Ruben Amorim | 2025-26

Rusholme Ruffian said:
The problem with that is that he'd be in the pocket of space that Cunha likes to pick the ball up in. The thing about formations and positions is that there are good arguments for playing loads of different ways, but it's all subjective and impossible to prove one way or the other in terms of how successful it would be. At the moment the formation that we play allows for us to have Cunha, Mbeumo, Amad, Sesko (or Mount/Zirkzee), and Bruno all on the pitch at the same time. If that really clicks then it could be devastating. Sesko is obviously a work in progress and Cunha has been slightly patchy, but I can see what he is trying to do there. If all of those players are playing to the best of their abilities - and particularly when we have a proper press-resistant dynamic midfielder - then oppo midfields are going to be dragged all over the place. Then with the defensive wingback holding a defensive line and one of the CBs stepping up there is the makings of quite an exciting way of playing. We're not there yet in terms of executing it properly, but there is progress and I am seeing flashes of how it could look when all the cogs are working together.
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When this system works well it's very thrilling and hi-octane, but seem so prone to collapse in 2nd half due to requiring 1½ or more starting quality squad, it's the biggest issue with it for now is my impression. It's fun to watch when it kicks into gear nevertheless.
 
Rusholme Ruffian said:
The problem with that is that he'd be in the pocket of space that Cunha likes to pick the ball up in. The thing about formations and positions is that there are good arguments for playing loads of different ways, but it's all subjective and impossible to prove one way or the other in terms of how successful it would be. At the moment the formation that we play allows for us to have Cunha, Mbeumo, Amad, Sesko (or Mount/Zirkzee), and Bruno all on the pitch at the same time. If that really clicks then it could be devastating. Sesko is obviously a work in progress and Cunha has been slightly patchy, but I can see what he is trying to do there. If all of those players are playing to the best of their abilities - and particularly when we have a proper press-resistant dynamic midfielder - then oppo midfields are going to be dragged all over the place. Then with the defensive wingback holding a defensive line and one of the CBs stepping up there is the makings of quite an exciting way of playing. We're not there yet in terms of executing it properly, but there is progress and I am seeing flashes of how it could look when all the cogs are working together.
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One mental exercise I do is to imagine the same team in a different formation. The numbers (3-4-3, 4-4-2 etc.) have some meaning but through out the game, there are many many different set ups we employ. Most of the time, every side in the league employs a 3-2 base or in more aggressive cases (like with Ten Hag or Slot), a 3-1 base. We do as well. If you assume then that most sides by and large line up in similar ways when they attack then profiling the midfield becomes fairly straight forward comparison exercise. So first, imagine our side in a 4-4-2 to make it easier for ourselves:

------------------------------- GK ----------------------------
--- Yoro -- De Ligt -- LCB -- Dorgu / Dalot ---
-------------- Casemiro -- Bruno ----------------------
---- Amad ----------------------------- Cunha ----------
------------------ Mbeumo -- Sesko -------------------

The City (Chelsea) answer to this is a big / positional beast like Rodri (Caicedo) who can mop everything up and also run play through, paired with a Gundogan or Reijnders or an Enzo.
The Arsenal / Villa answer to this is a playmaker (Jorginho / Zubi / Tielemans) and a physical beast that can bring ball carrying, ball striking and duel winning like Rice (Onana).

I think the Arsenal answer differs from Chelsea / City because profiles like Rodri or Caicedo are so hard to find. It's much easier to find a little playmaker (see the Stiller links) to run your play through from deep and an aggressive ball carrier.

So all that said, if we wan to run Bruno like City ran Gundogan, we need a Rodri type signing. This is easier said than done and none of our links so far suggest that this is the type of midfielder we're looking for. If we think Bruno is our Paul Scholes / Pirlo reincarnation and will be pulling strings from midfield even when he's 38, then we need a Rice or Kante type profile.

So far the indications are the latter. My personal preference is:

(1) Sack Amorim, move to a 4-2-3-1, Bruno to #10 and sign two new CMs.
(2) Keep Amorim, sell Bruno and sign two new mids.
 
Teja said:
One mental exercise I do is to imagine the same team in a different formation. The numbers (3-4-3, 4-4-2 etc.) have some meaning but through out the game, there are many many different set ups we employ. Most of the time, every side in the league employs a 3-2 base or in more aggressive cases (like with Ten Hag or Slot), a 3-1 base. We do as well. If you assume then that most sides by and large line up in similar ways when they attack then profiling the midfield becomes fairly straight forward comparison exercise. So first, imagine our side in a 4-4-2 to make it easier for ourselves:

------------------------------- GK ----------------------------
--- Yoro -- De Ligt -- LCB -- Dorgu / Dalot ---
-------------- Casemiro -- Bruno ----------------------
---- Amad ----------------------------- Cunha ----------
------------------ Mbeumo -- Sesko -------------------

The City (Chelsea) answer to this is a big / positional beast like Rodri (Caicedo) who can mop everything up and also run play through, paired with a Gundogan or Reijnders or an Enzo.
The Arsenal / Villa answer to this is a playmaker (Jorginho / Zubi / Tielemans) and a physical beast that can bring ball carrying, ball striking and duel winning like Rice (Onana).

I think the Arsenal answer differs from Chelsea / City because profiles like Rodri or Caicedo are so hard to find. It's much easier to find a little playmaker (see the Stiller links) to run your play through from deep and an aggressive ball carrier.

So all that said, if we wan to run Bruno like City ran Gundogan, we need a Rodri type signing. This is easier said than done and none of our links so far suggest that this is the type of midfielder we're looking for. If we think Bruno is our Paul Scholes / Pirlo reincarnation and will be pulling strings from midfield even when he's 38, then we need a Rice or Kante type profile.

So far the indications are the latter. My personal preference is:

(1) Sack Amorim, move to a 4-2-3-1, Bruno to #10 and sign two new CMs.
(2) Keep Amorim, sell Bruno and sign two new mids.
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I’d say your option 2 is the far more likely of the two. However, I suspect there are other options as well.
 
bil48d said:
Ten Hag had to go and was very lucky to keep his job as long as he did, yes. The problem is the guy we replaced him with is no better. Taking the absolute lowest point of ETHs reign (i.e. 14th place when he was fired) and using that to say Amorim made progress isn't how I see it though. The fact is, whenever a manager is sacked it's almost always going to be because of a run of results that sees the team further down the table than it should be according to most, otherwise there'd be no need to get rid of the manager, would there? If ETH genuinely had a 14th place quality squad, and was 14th in the league table, then he's just performing according to expectations. Reality is he had a top 6 quality squad, hence why 8th was considered very poor a few months prior to his sacking, and why 7th isn't anything brilliant right now (and 15th was, pound for pound, the worst performance by any manager in Premier League history).

Recruitment has been fine, but it always has been - so long as you're not judging with the benefit of hindsight. We've always gone for players who - at the time - were considered among the best in their positions. Pogba, Schweinsteiger, Sanchez, Sancho, Casemiro...all of these at the time were considered top quality players. Even the likes of Onana, Hoiland and Fellani had their good points and plenty of admirers. We've bought more players this summer who were/are highly rated. I of course hope the current lot turn out better than our last big money punts but it's not like signing Mbuemo, Sekso and Cunha is some sort of genius from Amorim, all these players were very well known and wanted by many top teams, similar to our previous signings.

As for an injury to fecking Amad being used to excuse Amorim...no, absolutely not. Amad is hardly a world class player, we're not talking about an Mbappe, Rodri or Palmer here. He'd have been lucky to make the bench in our title winning sides. Injuries to players of Amad's quality are the sort of bread and butter part of the job every Premier League manager has to deal with, as he's just a bog standard Premier League player, nothing more or less.
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You've ignored loads of what I've said so I'll try and be succinct.

We clearly differ on the state of the squad when he took over. I think building it around Oleball and Rashford was over, especially considering Rashford's attitude.

As a squad to go toe to toe with teams we were as bad as it looked last year. Amorim was happy to show us the ability of the squad when they're not protected by a conservative setup. He literally told us it would be bad. You're not listening to him.
 
As suspected, the Ratcliffe comment about 3 years made massive difference to team and staff.

 
Raoul said:
As suspected, the Ratcliffe comment about 3 years made massive difference to team and staff.

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The Ineos Team and their football people clearly see that Amorim has make good progress this season. But this is only a start, they have long term plan and need to be patience.

The rebuild need about 3 years. We still need another 1-2 summer windows to complete building our squad capable of challenging PL/CL. Hopefully, by 2028.
 
Yakuza_devils said:
The Ineos Team and their football people clearly see that Amorim has make good progress this season. But this is only a start, they have long term plan and need to be patience.

The rebuild need about 3 years. We still need another 1-2 summer windows to complete building our squad capable of challenging PL/CL. Hopefully, by 2028.
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With them there seem to be a plan, the manager also knows exactly how he wants to set up, we don't seem to going for players for PR anymore, player power is dead and we have an owner who seem to be invested in the sporting side of the club .
I'll urge United fans to be patient there's still rough roads ahead. There'll be mistakes and we'll most likely finish in a position this season that's below where we'll like to be as a club.
I think we can in 2 years become a side that can challenge if we stick to what we're doing atm.
 
Trex said:
With them there seem to be a plan, the manager also knows exactly how he wants to set up, we don't seem to going for players for PR anymore, player power is dead and we have an owner who seem to be invested in the sporting side of the club .
I'll urge United fans to be patient there's still rough roads ahead. There'll be mistakes and we'll most likely finish in a position this season that's below where we'll like to be as a club.
I think we can in 2 years become a side that can challenge if we stick to what we're doing atm.
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Agreed with this, alot of fans think changes happen overnight. Alot of fans are also in this headspace where they have what Manutd was fogging their memory.

We have not been that club / team for over 12 years. Until everyone accepts that reality, there will always be toxicity.

When City got taken over, it was not overnight success, Newcastle a huge club, 3/4 years ago got taken over, still not close to success.

When you make so many changes in the club, like we have done, it takes time, there is no quick cheat code.
 
romufc said:
Agreed with this, alot of fans think changes happen overnight. Alot of fans are also in this headspace where they have what Manutd was fogging their memory.

We have not been that club / team for over 12 years. Until everyone accepts that reality, there will always be toxicity.

When City got taken over, it was not overnight success, Newcastle a huge club, 3/4 years ago got taken over, still not close to success.

When you make so many changes in the club, like we have done, it takes time, there is no quick cheat code.
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Oh dear, lectures again. I spent more years watching us stood in the Stretford End when we were nowhere than I did in the glory days. I accept we are in a mess as I am sure every sane fan does, not sure what that has to do with 'toxicity'. Personally I doubt we ever really succeed with the Glazers in charge. You reference City, they did what Ratcliffe said he would do, build a structure with strong football management and then upgrade players AND managers as we go. They also had the benefit of a hands off owner. We have it seems a better structure than before, though how good remains uncertain. For every good signing there is still a poor one. The whole managerial thing has been badly handled, from extending ETH to panicking to Amorim, with Ratcliffe too personally involved given his knowledge of football is not really any better than many of us on here. I remain unconvinced by Amorim, would love to be proved wrong, but that's my view. If getting rid of toxicity means never criticising the manager then I think you are deluded. There were some quotes from him the other day that were referenced on here. In the full interview he still blames the players for results and not his system. One of my problems with him is always calling out the players. I know the preference on here seems to be too always slate our players, but I don't like that and I don't really think its good management.
 
Gordon'sHill said:
Oh dear, lectures again. I spent more years watching us stood in the Stretford End when we were nowhere than I did in the glory days. I accept we are in a mess as I am sure every sane fan does, not sure what that has to do with 'toxicity'. Personally I doubt we ever really succeed with the Glazers in charge. You reference City, they did what Ratcliffe said he would do, build a structure with strong football management and then upgrade players AND managers as we go. They also had the benefit of a hands off owner. We have it seems a better structure than before, though how good remains uncertain. For every good signing there is still a poor one. The whole managerial thing has been badly handled, from extending ETH to panicking to Amorim, with Ratcliffe too personally involved given his knowledge of football is not really any better than many of us on here. I remain unconvinced by Amorim, would love to be proved wrong, but that's my view. If getting rid of toxicity means never criticising the manager then I think you are deluded. There were some quotes from him the other day that were referenced on here. In the full interview he still blames the players for results and not his system. One of my problems with him is always calling out the players. I know the preference on here seems to be too always slate our players, but I don't like that and I don't really think its good management.
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Read the post... I have not said don't criticise the manager.. so you are winding yourself up?

The post was more about things will not change overnight... not much to do with Amorim... again as usual your hatred towards the manager showing.

When a new owner takes over one of the biggest clubs in the world.. I can forgive a few mistakes if it seems like going in the right direction.

Its not a perfect science, you expect 100% decisions to be correct?

Even signings, no football club in the world gets 100% hit rate on signings, most are generally around the 50-60% mark.
 
Rusholme Ruffian said:
Hmm, since Amorim joined that decision making structure the signings have been largely spot on haven't they? Sesko and Dorgu obviously works in progress but far too early to describe them as 'poor'.
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Yeah Mbeumo and Lammens look like hits, Cunha is a good signing even though he hasn't started truly flying yet. Sesko is no prime Van persie but he has talent and is young enough to learn and get better. Dorgu is also young, I'm not sure about him due to his technical ceiling but even still he could be a good squad option. Heaven looks a good young center back for the future.

Even prior to Amorim the previous summer under Ineo De Ligt and Yoro are hits, Mazraoui is also a good signing. Zirkzee and Ugarte probably not good enough.

That's way better than we use to have it, a few more hits in the right positions and we're really in a good place.
 
Zumbi said:
Ten Hag spent £500 million and took us from top four to 14th, which left us in the mess Amorim is trying to recover from. So in that context he’s doing ok.
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I don‘t agree with the narrative that Ten Hag ruined the team. The transfer mess was mostly the responsibility of the club. Fortunately we are improving in that regard.

The second season was ruined by injuries, the third season was the start of implementing a new playing style.

No way Erik would have finished 14th.
In terms of transfers, we were a few windows away from having a squad that can compete for the title.

Amorim has a better squad now than Ten Hag had, and had plenty of time to implement his vision. His success or failure has nothing to do with the previous manager. A finish below 6th place is terrible, we should aim for 3rd/4th.

It remains to be seen whether signings like Šeško and Dorgu will succeed long term. I don‘t disagree with getting Šeško, but any signing is a gamble.
 
Trex said:
Yeah Mbeumo and Lammens look like hits, Cunha is a good signing even though he hasn't started truly flying yet. Sesko is no prime Van persie but he has talent and is young enough to learn and get better. Dorgu is also young, I'm not sure about him due to his technical ceiling but even still he could be a good squad option. Heaven looks a good young center back for the future.

Even prior to Amorim the previous summer under Ineo De Ligt and Yoro are hits, Mazraoui is also a good signing. Zirkzee and Ugarte probably not good enough.

That's way better than we use to have it, a few more hits in the right positions and we're really in a good place.
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Yeah, agreed. It's just hard to take a poster seriously when they make statements like 'for every good signing there is still a poor one' when it just doesn't come close to standing up to scrutiny.
 
Zumbi said:
I still suspect that Ten Hag’s transition based chaos ball had a part to play in all the injuries we suffered - with players constantly having to try and cover large spaces. Indeed, it was reported after he left that some players blamed our injury troubles on the intensity of his training sessions, and since Amorim has adjusted them by making them less intense in the run up to match days, we’re now suffering fewer injuries. And even when we had more settled teams out were still wide open and getting battered by 3-4 goal margins all too often.

But sure, Ten Hag was doing great and was just unlucky with injuries and none of it was his fault and the transfers weren’t anything to do with him and whatever other revisionist nonsense his last few remaining fans want to spout.
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The injury perspective is a fair point. We did have a lack of squad depth which will have exacerbated the issues.

But otherwise I disagree with your narrative. Amorim hasn‘t shown he is a better coach at all so far, but I‘m supportive nonetheless.
 
Trex said:
Yeah Mbeumo and Lammens look like hits, Cunha is a good signing even though he hasn't started truly flying yet. Sesko is no prime Van persie but he has talent and is young enough to learn and get better. Dorgu is also young, I'm not sure about him due to his technical ceiling but even still he could be a good squad option. Heaven looks a good young center back for the future.

Even prior to Amorim the previous summer under Ineo De Ligt and Yoro are hits, Mazraoui is also a good signing. Zirkzee and Ugarte probably not good enough.

That's way better than we use to have it, a few more hits in the right positions and we're really in a good place.
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Absolutely we've gotten better as signing the right players. That's one of the good things INEOS have implemented, much better profile of players signed.
 
NLunited said:
No way Erik would have finished 14th.
In terms of transfers, we were a few windows away from having a squad that can compete for the title.
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I mean, we were literally in 14th when he was sacked, and the previous season our xPoints position was 13th (I think), so i don't know how you can be so confident about that first statement.

As for the second bit, are you kidding? Signings under Ten Hag were appalling! And yes you can certainly argue that wasn't all on him, except for the fact that so many of them had previous links to him and his agency. If he'd carried on having an input we'd probably have been relegated eventually.

In fact, during arguably the most successful period of transfers under Ten Hag (when we signed De Ligt, Yoro and Mazraoui) he admitted that it had nothing to do with him!

“But the good thing is, during my vacation I was out of the process for three or four weeks.
"During that period it was really the club, the newly established scouting and recruitment department, that brought in these players.

“The fact that there are also Dutch players among them is actually a coincidence. Primarily these were players who were brought in by our organisation.
"But of course I support them, let that be clear – and we still make the choice together.”
 
NLunited said:
I don‘t agree with the narrative that Ten Hag ruined the team. The transfer mess was mostly the responsibility of the club. Fortunately we are improving in that regard.

The second season was ruined by injuries, the third season was the start of implementing a new playing style.

No way Erik would have finished 14th.
In terms of transfers, we were a few windows away from having a squad that can compete for the title.

Amorim has a better squad now than Ten Hag had, and had plenty of time to implement his vision. His success or failure has nothing to do with the previous manager. A finish below 6th place is terrible, we should aim for 3rd/4th.

It remains to be seen whether signings like Šeško and Dorgu will succeed long term. I don‘t disagree with getting Šeško, but any signing is a gamble.
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Yes, the transfer was all the club? So do you think he had nothing to do with Anthony, Lisandro, Hojlund signings? I mean we have players that have come out saying, he had to sign up to SEG agency to get a transfer, Hojlund done it before.

Do you honestly think the club didn't say to him... we can get Anthony for 80m, what do you think? He worked with the player.

Injuries are his fault too, there is a reason why we had so many injuries to players.

Ten Hag wouldn't have finished 14th I agree, it would have been much lower, if you saw the underlying stats, we were bullied by teams on a regular basis.

His man management was poor, he was a hypocrite... had all these standards, kicked Ronaldo off but Rashford because he was getting him goals, had a different stance on him. You can go read about how Varane and Casemiro were treated too.
 
DownRiver said:


Am I going crazy? We have less intense trainings and one day a week matches is cause for us conceding second half goals?

We get tired in second halfs of football matches.



It’s a balancing act I don’t think we have got it right as a club in regards to fitness levels.
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I just wanted follow up after Amorim’s latest interview. He did hint to the fact they need to improve the physical side to maintain the intensity in the second half.

 
romufc said:
Yes, the transfer was all the club? So do you think he had nothing to do with Anthony, Lisandro, Hojlund signings? I mean we have players that have come out saying, he had to sign up to SEG agency to get a transfer, Hojlund done it before.

Do you honestly think the club didn't say to him... we can get Anthony for 80m, what do you think? He worked with the player.

Injuries are his fault too, there is a reason why we had so many injuries to players.

Ten Hag wouldn't have finished 14th I agree, it would have been much lower, if you saw the underlying stats, we were bullied by teams on a regular basis.

His man management was poor, he was a hypocrite... had all these standards, kicked Ronaldo off but Rashford because he was getting him goals, had a different stance on him. You can go read about how Varane and Casemiro were treated too.
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Agreeing with you 100% for once, there is some astonishing stuff posted on here at times. ETH clearly had pretty much full control over signings, something like 11 signings (including loans) of players that played for or against him in the Dutch league. This is unprecedented for a major club in Europe and in the history of this club. Fergie by comparison I think signed one former player. As for the fee for Antony, what did he expect to happen when you demand a transfer at the end of the window. Then there is all the dodgy stuff with the agency you mention.

I've posted separately recently about the injuries, these were a direct result of his complete lack of rotation in his first year, we played a full team in the league cup which is why we won it. Just amazing really. In my view he is the worst manager in the club's history in terms of the damage he did overall.
 
Gordon'sHill said:
Agreeing with you 100% for once, there is some astonishing stuff posted on here at times. ETH clearly had pretty much full control over signings, something like 11 signings (including loans) of players that played for or against him in the Dutch league. This is unprecedented for a major club in Europe and in the history of this club. Fergie by comparison I think signed one former player. As for the fee for Antony, what did he expect to happen when you demand a transfer at the end of the window. Then there is all the dodgy stuff with the agency you mention.

I've posted separately recently about the injuries, these were a direct result of his complete lack of rotation in his first year, we played a full team in the league cup which is why we won it. Just amazing really. In my view he is the worst manager in the club's history in terms of the damage he did overall.
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What a day! me and you agreeing on something!

It just shows how badly this club was run... when a manager who has worked with a player before... signs him and drops him. In Hindsight, the writing was on the card before he took over, if you remember it was mentioned Ten Hag did not want to work with Rangnick and wanted control in alot of areas of the club.

We were left with panic buys because he couldn't convince FDJ to join, we chased him for months to panic buy Casemiro, sources say he was already a target. He saw Alvaro and decided Malacia is better... so Ten Hag really set us back.

Which is why I think it takes a year or so to undo all of that, especially the way the club was run. You can see, our academy, all infrastructure was so outdated. INEOS have come in and tried to clean this mess, so whether Amorim wins us the league or not, I think we should give him some time.

Still expect a top 4 finish
 
Is a back three suited to slower leagues where there is less vertical play and more horizontal play?

Vertical play being where the ball moves from one goal to the other quickly whilst horizontal play is where it is moved side to side as the whole team pushes up or drops back as a unit.

In a faster paced league is having a more vertical structure beneficial as this will involve less running because you have 4 layers - if you play 4-2-3-1 - in contrast to playing 4-4-2 or 3-4-3 which is three layers?
 
Boring said:
Is a back three suited to slower leagues where there is less vertical play and more horizontal play?

Vertical play being where the ball moves from one goal to the other quickly whilst horizontal play is where it is moved side to side as the whole team pushes up or drops back as a unit.

In a faster paced league is having a more vertical structure beneficial as this will involve less running because you have 4 layers - if you play 4-2-3-1 - in contrast to playing 4-4-2 or 3-4-3 which is three layers?
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I don’t think anyone is really playing a flat 4-4-2 or 3-4-3 these days. Even in Amorim’s system, you still end up with four distinct layers—those two No. 10s do not operate on the same vertical line as the striker.

What concerns me with Amorim’s setup so far is the lack of consistent high pressing (not sure if it is how he likes us to play). It has improved in recent matches, but I still see the whole team retreating too quickly into our own half once we lose the ball, which leaves us sitting too deep and slows our ability to transition into attack.

The slow center-backs might be part of the issue. When people suggest playing de Ligt and Martínez, I can see the same problem continuing.
 
Honestly I'm not really enjoying our style of play, I get that this is what Amorim wants us to do, but I'm not the biggest fan of hoofing it up the field and bypassing the CMs. I feel like we're a bit 1 dimensional still, and while winning is great and the priority, I want to also enjoy what I'm watching. Also I have yet to watch a game where I really felt comfortable for a whole match with Amorim. I feel like this system makes us so brittle that anything can happen
 
sleepehead said:
Honestly I'm not really enjoying our style of play, I get that this is what Amorim wants us to do, but I'm not the biggest fan of hoofing it up the field and bypassing the CMs. I feel like we're a bit 1 dimensional still, and while winning is great and the priority, I want to also enjoy what I'm watching. Also I have yet to watch a game where I really felt comfortable for a whole match with Amorim. I feel like this system makes us so brittle that anything can happen
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It's temporal, we're still in the avoid mistakes and get results phase, this is not Amorim football in completion yet

"He [Matthijs de Ligt] is doing really well, really aggressive. I think he has more quality with the ball than he is showing. He is still not wanting to make mistakes. Smart. But when we reach a very good point, our three centre-backs will control tempo + quality of game".
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Trex said:
It's temporal, we're still in the avoid mistakes and get results phase, this is not Amorim football in completion yet
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CBs controlling tempo and quality of game at the very good point doesn't sound promising at all.
 
DownRiver said:
I just wanted follow up after Amorim’s latest interview. He did hint to the fact they need to improve the physical side to maintain the intensity in the second half.

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Physical improvement is limited well by human physiology. The style of football that amorim has us playing and the intensity which players have to maintain to go up and down the pitch and run the channels for long balls is very taxing. The players already complaining about tiredness in last game is not a good sign specially with one game a week. When we do have midweek games, it means we will suffer more as amorim doesnt seem to be too trusting outside of the same players. This i think is a huge problem for him, city have ran the most distance this season so far, yet they control more of the game and intensity is lower, which might become key.
Ruben and ETH both came from outside the top 5 leagues, ETH changed his game model in 3rd-4th game as he feared for his job and went direct, Amorim has done it now, when we started poorly and there was talk of him getting sacked before SJR interview. We as a club clearly dint account for scalability of their game models and how much advantage these guys had competing in less competitive leagues. I think this style of football will eventually suffer physical issues and keep on costing us points, specially if we refuse to use the bench , even if it is not the quality he wants. For it to work, either we give him lot of money and change lot of the squad or he evolves into a more controlled game with current style being used as one of the tools, rather than the only tool to play. Maybe that is his end goal, but he is biding his time till he feels comfortable enough in his squad to evolve.
 
GreatDane said:
I know you rate Amorim highly, but is there are reason for this?
Because to me, logically, the midfield should control the tempo and game - I could fear that defenders attempting to do the same will be punished in the PL.
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You'll be amazed to find that Van Dijk makes the most passes per game in the league then. Followed by centre back being the highest at most other clubs.

Funnily enough we're an exception where Bruno makes the most passes. As does Anderson for Forest.
 
Leftback99 said:
You'll be amazed to find that Van Dijk makes the most passes per game in the league then. Followed by centre back being the highest at most other clubs.

Funnily enough we're an exception where Bruno makes the most passes. As does Anderson for Forest.
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CBs making the most passes for their team is nothing new, to be fair. They almost always do.
 
Leftback99 said:
You'll be amazed to find that Van Dijk makes the most passes per game in the league then. Followed by centre back being the highest at most other clubs.

Funnily enough we're an exception where Bruno makes the most passes. As does Anderson for Forest.
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Having small kids I don't get to watch as much football as I'd like, so it does surprise me some yes.
Growing up with 80-90s football my brain have a hard time not connecting midfield with control and tempo nevertheless.
 
GreatDane said:
I know you rate Amorim highly, but is there are reason for this?
Because to me, logically, the midfield should control the tempo and game - I could fear that defenders attempting to do the same will be punished in the PL.
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I do rate him highly, yes. I was very impressed with his work at Sporting. Also, crucially in my opinion, he's the first manager we have hired since Van Gaal, who has a very clear plan on how he wants his team to play. A plan that I feel can be sustainable in producing results over a long period of time. This is why I have never wavered in my belief in him and why I am prepared to be patient.

Even now, as has been alluded to, we still haven't reached the point where his system is working to it's optimum level. Recent recruitment has been good, but we still need more functioning parts. Obviously, we'll look to sign midfield players who will give us more than just a bit of 'running around', whilst the centre backs have all the fun on the ball. You think someone like Elliot Anderson is going to be signed for big money to have no influence in possession?

Why wouldn't we want to be progressive from the back? That's a good thing. Van Dijk has been huge for Liverpool's build up play over many years. We see the influence Lisandro Martinez has when he's fit. It helps us create overloads in midfield by drawing the opposition out. Why wouldn't we want to create numerical superiority and profit from this advantage? Especially because we are playing with three centre backs.
 
Leftback99 said:
I've no idea, but still more than those of you that are getting annoyed about an Amorim comment about it.
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You know when our defenders absolutely dominated our passing? During LvG. Great times.

It's not black and white obviously, but considering our defenders aren't quite Beckenbauer level passers, it feels more like a fix to avoid our lackluster midfield than innovation to our play
 
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