Ruben Amorim | 2025-26

[romufc]

In good faith is the key point. There are posters who argue in bad faith, who can’t wait for us to have a bad result.

It’s a good thing to track some of these posters and hopefully ban them.

Newbies should be scrutinized more; I notice a lot of Newbie agenda posters. They are not looking to
get promoted, so
ban away mods.

There is no way you can frame yesterday’s game as a poor one: we were outplaying Arsenal in every metric (except gk).

It got really bad during Ten Hag era to the point the thread was closed several times.

Back to the game: we improved in playing out the back, the runs from Cunha and Mbeumo were great, Mount put in a massive performance, Casemiro was great, the players look fitter. Matthijs was a gladiator, Shaw looked great, Dorgu awesome.

Negatives: still haven’t solved our set piece vulnerability, Ugarte was poor (in hindsight Mainoo should have been brought on). I don’t think we should write off Ugarte, just don’t bring him on when we are chasing a game.

Basically I’m happy even though we lost, up to a point. After last season, we want to see the team putting it together, and it is happening.

We are a midfielder and gk away from having a great squad.

Arsenal aren’t going to win anything.

Agreed with this and I said during the summer period that without getting a keeper who doesn't make mistakes, it will keep costing us.

Results like yesterday will happen because you play well and out of a easy set piece, we concede due to a goal keeping error.

You then have to chase the game, making it harder to score as the opponent doesn't need to come out and leave spaces, yet we created chances.

We need to solve the keeper issue asap, having 2 keepers who cannot deal with crosses is going to cost us dearly.

 

[CM]

So you don't see a post criticising us for yesterday and think 'I'll have a bit of that, welcome to the mains'?

I hope you understand how the negativity on here is genuinely ruining the forum.

Negativity stems from the performances and results, not the posters. That should be pretty obvious.

We didn't win back to back games in the league last season and lost a European final to a team who had a worse domestic season than us. It's not difficult to see why this manager doesn't have much credit in the bank. We played better yesterday but still didn't get the result. If we start winning games and/or playing well with regularity, that picture will change. In the meantime, it shouldn't come as a surprise if people are expressing concerns and doubts.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

I'm serious. Can we change the set piece coaches like Arsenal's team? Tbf, it's a very useful part of the game that can give you 3 points. Case in point, Arsenal yesterday game. Our set piece (defend and attack) play is awful, pretty bad!

Blame the GK all you want but he was not properly protected/supported by the defenders for the goal.

The only thing I agreed with Roy Keane about yesterday was Bayindir. I do think it was a foul on him, but why was he just stood flat-footed? He didn't even look like he was trying to win the ball, and I think that is partly why the foul wasn't given. If he had been bouncing on his toes and properly setting himself to fight for the ball then Saliba wouldn't have found it so easy to lean on him. If the ref can see that the keeper has come for the ball and been nudged out of the way then they are far more likely to disallow the goal than if he's stood rooted to the spot looking like he's hoping the ball won't come anywhere near him. Really poor. A keeper who is close to six and half feet, and probably another metre with length of arm and hand should be punching or catching that corner no problem at all.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

Shaw has been here for 10 years. We can safely say that he is a disaster as a transfer and no manager should be allowed to keep him. It just showcase our low standards.

what the heck has Shaw done to you?! Your comments are not based in reality. When fit he has been a brilliant player for United and England, and has been hugely unlucky with injury.

 

[AdNani]

We'll smash Fulham, confident on that, I'm going to rewatch the game but my feelings from yesterday is that on another day we win it and comfortably better on the day.

Good thing is you can see the football has improved. We looked in control and if not for a fecking shambolic GK we'd have drawn at the worst.

 

[AdNani]

what the heck has Shaw done to you?! Your comments are not based in reality. When fit he has been a brilliant player for United and England, and has been hugely unlucky with injury.

Don't see how anyone can question his quality, he's been incredibly unfortunate with Injuries and it probably all stems from the horrific leg break he suffered.

 

[NLunited]

I agree. That’s why I reserve on the praise on the system and coaching. IMO, I see this as players are showing their individual quality. Cunha’s ability to break the line with his explosive dribbling even when he’s surrounded with little support. That’s no system nor coaching. De Ligt pocketed Gyokeres and overall immerse defensive wise, but we still allowed dangerous scoring chances. Our midfield is still overrun from time to time.

The other top teams have players that can do these things: it is a requirement to have them so you can compete with them. Isn’t that obvious?

We gave up very little against Arsenal, I disagree with you there. We weren’t overrun in midfield either, against one of the best teams.

It’s reaching to argue Amorim had not set us up well tactically and that our improvement was due to individual quality. That’s what you are trying to say, right?

The eye test and the stats prove you wrong. Maybe you have ptsd from last season?

 

[Shinjch]

Positives to take from the first game, glad to see he has changed his ways a bit in the press conference too.

Hope for more positives and a win in the next game.

 

[AdNani]

The other top teams have players that can do these things: it is a requirement to have them so you can compete with them. Isn’t that obvious?

We gave up very little against Arsenal, I disagree with you there. We weren’t overrun in midfield either, against one of the best teams.

It’s reaching to argue Amorim had not set us up well tactically and that our improvement was due to individual quality. That’s what you are trying to say, right?

The eye test and the stats prove you wrong. Maybe you have ptsd from last season?

This is the crux of it. People are so determined that the system is shit and the manager is clueless, when we play well it'll be individual brilliance from the players and when we lose it'll be because he's set us up wrong.

It was the same with Ole tbf.

 

[philippexyz]

Result wasn't there, but the team passed the eye level test yesterday - team looks significantly better than last season.

I wonder, what will be the table position at the end of the season that will make Amorim make it to the next one? Right now, I would say we look like top 6-8 team in the league, which is probably not enough and disappointing for most of you(fans) and the upper management. With a couple more quality players(mostly midfield), we could probably finish 4th, behind City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

 

[golden_blunder]

Negativity stems from the performances and results, not the posters. That should be pretty obvious.

We didn't win back to back games in the league last season and lost a European final to a team who had a worse domestic season than us. It's not difficult to see why this manager doesn't have much credit in the bank. We played better yesterday but still didn't get the result. If we start winning games and/or playing well with regularity, that picture will change. In the meantime, it shouldn't come as a surprise if people are expressing concerns and doubts.

You do realise that some of the bigger moaners here are serial moaners regardless if we are winning or losing? You will equally find some moaning in the transfer forum during summer

 

[NLunited]

Result wasn't there, but the team passed the eye level test yesterday - team looks significantly better than last season.

I wonder, what will be the table position at the end of the season that will make Amorim make it to the next one? Right now, I would say we look like top 6-8 team in the league, which is probably not enough and disappointing for most of you(fans) and the upper management. With a couple more quality players(mostly midfield), we could probably finish 4th, behind City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

If we can keep up good performances and entertaining footy, Amorim is secure. The fans aren’t dumb and neither is the club leadership.

 

[redshaw]

I'm sure with players like Cunha Mbeumo Sesko we can win more games. I just hope they can turn the tide and start making games look easier for themselves. If talented players have to flog themselves to get the odd goal we'll see more bad results undone one cheap goal conceded.

Last season we lost 0-1 to Wolves, a freekick everyone could see was going in past Onana, Wolves didn't do much else and we pressured their goal with chances falling to Mount, we had 60% possession, 12 shots to their 4, a lot were off target and hurried moments like yesterday. Even if we can force an equalizer now it's still not enough.

Spurs Europa, we have 16 shots to their 3, 70% possession, 65 attacks to their 22, very high pass accuracy and more than 300 more passes completed, 126 successful final third passes to Spurs 22 but couldn't get a goal. It's infuriating how difficult we make football look.

 

[Danny]

• Dorgu striking the ball from 20~ yards, beating Raya and hitting the post?
• Cunha running through the entire Arsenal side before letting off a timid shot into Raya's hands?
• Mbeumo receiving the ball countless times on the wing, running to the edge of the box and getting shots off? That happened 2-3 times
• Dalot and Mbeumo linking up, Dalot fizzing the ball across the box but because of the lack of no natural no.9, no one was on the end of it
• Second half, Amad running into the box, touching it to Mbeumo and getting a last minute shot off, which was saved
• Cross into the box in which Mbeumo attempted an overhead kick, just went wide
• Mount having a chance of his own, receiving the ball with his back to goal and getting a shot off
• Cunha getting to the by-line and forcing an incredible reaction save from Raya

There were countless amount of chances. Unsure if you were watching the same game as me? We registered 22 shots yesterday. The most shots registered at OT since 2011.

Most of these are not clear chance where you can blame the attacker for not scoring. Raya barely tested with any of these attempts.

Everyone would have been surprised had Dorgu scores from his attempt.

Cunha running through I mentioned and again he was never scoring from there with Saliba covering. I also mentioned his chance from the tight angle and again if he'd have scored it would have been surprising

Not many of the Mbuemo from wide actually caused a problem

Amad looked threatening.

What I suggest is that although we probed well I never at any point thought we are knocking the door down or Raya had to do much. It's not like he was making world class saves.

We looked better but it will be interesting to see how we do over the next month or so. Arsenal looked a bit off it but whether that was to do with United preventing them from playing or their quality not being there just yet.

 

[Gavinb33]

I'm sure with players like Cunha Mbeumo Sesko we can win more games. I just hope they can turn the tide and start making games look easier for themselves. If talented players have to flog themselves to get the odd goal we'll see more bad results undone one cheap goal conceded.

Last season we lost 0-1 to Wolves, a freekick everyone could see was going in past Onana, Wolves didn't do much else and we pressured their goal with chances falling to Mount, we had 60% possession, 12 shots to their 4, a lot were off target and hurried moments like yesterday. Even if we can force an equalizer now it's still not enough.

Spurs Europa, we have 16 shots to their 3, 70% possession, 65 attacks to their 22, very high pass accuracy and more than 300 more passes completed, 126 successful final third passes to Spurs 22 but couldn't get a goal. It's infuriating how difficult we make football look.

Pretty sure we had the most on target shots all weekend and the opposition goalkeeper was man of the match, did everyone miss the game and just make up what happened

 

[Doracle]

Result wasn't there, but the team passed the eye level test yesterday - team looks significantly better than last season.

I wonder, what will be the table position at the end of the season that will make Amorim make it to the next one? Right now, I would say we look like top 6-8 team in the league, which is probably not enough and disappointing for most of you(fans) and the upper management. With a couple more quality players(mostly midfield), we could probably finish 4th, behind City, Liverpool and Arsenal.

I agree we can’t put a set target in place. It has to take into account how we play, as well as the results.

For example, we finished 6th in the Ole/Ralf season and 8th in the ETH second season. Either of those seasons repeated would see Amorim rightfully sacked.

Conversely, if we have a season similar to Villa’s 24/25 season then I think we’d be relatively happy with that. 6th but improving all season and right in the hunt for the UCL places.

 

[The Boy]

I can understand the frustration of losing that game as you were clearly the better team from the first minute to the last, I can also understand some of the gloom given last season's appalling performances.

But this was like night and day to last season. Just looking at the team at the end, slumped on the pitch gutted like they'd lost a final was incredibly telling.

Beyond that it was the highest energy performance I've sen from United for years Cunha and Mbuemo looked great and justified the transfer startegy of paying a premium for players well used to the PL. But more importantly was the performance of others who were part of last season's debacle.

Mount had maybe his best game, his quick passing and decision making started quite a few very dangerous attacks, while his tackling broke a few up, Dorgu looked like a player reborn and Shaw looked brilliant at LCB and alongside Dorgu kept Saka pretty much anonymous for the whole game. De Ligt had Gyokeres in his pocket and Yoro just gets better and better. Even Casemiro had a great game with some sublime passing. Your midfield was not over run by Odergaard, Rice and Zubimeni, if anything it went the other way

It's difficult maybe, to see how much better you were when you've watched the dross of the last two years and been sucked into too many moments of "corners being turned" only to see the team revert to utter crap the next game. But for a non united fan this felt very different. For the first time in ages you looked like a team working together, everyone knew their job and everyone looked far fitter than they've ever been. Basically you looked scary

 

[johndurham49]

I agree we can’t put a set target in place. It has to take into account how we play, as well as the results.

For example, we finished 6th in the Ole/Ralf season and 8th in the ETH second season. Either of those seasons repeated would see Amorim rightfully sacked.

Conversely, if we have a season similar to Villa’s 24/25 season then I think we’d be relatively happy with that. 6th but improving all season and right in the hunt for the UCL places.

Following yesterday's performance i can honestly see a possible top 6 IF we get a new keeper and DM... attack-wise we looked 100% better and the play was sharper, quicker and at times we played pegging them back...the best performance, arguably, under Ruben. Thus, proving with the right players he can work magic here but of course will he be given the time? Hope so because those players were paying for him and the badge yesterday

 

[Raoul]

I can understand the frustration of losing that game as you were clearly the better team from the first minute to the last, I can also understand some of the gloom given last season's appalling performances.

But this was like night and day to last season. Just looking at the team at the end, slumped on the pitch gutted like they'd lost a final was incredibly telling.

Beyond that it was the highest energy performance I've sen from United for years Cunha and Mbuemo looked great and justified the transfer startegy of paying a premium for players well used to the PL. But more importantly was the performance of others who were part of last season's debacle.

Mount had maybe his best game, his quick passing and decision making started quite a few very dangerous attacks, while his tackling broke a few up, Dorgu looked like a player reborn and Shaw looked brilliant at LCB and alongside Dorgu kept Saka pretty much anonymous for the whole game. De Ligt had Gyokeres in his pocket and Yoro just gets better and better. Even Casemiro had a great game with some sublime passing. Your midfield was not over run by Odergaard, Rice and Zubimeni, if anything it went the other way

It's difficult maybe, to see how much better you were when you've watched the dross of the last two years and been sucked into too many moments of "corners being turned" only to see the team revert to utter crap the next game. But for a non united fan this felt very different. For the first time in ages you looked like a team working together, everyone knew their job and everyone looked far fitter than they've ever been. Basically you looked scary

Good post. Agreed on all fronts.

After watching yesterday, I'm fairly confident the goals will begin to flow in abundance once the front three are more settled and Bruno begins his usual scoring.

 

[Robbie Boy]

Ironic, considering the point of this whole conversation at the moment

I don't think you quite know what ironic means. Also, you post hourly about how shite you think he is. We get it.

 

[kerrygold]

The only thing I agreed with Roy Keane about yesterday was Bayindir. I do think it was a foul on him, but why was he just stood flat-footed? He didn't even look like he was trying to win the ball, and I think that is partly why the foul wasn't given. If he had been bouncing on his toes and properly setting himself to fight for the ball then Saliba wouldn't have found it so easy to lean on him. If the ref can see that the keeper has come for the ball and been nudged out of the way then they are far more likely to disallow the goal than if he's stood rooted to the spot looking like he's hoping the ball won't come anywhere near him. Really poor. A keeper who is close to six and half feet, and probably another metre with length of arm and hand should be punching or catching that corner no problem at all.

True. He's being fouled but he’s responsible for commanding his area.

 

[TheReligion]

I can understand the frustration of losing that game as you were clearly the better team from the first minute to the last, I can also understand some of the gloom given last season's appalling performances.

But this was like night and day to last season. Just looking at the team at the end, slumped on the pitch gutted like they'd lost a final was incredibly telling.

Beyond that it was the highest energy performance I've sen from United for years Cunha and Mbuemo looked great and justified the transfer startegy of paying a premium for players well used to the PL. But more importantly was the performance of others who were part of last season's debacle.

Mount had maybe his best game, his quick passing and decision making started quite a few very dangerous attacks, while his tackling broke a few up, Dorgu looked like a player reborn and Shaw looked brilliant at LCB and alongside Dorgu kept Saka pretty much anonymous for the whole game. De Ligt had Gyokeres in his pocket and Yoro just gets better and better. Even Casemiro had a great game with some sublime passing. Your midfield was not over run by Odergaard, Rice and Zubimeni, if anything it went the other way

It's difficult maybe, to see how much better you were when you've watched the dross of the last two years and been sucked into too many moments of "corners being turned" only to see the team revert to utter crap the next game. But for a non united fan this felt very different. For the first time in ages you looked like a team working together, everyone knew their job and everyone looked far fitter than they've ever been. Basically you looked scary

Great to read this from a non United fan.

Thanks for taking the time.

 

[pascell]

I hope he takes set pieces off Bruno, as they killed us yesterday and never got past the first man.

There has to be players in this squad we've assembled whos better at them than him.

 

[TempusFugit]

I think that's the first time it's really occurred to me that we Amorim go up against a top manager in the league and completely get the better of him. Last season we had similar games against Arsenal and Liverpool where we performed quite decently but I think alot of that was down to the player's fighting spirit and then being up for the game.

Yesterday felt different, it felt like we were so tactically fine tuned that Arsenal were stunned. Maybe they expected us to sit back in big games as we've unfortunately done so many times in the past. Minus the jammy goal they really didn't have anything for us. We constantly found spaces, played around their press and completely shut down any meaningful attacking from them. If Amorim is to go and prove that he's indeed the man for the job, i think he showed a sliver of it yesterday. As a fan i was pleased with what i saw, we had a plan but unfortunately lacked some luck or lost concentration in crucial moments. With an addition in midfield and the gk issue hopefully being solved I'm cautiously optimistic for the new season.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

I don't think you quite know what ironic means. Also, you post hourly about how shite you think he is. We get it.

Haha, exactly - he should be giving himself a warning!

 

[DJ_21]

I hope he takes set pieces off Bruno, as they killed us yesterday and never got past the first man.

There has to be players in this squad we've assembled whos better at them than him.

Mbeumo for starters. His delivery’s was good against fiorentina, he always found Yoro head. Even Mount is pretty decent at corners

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

I can understand the frustration of losing that game as you were clearly the better team from the first minute to the last, I can also understand some of the gloom given last season's appalling performances.

But this was like night and day to last season. Just looking at the team at the end, slumped on the pitch gutted like they'd lost a final was incredibly telling.

Beyond that it was the highest energy performance I've sen from United for years Cunha and Mbuemo looked great and justified the transfer startegy of paying a premium for players well used to the PL. But more importantly was the performance of others who were part of last season's debacle.

Mount had maybe his best game, his quick passing and decision making started quite a few very dangerous attacks, while his tackling broke a few up, Dorgu looked like a player reborn and Shaw looked brilliant at LCB and alongside Dorgu kept Saka pretty much anonymous for the whole game. De Ligt had Gyokeres in his pocket and Yoro just gets better and better. Even Casemiro had a great game with some sublime passing. Your midfield was not over run by Odergaard, Rice and Zubimeni, if anything it went the other way

It's difficult maybe, to see how much better you were when you've watched the dross of the last two years and been sucked into too many moments of "corners being turned" only to see the team revert to utter crap the next game. But for a non united fan this felt very different. For the first time in ages you looked like a team working together, everyone knew their job and everyone looked far fitter than they've ever been. Basically you looked scary

Great post, and good to hear a perspective from a neutral.

Just think how good we'd be with Baleba though, you absolute bastards! ;-)

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Most of these are not clear chance where you can blame the attacker for not scoring. Raya barely tested with any of these attempts.

Everyone would have been surprised had Dorgu scores from his attempt.

Cunha running through I mentioned and again he was never scoring from there with Saliba covering. I also mentioned his chance from the tight angle and again if he'd have scored it would have been surprising

Not many of the Mbuemo from wide actually caused a problem

Amad looked threatening.

What I suggest is that although we probed well I never at any point thought we are knocking the door down or Raya had to do much. It's not like he was making world class saves.

We looked better but it will be interesting to see how we do over the next month or so. Arsenal looked a bit off it but whether that was to do with United preventing them from playing or their quality not being there just yet.

For the most part it was accumulation of low % chances, which still represents huge progress from where we were last season.

 

[The Boy]

Great post, and good to hear a perspective from a neutral.

Just think how good we'd be with Baleba though, you absolute bastards! ;-)

You'd be better off buying Eze, Wharton and Guehi on deadline day making sure Palace can't sign any replacements.

 

[CM]

You do realise that some of the bigger moaners here are serial moaners regardless if we are winning or losing? You will equally find some moaning in the transfer forum during summer

Lets be honest here - when was the last time we won with regularity? It's been over 2 years now. The last couple of seasons with Ten Hag and Amorim have been completely miserable and that's reflected in how people feel about the club.

That's not to say there weren't some positives yesterday either. But it's going to take a fair bit more of that to change the sentiment, given how many false dawns we've experienced in previous years and some of the glaring flaws which still exist in the squad.

 

[Rusholme Ruffian]

You'd be better off buying Eze, Wharton and Guehi on deadline day making sure Palace can't sign any replacements.

Ha ha, well, I'm pretty sure that at least two of them will be off in the next few days, zero chance of them selling Wharton this summer as well unfortunately.

 

[stepic]

Negativity stems from the performances and results, not the posters. That should be pretty obvious.

Clearly not, given there’s quite a few of us that don’t react with constant negativity, repeating the same bullshit week in week out. And we’ve all been watching the same games.

 

[hellhunter]

Clearly not, given there’s quite a few of us that don’t react with constant negativity, repeating the same bullshit week in week out. And we’ve all been watching the same games.

Say what you want about this whole debate, but both sides are, all the time, without fail.

 

[FriedClams]

I hope he takes set pieces off Bruno, as they killed us yesterday and never got past the first man.

There has to be players in this squad we've assembled whos better at them than him.

Cunha takes from the left, mbuemo from the right.

 

[stepic]

Say what you want about this whole debate, but both sides are, all the time, without fail.

We wouldn’t be critical of the constant negativity if posters utilised a little more common sense and looked at the bigger picture. You’re a scout, aren’t you meant to be leading by example? You’re one of the worst examples of it.

 

[led_scholes]

what the heck has Shaw done to you?! Your comments are not based in reality. When fit he has been a brilliant player for United and England, and has been hugely unlucky with injury.

Was he unfit during 2021-2022 for example? No.
Shaw is one of the players who can easily explain our downfall: overpaid and overrated. 2 good years in 10, while being paid as the best left back in the world.

 

[CM]

Clearly not, given there’s quite a few of us that don’t react with constant negativity, repeating the same bullshit week in week out. And we’ve all been watching the same games.

Isn't that the nature of an online forum? People are going to have different interpretations of what they've seen and place importance on different things.

I'd really like to see us play well and get results now, I don't really care who the manager is and would happily replace them if they aren't able to deliver those things quickly. Others value continuity and are happy to see through a project even if there are teething problems. I think that's the crux of the division but it has been incessant because we've been in exactly the same cycle for 2 or 3 years.

I can see some positives with how we played yesterday but I still see a hell of a lot we can improve on. There was enough yesterday to give Amorim benefit of the doubt on that one but if we don't win the next couple against Fulham and Burnley, I'd be extremely concerned, irrespective of performances. Based on the failures of last season, and the time and money he has been given to sort this out, I have high expectations of him and the team from the get go.

 

[golden_blunder]

Lets be honest here - when was the last time we won with regularity? It's been over 2 years now. The last couple of seasons with Ten Hag and Amorim have been completely miserable and that's reflected in how people feel about the club.

That's not to say there weren't some positives yesterday either. But it's going to take a fair bit more of that to change the sentiment, given how many false dawns we've experienced in previous years and some of the glaring flaws which still exist in the squad.

I don’t disagree but people need to realize that there is a difference between constructive criticism and ranty moaning

 

[Idxomer]

Was he unfit during 2021-2022 for example? No.
Shaw is one of the players who can easily explain our downfall: overpaid and overrated. 2 good years in 10, while being paid as the best left back in the world.

Yes, he needed an operation to remove screws on the leg he broke, which affected him during the season.

 

[Raoul]

what the heck has Shaw done to you?! Your comments are not based in reality. When fit he has been a brilliant player for United and England, and has been hugely unlucky with injury.

Very good player. Amorim seems to rate Mount and Shaw, which is good news given their previous setbacks due to injury.