Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

It is good news to hear Amorim is trying to address the goal-scoring issue.I did not think he would go for two number 10 first before a striker.. And besides, we have so many number 10’s, what is he going to do with them ? can he get rid some of them ?

Bruno, Mainoo, Garnacho, Amad, Mount,Zirkzee…

My approach would be

1/ buy a striker

2/ Move Bruno as number 10

3/ buy a central midfielder

4/ Buy a goal keeper

5/ Buy Right wing back

We need 5 to 6 starters not backup players to change the team. With the same players and coach, it is going to be the same as last year,

Taking the Amorim approach

Two numbers 10’s who can score is not a bad idea so long as he can offload some players..one way can be see if one of them can be a striker and make Bruno number 10. I am not a fan of Bruno playing the number 6/8 position as his biggest strength is an attacking midfielder like a De Bruyne or Odegaard. Even if he buys a striker beside Cunha and Mbeumo at least one Issue is addressed.
 
I think there are a lot of very positive conditions for Amorim to implememt his playing style this summer and cover a lot of ground..

No international tournament, no early european playoffs, looks like apart from Licha we can start with a fully fit complete squad in the beginning of the year. Hopefully we can work on the squad as well early in the window, but Cunha is already a great start. Would be great is the 'rotten apples' leave early on to remain a positive vibe in the training ground and locker room... Feel Garnacho, Rashford and Sancho should just be kept away from the squad to be honest..
 
Beachryan said:
I'm most curious as to where he manages to fit in Bruno. His inability to run with the ball means he can't really be a 10, and he's obviously not going to be disciplined or defensive enough to be one of the two central midfielders. His productivity is still amazing, but I really don't get how you fit him in as anything other than a second striker or part of a three.
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Don't think Amorin does either....maybe that's why there have been so many rumours about him 'cashing in' with the Saudi's ?
 
Maticmaker said:
Don't think Amorin does either....maybe that's why there have been so many rumours about him 'cashing in' with the Saudi's ?
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If you watch any of Amorim's time at Sporting you will see that a key feature to how he wants to play is a very attacking 8 joining in with the striker and two 10s. If Bruno plays as an 8 and has the discipline to do it the way RA wants, he will be arriving in the box for scoring chances A LOT. The issue is whether Ugarte is good enough to play the 6 well in this system when it's being played properly. I don;t think we have that answer yet as we haven't seen these players execute RA's system and tactics well as of yet.
 
meninred said:
It is good news to hear Amorim is trying to address the goal-scoring issue.I did not think he would go for two number 10 first before a striker.. And besides, we have so many number 10’s, what is he going to do with them ? can he get rid some of them ?

Bruno, Mainoo, Garnacho, Amad, Mount,Zirkzee…

My approach would be

1/ buy a striker

2/ Move Bruno as number 10

3/ buy a central midfielder

4/ Buy a goal keeper

5/ Buy Right wing back

We need 5 to 6 starters not backup players to change the team. With the same players and coach, it is going to be the same as last year,

Taking the Amorim approach

Two numbers 10’s who can score is not a bad idea so long as he can offload some players..one way can be see if one of them can be a striker and make Bruno number 10. I am not a fan of Bruno playing the number 6/8 position as his biggest strength is an attacking midfielder like a De Bruyne or Odegaard. Even if he buys a striker beside Cunha and Mbeumo at least one Issue is addressed.
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We don't have 10s that play the way RA wants. So both Cunha and Mbeumo ARE starters. Amad can play wingback. Garnacho is on his bike, thank god, Mainoo and Mount can be backup 10s, and Zirkzee is going to struggle to find a way into the team. We'll have purchases two starters once Mbeumo is over the line and that will move Amad to right wing back essentially giving us a third starter. A striker is key to the way Amorim wants to play. Hojlund has the attributes but isn't ready to do it as the main man so we need someone like Gyokeres. A holding midfield 6 that can also break the lines with passes and dribbles would be an amazing upgrade to what we have now and would allow Bruno to thrive in that 8 role. A keeper, if we have funds after sales, that makes Onana redundant would be a good next step once the previous business is sorted.
 
Kayla40TS said:
If you watch any of Amorim's time at Sporting you will see that a key feature to how he wants to play is a very attacking 8 joining in with the striker and two 10s. If Bruno plays as an 8 and has the discipline to do it the way RA wants, he will be arriving in the box for scoring chances A LOT. The issue is whether Ugarte is good enough to play the 6 well in this system when it's being played properly. I don;t think we have that answer yet as we haven't seen these players execute RA's system and tactics well as of yet.
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That's always been the question with Bruno, his talent is not in doubt. For a lot of the time Bruno has been with the club he has been the most all round capable player we have.
Over the past few seasons he has had to play all over the field at times, to help out, mostly you assume it was his own decision, taken when needed, in any given match in response to situations arising from game management needs.
At times this 'freedom' affected his temperament as 'skipper' and detracted from his service, will he remain captain with Ruben, can he play a given role?

Ugarte is an old throw back to Nobby stiles kind of performer, someone who 'puts his foot in', even in this day and age teams need that kind of player who hassles and harries opponents, who doesn't given them a moments peace... its not beautiful, but effective, the only downside is the number of yellow cards he will amass.
 
meninred said:
It is good news to hear Amorim is trying to address the goal-scoring issue.I did not think he would go for two number 10 first before a striker.. And besides, we have so many number 10’s, what is he going to do with them ? can he get rid some of them ?

Bruno, Mainoo, Garnacho, Amad, Mount,Zirkzee…

My approach would be

1/ buy a striker

2/ Move Bruno as number 10

3/ buy a central midfielder

4/ Buy a goal keeper

5/ Buy Right wing back

We need 5 to 6 starters not backup players to change the team. With the same players and coach, it is going to be the same as last year,

Taking the Amorim approach

Two numbers 10’s who can score is not a bad idea so long as he can offload some players..one way can be see if one of them can be a striker and make Bruno number 10. I am not a fan of Bruno playing the number 6/8 position as his biggest strength is an attacking midfielder like a De Bruyne or Odegaard. Even if he buys a striker beside Cunha and Mbeumo at least one Issue is addressed.
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Bruno will play in the CM position.
Garna he doesnt want.

Mount is poor and will most likely get injured again. So that just leaves Amad, Mainoo and Zirkzee. If we rely on the latter 2, we aint getting goals so it makes sense he's gone for Cunha and Mbuemo.
 
If you improve the starting eleven every summer then the following season should see an improvement regardless of the manager...I firmly believe the players dictate the results far greater than any manager.

If INEOS give his a front 3 of Cunha, Gyokeres and Mbeumo then it would be some feat to finish below 15th next season.

The question is how high could it finish! and if Amorim can add that extra 5-10% to the team by not making any wonky subs or iffy team selections.
 
Getting Cunha, Mbuemo, CM and a striker before we start training is vital.

Amorim needs full pre season with the team, so that assessment of his long term viability with the team can be done from November-December onwards.

Only thing that concerns me is his reluctance to adapt, great managers adapt according to the strength of their team.
 
On paper we might have enough “10’s” but it’s not a quantity issue, it’s a quality issue. So signing two of them was a priority, just as a CF is and a CM + GK. Whether we’ll get all of them depends on sales I guess.
 
Ayoba said:
Bruno will play in the CM position.
Garna he doesnt want.

Mount is poor and will most likely get injured again. So that just leaves Amad, Mainoo and Zirkzee. If we rely on the latter 2, we aint getting goals so it makes sense he's gone for Cunha and Mbuemo.
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The problem is when we dont have the ball. It is like playing with two midfielders, since the two number 10s are usually high on the pitch. Bruno with either Cassamiro or Ugarte smells danger for me as they are not great defensively. We will be giving the ammunition to the opposition team.
 
Ish said:
On paper we might have enough “10’s” but it’s not a quantity issue, it’s a quality issue. So signing two of them was a priority, just as a CF is and a CM + GK. Whether we’ll get all of them depends on sales I guess.
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I'd say with Cunha, Mbuemo, Amad, Mount we are actually pretty stacked at 10 now. That CF, GK and CM spot is still a risk though.
 
One argument that I have often seen in here is that Amorim needs a proper pre-season to prepare his players and before his credentials can be assessed.

But what if Cunha is our only signing when pre-season starts in July? That would be a disappointment and we often leave our transfers late. Selling our deadwood won't be easy and it will probably happen in the final days of the window, not facilitating buying or pre-season work.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
One argument that I have often seen in here is that Amorim needs a proper pre-season to prepare his players and before his credentials can be assessed.

But what if Cunha is our only signing when pre-season starts in July? That would be a disappointment and we often leave our transfers late. Selling our deadwood won't be easy and it will probably happen in the final days of the window, not facilitating buying or pre-season work.
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Pre season is more about preparing the whole squad. If a manager fails to get the general squad into a shape after a pre season, then there is no excuse. Season is a marathon. The squad need a set standard to weather the storm during drop off form period.

Even as fan you would kinda have a feel for when it goes south with the manager and the squad from pre season: Mourinho’s third summer, Ole in 2021 and ETH in both 2023 and 2024.
 
ti vu said:
Pre season is more about preparing the whole squad. If a manager fails to get the general squad into a shape after a pre season, then there is no excuse. Season is a marathon. The squad need a set standard to weather the storm during drop off form period.

Even as fan you would kinda have a feel for when it goes south with the manager and the squad from pre season: Mourinho’s third summer, Ole in 2021 and ETH in both 2023 and 2024.
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A lot of posters will claim that pre-season is all about fitness and avoiding injuries.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
A lot of posters will claim that pre-season is all about fitness and avoiding injuries.
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Building fitness is one core of the pre season. Ideally new signings would continue training with their previous clubs while not playing when the transfer is near finish line. New signings do not always hit the ground running with pre season at new club or not, so it’s all boiled down working to improve the general squad standard.
 
ti vu said:
Pre season is more about preparing the whole squad. If a manager fails to get the general squad into a shape after a pre season, then there is no excuse. Season is a marathon. The squad need a set standard to weather the storm during drop off form period.

Even as fan you would kinda have a feel for when it goes south with the manager and the squad from pre season: Mourinho’s third summer, Ole in 2021 and ETH in both 2023 and 2024.
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Pre Season is about 3 things: Fitness, Tactical Ideas, Player Relationships

Fitness:

This is the most obvious one, pushing the players to the required fitness levels to match the intensity you want to play at, something all of our managers post Fergie have failed to do, maybe Ole in 2021/22 when we had a lot of late comebacks that season, but then fell off when asked to play a more intense and dominant style the following season.

The players we have signed have also lacked the required athleticism to play high intensity football and normally fall off after the hour mark bar Bruno and a couple of others, this is also reflected in our previous inability to get our deals done till late in the window, while not always the case if managers know a player is leaving, they do not always work with them and give them the most amount of match fitness, for example Ugarte was side lined by PSG meaning he had to build up his fitness here during the season, probably accounting for some of the reasons he looked exhausted at 60 minutes, when he has been previously described as having 4 lungs.

Tactical Ideas:

This is crucial for a manager to relay his philosophy and make any major adjustments to his way of playing, with significant time to work on the required repetitions for this to become natural, hopefully allowing this to gain momentum and the team hit the ground running from the first game.

As we only play once a week compared to every 3/4 days as we have for the past 11 years, he can make small tweaks during the season, as we have more time available on the training ground, compared to 2/3 days between games predominantly aimed at recovery.

Player Relationships:

This was clearly evident for large periods of this season, particularly during the formation change under Amorim, players were sometimes hesitant to play other teammates in, as they looked unsure as where there teammate was going to make the run, or what pattern was required to break this defence down, this did improve as the season went on, excluding the Spurs game.

The amount of times Garnacho ignored the run of Dorgu to shoot i lost count, with the 2 signings expected to be ready for the tour of Cunha & Mbuemo, there relationships with there respective WBs of Cunha & Dorgu & Mbuemo & Amad, can hopefully develop an understanding of the others traits and movements, i do think that our overall attacking structure will improve with both Cunha & Mbuemo occupying the half spaces with Dorgu & Amad occupying out wide, hopefully Mbuemo & Amad can interchange in game.

Hopefully we get a ST through the door as well before pre season, allowing our front 3 enough time to create that understanding with each other allowing us to hit the ground running from week one.
 
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The lack of flexibility in his approach is, for now, the biggest red flag. Not just about 343, but the type of players he require etc.

That is something I really like in Thomas Frank. He seems very good at adapting and adjusting.
 
andersj said:
The lack of flexibility in his approach is, for now, the biggest red flag. Not just about 343, but the type of players he require etc.

That is something I really like in Thomas Frank. He seems very good at adapting and adjusting.
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I'm not convinced Amorim is inflexible. I mean you may well be right in the end based on the headlines we get from him. But there is in my opinion, more nuance in his words. Or let me say there was initially. He used to say "it isn't about the system" to "I'm not changing". Borne out of frustration for me.

Let me explain that briefly, as to why I think this. It started with LVG. His boring system was explained by him saying players need a basic set up but then have to make on field decisions dictated by the opposition. This is a view often states by likes of Keane, GNev etc

Jose alluded to it and so did Ole and to a degree ETH.

Not sure how we got to this stage but it seems players don't read on the pitch play and adjust accordingly. I don't remember the exact words but Amorim tries to explain this in his early interviews. But now keeps it short.

I think this is why likes of Garnacho haven't fitted in with him. It's not so much playing as WB or a winger it's having to adjust and be both if he situation dictates. I think Zirkzee when he got taken off learnt this and adjusted and why he is "reborn", or was before the injury.

Like I say could be wrong but think there is more to it than just simply sticking to one way irregardless.
 
andersj said:
The lack of flexibility in his approach is, for now, the biggest red flag. Not just about 343, but the type of players he require etc.

That is something I really like in Thomas Frank. He seems very good at adapting and adjusting.
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What types of players does he require, its nothing different to every other manager, they want top players.

Thomas Frank and Brentford worked, lets see how he does with Totenham. I would say we finish above them next season.
 
ti vu said:
Building fitness is one core of the pre season. Ideally new signings would continue training with their previous clubs while not playing when the transfer is near finish line. New signings do not always hit the ground running with pre season at new club or not, so it’s all boiled down working to improve the general squad standard.
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Actually, what I've observed is the opposite.
When new signings are made, typically, they tend to have a higher fitness level than players already on our roster.
With time, their fitness declines and falls back to the level of the rest of the squad.

I want to remind everybody that we just finished in 15th place in the league. This is wretchedly bad and any other club would've fired the manager.
We absolutely need new signings, but the proposition that 2-3 new players (which is likely what we'll get this Summer) will transform us, is unlikely.
 
Leftback99 said:
Yes 1 from 3. So the chance is we still don't sign 1, possibly 2 of them.
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We're 11 days into a 3 months summer window, so we are likely to sign all of them, and if by chance one of them doesn't happen then a comparable alternative will be found since we would still need a #9. At the end of the day I strongly suspect Amorim will get every player he wants - those three, a CM and a keeper.
 
Raoul said:
It would look odd indeed given we've already officially announced Cunha.
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Thankfully we'd never do something like that! :lol:
2005-mikel-signed-manchester-united-858122004.jpg
 
Raoul said:
Could it happen twice ?
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In all seriousness, probably not, I just posted that as a joke. The Mikel situation was a freak occurrence, and every time I read about it, I come away with zero understanding of what actually happened.
 
Big Ben Foster said:
In all seriousness, probably not, I just posted that as a joke. The Mikel situation was a freak occurrence, and every time I read about it, I come away with zero understanding of what actually happened.
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I always think of it quite fondly as it paid for most of Carrick's transfer fee so we just got a significantly better player.
 
sunama said:
Actually, what I've observed is the opposite.
When new signings are made, typically, they tend to have a higher fitness level than players already on our roster.
With time, their fitness declines and falls back to the level of the rest of the squad.
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Yes, I would tend to agree. Although I would say it is to do with speed levels in both thought and actions.

After a while newcomers, somehow tend to regress to the levels of the rest of the team. The fact we have won games or rescued games late on would however suggest we don't lack stamina, but certainly speed.

In my opinion the only player who has (recently) bucked that trend is Martinez, his game has not varied much, his speed off the mark had been pretty constant; however his preponderance to collecting recurring long term injuries may be a reason, i.e.because he is out so long its like starting again when he returns.
 
Kayla40TS said:
If you watch any of Amorim's time at Sporting you will see that a key feature to how he wants to play is a very attacking 8 joining in with the striker and two 10s. If Bruno plays as an 8 and has the discipline to do it the way RA wants, he will be arriving in the box for scoring chances A LOT. The issue is whether Ugarte is good enough to play the 6 well in this system when it's being played properly. I don;t think we have that answer yet as we haven't seen these players execute RA's system and tactics well as of yet.
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That system seems to leave 1 in midfield.

Playing with 2 last season wasn't too successful.
 
Stig said:
That system seems to leave 1 in midfield.

Playing with 2 last season wasn't too successful.
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It can at times leave 1 in midfield which is why one of the wingbacks is much more attacking while the other tends to hang back to help out in those areas as well as one of the 3 CBs stepping up at times as well.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
One argument that I have often seen in here is that Amorim needs a proper pre-season to prepare his players and before his credentials can be assessed.

But what if Cunha is our only signing when pre-season starts in July? That would be a disappointment and we often leave our transfers late. Selling our deadwood won't be easy and it will probably happen in the final days of the window, not facilitating buying or pre-season work.
Click to expand...
How is life on the other side?
 
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