
What are you talking about? Shaw became available only at the very end after a long spell out after injury and was very rusty, Mount the same, injured all season, Martinez the same, Dorgu came from Lecce who would play midtable in Championship. he's 20. not some seasoned PL player at all. Frederickson and Heaven only with academy games before. Hojlund is not PL standard. You cant be serious. Check the lineups and dont let me repeat the same statement. and in most of the games we outplayed our oppo with a dross/inexperience like that, thanks to stupid mistakes by goalies and low intensity because we saved for the EL campaign. Not hard to understand imho.
This argument is becoming tiresome, we were already midtable lost a lot of points under ETH and the gap to a "reasonable" midtable spot from the final 15th place could be easily offset by the lack of quality in the remaining players, drive and focus on the EL. It really doesnt matter this club is about winning and last time i checked there was no trophy for 8th league table finish..
We bought Schmeichel from Copenhagen, that was a gamble. Timmy from USA was a gamble. Schmeichel turned to be arguably the best keeper we ever had.
DeGea from Spain was a young kid with potential, overall he was a big success but yes he required some patience.
Bosnich from Villa, VDS from Fulham, barthez from Monaco, all 3 of those we thought we knew what we were getting but only VDS was a success.
My point is it doesn’t matter where they come from, keepers are different from outfield players. If he has the basics that’s a good start. Now he needs a chance to prove himself and a little bit of patience from the fans
It’s funny because I’ve since noticed several other coaches use them and not a word said in the media
When you hate the manager, anything he does will upset you.
Yet having good underlying numbers correlates quite well with good results. There is no perfect stat to look at, thats correct, but when it comes to the ones available, the expected- stats do quite well.
They didn't nullify his tactics, they outworked us significantly. There is no tactic in the world to outdo that. There is a reason why Amorim was as agitated as he was after the game.
Sounds so plausible but he layed out the reasons well - the shootout is a roll of the dice. It won't tell him anything useful going forward. The match itself was different because we struggled due to being outworked and outfought. Leadership is important, no doubt about it but it also is one of the things that gets dragged out a lot when people are frustrated and need something to vent. As if we didn't struggle within games under different managers as well. Even Fergie. Happens to the best teams from time to time.
It's not surprising for anyone that watched our games so far. But that's just 3 games, small sample. If we're around top in these stats after 10-15 games, that'll be a good sign. Think the performance vs Arsenal was good and first halves vs Fulham and Burnley as well. But 2nd half at Fulham we lost control and Amorim didn't respond well, while Silva probably did. Second half vs Burnley is worrying in terms of conceding 2 goals. First half at Grimsby was shocking and did most damage for Amorim's reputation no doubt.
Honestly it's difficult to predict how our season goes. We did not sign a CM which could be really damaging, and then there's a big question mark whether Lammens is the answer for GK spot. Could be in the market for signing or two in January.
I wasn't able to catch the Burnley game live, but watching the highlights, you get a sense that the story could have been a lot different. We could easily have been in front 2-0 by the break, and then it might have been a case of managing the game in the second half.
I'm still skeptical of Amorim in several ways, but he does seem to generally have been let down by finishing in the league so far. Arsenal could have been a draw, Fulham we missed a penalty (still a shite performance though), Burnley we missed several big chances.
I'm still skeptical of Amorim in several ways, but he does seem to generally have been let down by finishing in the league so far. Arsenal could have been a draw, Fulham we missed a penalty (still a shite performance though), Burnley we missed several big chances.
Yep, the sample size is small but its a clear sign of improvement. Did you see any of this last season, even for 3 games?
No team in the PL controls 90 mins of a football game. Marco Silva made changes but its not like Fulham peppered us and they were all over us though.
Grimsby game was an outlier this season, it just showed that the players who are not playing in the PL, there is a reason for that.. their attitude is not right. Whilst alot of blame has to go on Amorim, one thing you don't do in those games, feed the crowd, what did we do? Dorgu, Mainoo, Ugarte, Fredricson, Onana were all poor, struggled to pass the ball and it helped the opponent gain control.
There are definitely signs of improvement, and there are also signs that results might just carry on as they were last season. It's balanced on a knife edge right now.
The next run of games will reveal whether we're actually getting somewhere or not, I think.
The next run of games will reveal whether we're actually getting somewhere or not, I think.
This is the thing right.. when you are not challenging, your luck is bad, when you are at the top, luck is good.
Arsenal scored from a corner... mistake from us, how often do the top teams concede goals like that? barely, but we do it weekly.
How often do top teams miss these chances? Not many. They score from 1/2 chances.
If you look at Liverpool, they got a goal from nowhere v Newcastle when Newcastle were on top... and a brilliant FK against Arsenal, whilst we are conceding goals.
But everyone will be glazing Liverpool how good they are...
Agree. For this United side it's very much a case of fine margins. The team isn't good enough to dominate games, so it will often be decided by "moments". But there is also something about mentality. The last few seasons, we've so often managed to find a way to lose/draw games. Liverpool have the opposite right now.
I did, mostly in big games. City and Liverpool away, 2nd half vs Arsenal at home. Think there were also couple of games in March-April where we lost but played quite well. Last game vs Villa was quite good, especially 1st half. Actually that game was similar to Burnley, failed to take our chances in first half and had to work hard for 3 points in second half.
Another thing I'd like to praise is our attacking corners and set pieces in general this season. Only 4 games but feels like we've threatened more that way in these 4 games than in most of last season. Great delivery from Mbeumo and then there's Casemiro, Yoro, de Ligt, Maguire, Mount (and hopefully Šeško) threatening.
There’s a lot of super-optimistic people and there’s others who remain sceptical whether a last minute winner over Burnley is a turning point.
Look at it this way, if we hadn’t beaten the team expected to finish 20th, and had gone into the international break without a win so far this season, how dark would you have expected the mood to be in here? It’s great that we got that last minute goal, and it leaves us in a much better position than otherwise, but there is still a lot of work to be done. The next block of 4 games before the next international break will tell us a lot.
I dont think we ever saw performances last season where we dominated the ball and the game for even 45 mins like we have this season... Yes we got good results against those teams but I wouldn't say we were playing well.
The Villa game, agreed was quite good.
Agreed, we look much better attacking set pieces, which is something we have been poor at for a long time.
We just need to get our keeper more confident, so we dont get troubled as much.
I agree with that.
I didn't expect more than four points from these three fixtures anyway. I also expect at most one point in the next two. Anything more is a bonus.
I just find it unnecessary to keep revisiting Grimsby, tactics boards and Ruben's penalty anxiety. But, to each their own.
Yep, but also I watched Newcastle V Liverpool and they missed multiple chances before Liverpool scored.
We miss chances, the opponent gets a chance and scores... Burnley didn't have a sniff, get a goal out of nowhere and then nerves kick in.
Its something we need to sort out, the only way is to take your chances and put the game to bed. We need a run of 3/4 straight wins, which will bring confidence, which is what the game is about.
I think if we can somehow manage to put 4 straight PL wins, we will be a different team.
Baby steps. Let's do two in a row first before thinking about four!
Sounds like a 'you' problem. Good luck!
If he doesn’t do well , I’m not sure how you will attribute any mistakes to his age or inexperience.
Unless he is having crazy rushes of blood to the head that show immaturity. You know, like rushing out to foul a hapless striker in the last game of the season to cost the team a place in the Champions League. Oh no, that was Martinez!
And no, I’m not going defend him if he’s playing poorly.
Unlike you though, I will reserve judgement, give him time and actually see him play before writing him off.
I hope Lammens comes in and sharpens the other two goalkeepers up now there is more competition. When on form, Onana is serviceable. But we never know what to expect from him.
Amorim took us to 15th place and lost a EL final. I believe he was 4 points off the CL places and a point off Europe when he took over.
The lack of European football and huge reduction in the number of home games being played this season obviously meant that the transfer budget is much lower than it would’ve been.
Easy for people to say that he should’ve been given this player or that player and I’m sure people will make excuses for him not getting all his players if he is to be sacked this season. But £220m has been spent on the team this summer, far more than we expected.
If he had achieved more last year and got us into Europe, then maybe he would’ve got a more expensive and more experienced goalkeeper.
But he made a conscious decisions to change the system midway through a season, thus impacting near term success and we’re feeling that still.
That's very healthy. Except of course for errors leading to goals and the finishing. Certainly green shoots. Let's see how we match up against the midfields of City, Chelsea and Brentford. Then we'll know more where we actually are.
True, and one of the sample is against Burnley, that would spike the xG for most of the teams playing against them, let's see where we at after 10 games, more sample size and better opponents are coming
And it's history and meaningless now, I think we'd all be happy if we won the next 5 games
21 wins in 50 games - still looks awful!
Agreed, but it’s worth noting that we only lost that due to a missed penalty. Hard to blame that on the manager no?
It’s part of the overall context though. Currently, in the league, Amorim’s win % is:
Total : 26.7%
Last 10 games : 20%
Last 3 games (this season) : 33.3%
First 20 games : 30%
If we win the next 5 games, then those headline figures would move to 37.1%, 70% and 100% respectively. Obviously no one is going to be complaining about that, even though the long-term one is still too low, as we will be showing very good progress.
Currently, though it’s the same picture in terms of absolute results over either the short or long term, and that’s why the full picture remains relevant, and that is the concern (even if underlying performances do appear slightly better this year).
For me 2-2 at Anfield is our best performance there since 2015. Not that the bar is high but still
It absolutely was. It was the first time we scored there since LvG was our manager.For me 2-2 at Anfield is our best performance there since 2015. Not that the bar is high but still
Lingard scored in 2018.
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