Ruben Amorim - Manchester United Head Coach

For me, Amorim has come in and torn up the STYLE book and said we start from here

No more of Sir Alex's ideas hanging over the head like a sword.

We needed to tear up the playbook. Kick the players on their backside and get to work. We have seen players like Rashford fallen because they were too much in comfort zone

I hope this works ,,but this needed to be done to get a fresh start . Instant gratification is not coming soon. You have to be patient and hopefully we will get challenging soon. Till than take every week as it comes Except Europa we have nothing left to play for .
 
jasT1981 said:
Sir Jim Ratcliffe on Amorim: "Yeah I do, honestly [believe he can succeed]. I really, really like Ruben. He’s a very thoughtful guy. "Every time I go to the training ground, I speak to Ruben. I sit down and have a cup of coffee with him and tell him where it’s going wrong, and he tells me to f**k off. I like him."
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Ratcliffe will have watched waaay more games of football in his life than Amorim so its only right he´s trying to give young Ruben advice. Unfortunatelly this stubborn, dogmatic coach is not taking any footballing lessons from Jimmy or Brailsford on board.
 
romufc said:
He would have if City were looking to replace Pep, are they replacing him? Pep has signed a new deal. Also.. if City wanted to get Amorim, they would have because their sporting director is from Sporting.

Its all assumptions that it would be an easier fit... No one can tell me that if we had a manager that played 4 at the back, Onana would make less mistakes, Hojlund would be a better ST. There is actually evidence under Ten Hag that most of the squad was rubbish under any system.
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Our squad is really poor, that's for sure. But its better than 14th and minus 6 goal difference. ETH was a poor coach whose system didn't work in PL and so he was lost as to what to do. He was also allowed to hire his ex players, many of whom just werent suited to the PL. Its quite possible that Amorim is the same. He has no big league experience (Ashworth reportedly wanted a manager with PL experience). RVN got more joy in his spell with a more traditional approach, playing to strenght of squad. Playing 5 defenders and at least one DM means we will never score much. We also dont have players to create and then exploit the opportunities that Amorim's system requires. Its a mess. But a good manager should be able to get more without another complete rebuild....
 
mctrials23 said:
I get the impression that they are not saying that he dictates signings but that he will have a say in the sort of player he wants. i.e players that are technically, physically and mentally strong.
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I can't imagine that previous managers wanted technically, physically, and mentally weak players. It's not like they were incompetent.

All players, even the best ones, have strengths and weaknesses in athleticism and technique. The challenge when signing them is figuring out which of those strengths you absolutely need and which of those weaknesses you can live with. That's where the risk of overly rigid systems comes from: they might require giving extra priority to certain strengths, at the expense of ignoring/accepting certain weaknesses.
 
Gordon'sHill said:
Our squad is really poor, that's for sure. But its better than 14th and minus 6 goal difference. ETH was a poor coach whose system didn't work in PL and so he was lost as to what to do. He was also allowed to hire his ex players, many of whom just werent suited to the PL. Its quite possible that Amorim is the same. He has no big league experience (Ashworth reportedly wanted a manager with PL experience). RVN got more joy in his spell with a more traditional approach, playing to strenght of squad. Playing 5 defenders and at least one DM means we will never score much. We also dont have players to create and then exploit the opportunities that Amorim's system requires. Its a mess. But a good manager should be able to get more without another complete rebuild....
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Ofcourse use the small 4 game sample for RVN... I would have thought fans have learnt their lessons. Ole had a bigger sample period when he was interim, got the job on that basis and we saw how good he was.

RVN has got the Leicester job and is probably going to get sacked, so telling me that he is a better coach, when he is probably sacked from his job, is not really comforting.

Its also possible Amorim wont be the same, its a complete different approach. Do you think another manager would get Hojlund to not fall over all the time? or if the manager played 4 at the back, Onana wont make mistakes?
 
#07 said:
This completely contradicts Sir Jim's initial pitch that the club will pick the style and the coach will play it.

As others have said, once again we've fallen into hoping our first team coach can provide a sense of direction because the club lacks one.

I guess all we can do is hope it works this time.
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Exactly what I’ve been saying since ETH was fired, I really like Amorim and really hope he’s successful at United BUT we’re yet again pinning all our hopes on a coach leading the way and being successful rather than implementing an actual structure to give continuity and a long term footballing identity that can be implemented from the academies up to the first team.
 
#07 said:
This completely contradicts Sir Jim's initial pitch that the club will pick the style and the coach will play it.

As others have said, once again we've fallen into hoping our first team coach can provide a sense of direction because the club lacks one.

I guess all we can do is hope it works this time.
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They went to Amorim because he was considered the next best thing, not because his style matched the club's idea of how the team should play. Obviously Ashworth was against this and went through the door before he could arrange the photos on his desk.
 
Pav1878 said:
Which midfielders would everyone go for to play in midfield two?

They have to be mobile, good on the ball and have great defensive instincts.

These types of players are few and far between if you ask me so I think we have a tough task filling those roles.
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Ugarte is one, Bruno is another. There are plenty of midfielders in the PL at smaller teams that are good enough: Wharton and Baleba for example. We can‘t afford them right now.

Our best bet is getting deals and developing from within. Collyer is doing well. There‘s questions about Mainoo‘s athleticism, but he is definitely good enough.

Bruno and Mainoo can also play at 10, but I don‘t agree with the idea that they aren‘t cm‘s.
 
Iker Quesadillas said:
I can't imagine that previous managers wanted technically, physically, and mentally weak players. It's not like they were incompetent.

All players, even the best ones, have strengths and weaknesses in athleticism and technique. The challenge when signing them is figuring out which of those strengths you absolutely need and which of those weaknesses you can live with. That's where the risk of overly rigid systems comes from: they might require giving extra priority to certain strengths, at the expense of ignoring/accepting certain weaknesses.
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Of course they didn't but thats quite literally what good recruitment looks like. Working out what players will be able to make the move to the PL and its challenges. Why did we obsess over and buy Sancho when he had well known behavioural issues? Why did we give him and Rashford insane contracts when they clearly both had behavioural and attitude issues? Why did we pay £70m for Casemiro at his age when he was never that energetic and would be coming into a much harder league and be surrounded by weaker players and harder opposition?

Our recruitment has been completely incompetent for years. We sign players with massive issues or who are simply not good enough and then they devolve due to the crap standards we set in the team and the poor behaviour/application we tolerate.
 
hobbers said:
It's funny to hear the owner name check the shite players who every clued in fan can see are the millstones on the clubs neck. Not just the obvious ones like Sancho and Antony but also Hojlund, Onana and Casemiro. Only one spared was Mount.

Probably not the greatest thing for squad harmony if the owner of the club is confirming you're not wanted.
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I love how fans hear what they want to hear. He literally just listed pre Ineos purchases who the club was still paying for (and he did bring up Mount as well in the bit about players available to Amorim).
 
Once we start winning, whoever say that the system doesn't work will shut up. Football is about the players following instructions from the manager/coach. If they cannot do what the coach wants then the players need to leave United. Pep came and decided that he wants players to fit his football philosophy and City backed him. Who say this will never work? Till today, I cannot understand why we buy Mata (nice person), Antony, Casemiro and etc. Since I watched English football, the league is physical and fast. Amorim wants althetic and strong players is the right way to go regardless who is the manager.
 
r0663664 said:
Once we start winning, whoever say that the system doesn't work will shut up. Football is about the players following instructions from the manager/coach. If they cannot do what the coach wants then the players need to leave United. Pep came and decided that he wants players to fit his football philosophy and City backed him. Who say this will never work? Till today, I cannot understand why we buy Mata (nice person), Antony, Casemiro and etc. Since I watched English football, the league is physical and fast. Amorim wants althetic and strong players is the right way to go regardless who is the manager.
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It really depends, if we get half decent again the usual problem with 343 and high positional possession is you score less goals - if we are dominating games but drawing too often, finding it hard to put teams away, then I think the formation will become a talking point. That will be a nice problem to have compared to now which is simply we have a crap midfield and no WBs and 343 exacerbates both issues.
 
r0663664 said:
Once we start winning, whoever say that the system doesn't work will shut up. Football is about the players following instructions from the manager/coach. If they cannot do what the coach wants then the players need to leave United. Pep came and decided that he wants players to fit his football philosophy and City backed him. Who say this will never work? Till today, I cannot understand why we buy Mata (nice person), Antony, Casemiro and etc. Since I watched English football, the league is physical and fast. Amorim wants althetic and strong players is the right way to go regardless who is the manager.
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Flat earthers don't seem to shut up, so the anti Amorim crew will keep spamming no matter what.
 
r0663664 said:
Once we start winning, whoever say that the system doesn't work will shut up. Football is about the players following instructions from the manager/coach. If they cannot do what the coach wants then the players need to leave United. Pep came and decided that he wants players to fit his football philosophy and City backed him. Who say this will never work? Till today, I cannot understand why we buy Mata (nice person), Antony, Casemiro and etc. Since I watched English football, the league is physical and fast. Amorim wants althetic and strong players is the right way to go regardless who is the manager.
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Winning what? The occasional match here and there? Or home games against bottom 10 teams?
 
Jev said:
Well, the people who believe in the system haven’t shut up while we’ve been in relegation form.
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Abit hard to judge the guy when you take emotions out of it and think it through logically.

United only have Garnacho with pace until we bought Dorgu. Amad is injured, we’ve loaned out Rashford, Antony and Sancho without replacements.

United midfield is pretty weak, Casemiro has no legs, Erikson lightweight, Ugarte is a DM, Kobbie looking sluggish and Coly more of an energy player.

You never know what you’re getting with Onana. Holjund has no confidence, Zirkzee is a system player and not one who will change the game himself.

This team looks good playing big clubs because we sit back and hit them on the counter but that’s not what we want going forward.

I say give him a transfer window and next season. We’ve done neat and tidy recruitment, buying cheap athletic young players.

Of course we’re all upset with the results and the manager might not be the one but give him a chance. He deserves a fair shot unlike the pundits ignoring everything above and trying to create drama for views.
 
If our PL games ended at half time, we would be 18th on the log. Thats bottom three.
Against Arsenal was the first half time lead we've had since December 1st in the league. That some 3 months of PL football.

We start games poorly. This is reinforced by starting with 5 pure defenders + 1 or 2 defensive midfielders.

This is the main problem with Amorim.
 
roseguy64 said:
You can't believe that surely?

What do you mean?
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Well we’ve improved in possession against the bigger teams. We’re seeing more patterns of play emerge. Massive improvements. With the right quality players brought in we’ll look better instantly
 
Licha-Vidic said:
If our PL games ended at half time, we would be 18th on the log. Thats bottom three.
Against Arsenal was the first half time lead we've had since December 1st in the league. That some 3 months of PL football.

We start games poorly. This is reinforced by starting with 5 pure defenders + 1 or 2 defensive midfielders.

This is the main problem with Amorim.
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This is down to having what’s available. Bruno’s playing cm he isn’t a defensive midfielder. Hopefully in the summer he’ll address the RWB to being someone who’s more attack minded so it will basically be like playing 3-2-5
 
I still stand where I have stood. Sacking Amorim now would be madness and a disgrace to the club, but it would be fair game for club management -- whose credentials are not particularly stellar -- once the season has ended to review all options as far as Amorim's future. But as it stands right now, Ruben is our only hope of the next steps being forward steps.
 
lex talionis said:
I still stand where I have stood. Sacking Amorim now would be madness and a disgrace to the club, but it would be fair game for club management -- whose credentials are not particularly stellar -- once the season has ended to review all options as far as Amorim's future. But as it stands right now, Ruben is our only hope of the next steps being forward steps.
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Even the summer is too early to review options tbf. Except if SAF managed to de-age himself into his 1990 version and became available.

Their job is to back Amorim and see if he can at least get us top 6-8 next season. I wouldn't buy any excuses about a team with a whole lot of internationals not being good enough for fecking top 8.
 
stepic said:
4 months with no summer transfer window constitutes ‘evidence’ for impatient babies only.
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It’s the only evidence we have. It’s not enough. But it’s childish to believe that one is being more rational by trusting Amorim based on nothing but blind faith.
 
Jev said:
It’s the only evidence we have. It’s not enough. But it’s childish to believe that one is being more rational by trusting Amorim based on nothing but blind faith.
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sacking him and replacing him with another manager and hoping they’d do any better with this squad would also be an act of ‘blind faith’. It’s not a valid argument.

If it’s not enough evidence to make a serious judgement (which it isn’t) then it’s not evidence - period.

And besides, anyone without their anti Amorim blinkers on can already see the direction he’s trying to get the team going, so there are small pockets of evidence developing, never mind all the additional evidence from his time at Sporting.
 
Licha-Vidic said:
If our PL games ended at half time, we would be 18th on the log. Thats bottom three.
Against Arsenal was the first half time lead we've had since December 1st in the league. That some 3 months of PL football.

We start games poorly. This is reinforced by starting with 5 pure defenders + 1 or 2 defensive midfielders.

This is the main problem with Amorim.
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Pointless stat. Where would we be if they started at half time?
 
stepic said:
4 months with no summer transfer window constitutes ‘evidence’ for impatient babies only.
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Add on the fact with no real replacements for Sancho, Antony and Rashford. But yeah let’s pile on the manager without giving him a fair shot.
 
DJ_21 said:
This is down to having what’s available. Bruno’s playing cm he isn’t a defensive midfielder. Hopefully in the summer he’ll address the RWB to being someone who’s more attack minded so it will basically be like playing 3-2-5
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But fair enough, injuries have been intense only few weeks ago.

Amorim has been here for 121 days. Since November 11. He hasn't won back to back PL games.
His last half time lead was December 1st.
We haven't been injury beaten for 121 days. For now yes the team is back to bare bones.
 
#07 said:
Amorim is not very compatible with the squad we have, nor with the way our academy is set up to produce talent. Either the powers that be have a pretty different view of compatible or plan for some massive changes that we just aren't seeing at youth level (despite INEOS being involved with the club for a year). Not very joined up in either case.

I find it plausible to believe Berrada went for Amorim in large part because he knew he was on City's shortlist, and no real thought went into how much work on our squad and wider system would be required to make it work. Whatever the case he says he's all in so let’s see how it goes. He and Ashworth also gave a vote of confidence to Ten Hag before the Liverpool home game. Look how that ended up.
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The current SMT didn't appoint ETH so a failure of continuity between his appointment and the next manager's can't be left at their door. They decided that the style of football ETH was pursuing wasn't what they wanted, so they went with a manager that did. You can decide whether there is continuity in their appointments & squad planning once they appoint a second manager, not before.

As for your second comment - why take the worst position possible? The first part is pure speculation and the comment about supporting ETH before the Liverpool game is thin gruel. Are you seriously judging a CEO based on that? Its like you're fishing round for any reason to be unhappy. How about letting the new CEO do the job for a year or two and then judging him then?
 
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Over the last few games, it seems like we have been playing better but have been letdown with the attackers.
In general, hearing him talk about where he wants to take us in the future is quite promising, and leaves me optimistic for the future.
 
erikcred said:
Even the summer is too early to review options tbf. Except if SAF managed to de-age himself into his 1990 version and became available.

Their job is to back Amorim and see if he can at least get us top 6-8 next season. I wouldn't buy any excuses about a team with a whole lot of internationals not being good enough for fecking top 8.
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I also would not sack Amorim this summer, but if for the sake of argument we lost the rest of our matches this season the prospect of the sack would have to be taken seriously. But it really all depends on what the objectively learned lessons are from Amorim's tenure as manager. I've seen enough to convince that he is the best man for the job for us right now, but if an epic collapse closes out the season all options need to be put on the table.
 
I‘m not convinced he is the right man yet, if we continue to play poorly its best to say byebyes in summer.
 
NLunited said:
I‘m not convinced he is the right man yet, if we continue to play poorly its best to say byebyes in summer.
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Did you watch Sundays game?

If Raya having a MOM performance means we’re sh1t, then I can’t wait till we’re good.
 
DJ_21 said:
Well we’ve improved in possession against the bigger teams. We’re seeing more patterns of play emerge. Massive improvements. With the right quality players brought in we’ll look better instantly
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So improved possession and patterns of play is the only way managers get teams to play the way they want?
 
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