Dire Times at Manchester United
After twelve matches in charge Ruben Amorim has so far failed to get the best out of Manchester United. Rescuing a point away at Anfield and beating Manchester City at the Etihad deserves some credit. Especially after the squad’s recent form. However, both of those performances raise more questions than answers.
Both opponents probably played their worst matches all season against United. Yet It took Amorim’s team playing their best, against two teams at their worst, for this squad to look like they belong in this league.
Why can United perform when they play away to Liverpool or Manchester City, but at home to Bournemouth or Nottingham Forest they look like a Sunday league team? Even more disturbing is how this paradigm seems to transcend the manager and front office.
The bottom line is sadly sobering. Since Amorim’s arrival, United have plummeted to 13th in the League, are out of the Carabao Cup, and are in 7th in the Europa League. United also boast the worst xGA and the most underperforming xG in the league. All of which adds up to the Red Devils currently sitting closer to the relegation zone than to Europa League qualification.
Meanwhile, the new boss has had to put the hammer down on both Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho. Both have been benched since the win away to Manchester City. With Garna making only three brief substitute appearances in that time.
History to Repeat Itself Under Ruben Amorim?
The majority of Red Devils fans weren’t around to remember the 73/74 season when United were relegated. And I don’t think many of us thought that it could get worse than the club’s period under Ralf Rangnick.
Yet, despite a whole new executive team and a new manager, United are still closer to repeating that relegation season than qualifying for Europe next season. Compounding the on pitch issues at Old Trafford are the executive decisions being made in the front office.
The INEOS team, without a doubt botched their handling of Erik ten Hag. They then proceeded to double down on their incompetence by spending months perusing Dan Ashworth over the summer. Only to sack him before the January transfer window.
INEOS then decided to raise ticket prices, layoff more than 200 blue collar workers, and they released Sir Alex Ferguson of his duties as an executive officer. Mind you the the money they save doing this is still less than what United are paying Jadon Sancho to play for Chelsea. And it is less than what they are paying Darren Fletcher to fill a roll that none of United’s recent executive staff or managers can even define.
So far, it is hard to see how United’s new front office is any less inept than the previous regime.
Same Shit Different Day
Manchester United fans were yet again sold on replacing the manager. Again after waiting far too long to sack the previous one. We were told that Amorim would fix all of our problems. Just like all of the other’s since Sir Alex retired…
Regardless of whatever criticisms anyone may have for Moyes, Van Gaal, Mourinho, Ole, Rangnick, or ten Hag, most United fans reveled in their arrivals. Just like most of us have bought into the narrative that Ruben Amorim is now the right man for the job.
Moyes was the ‘chosen one’, hand picked by Ferguson. Van Gaal and Mourinho were meant to be wise, technical geniuses that, like Fergie, could out play an opponent using tactics and team cohesion alone. Ten Hag was meant to usher in a cultural revolution at Carrington, teaching the players to play total football. Even Ole was tipped to succeed. If for nothing more than his club legend status, and THAT night in Paris.
With Amorim, he is meant to be a nextgen coach who relies on analytics and hard metrics, and knows how to get the best from the up and coming generation. It is the same shit, different day.
The Glazer’s, they were too focused on recruiting marquee names, rather than the right ones. They were too focused on making money and washing their hands of responsibility that they became content allowing the club to be run by bankers, while club wide decisions were being made by the manager, rather than a technical director.
Whereas, INEOS appear to be developing a penchant for making rash decisions, and internal squabbling. Either way the job isn’t getting done in the Old Trafford front office.
All the while, the managers are habitually hung out to dry.
Ruben Amorim is Struggling to Resurrect United
Despite the hope new owners and a new manager brought to the club, the proof is in the pudding.
The Red Devils are 4-2-6 under Amorim. Meanwhile our record this season is a sad 11-8-10. Under Amorim we have sunk from a +6 to a -6 goal difference. The team is 13th in the standings. And in the last three matches they have allowed 9 goals, scoring only 2.
Bruno did manage a man of the match performance against Liverpool. However, his volatility is wreaking havoc on United as he continues to rack up red and yellow cards at an alarming rate. Further depriving United of the one player they can’t seem to survive without.
Injuries are persisting. Shaw, de Ligt, Mount, Mainoo, Malacia, and Lindelof are all still struggling. Meanwhile, Antony, Rashford, Evans, Casemiro, Eriksen, and all of United’s youth prospects have become peripheral at best and useless at worst.
Hojlund, Zirkzee, Amad, Garnacho, Rashford and Antony have combine for a meager 22 goals in the last 30 matches. Meanwhile, Rashford has fallen out of favor in the same way that Jadon Sancho did, while only tallying two goals all season. Garnacho is also dangerously close to following suit, having now been reprimanded under Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag and Ruben Amorim.
Amorim Walked into a Shitstorm
Old Trafford and Carrington are still falling apart. Yet, the club have done nothing more than release a few empty statements from Ratcliffe promising new facilities. AND… Just when United fans thought that INEOS was going to make a breakthrough by hiring an elite front office, they decided after six months to fire one the games best Directors’ of Football, Dan Ashworth.
The current numbers have not been 100% indicative of Amorim’s managerial skills. However, United are statistically the worst team in the league over the last two months. And the club is experiencing their worst campaign in its history, save the 73/74 season.
The draw away to Liverpool definitely brought some of the feelgood factor back to the club. The team performed extremely well. Amorim got the game plan right and stuck to his tactics. But we still drew. That match did little to either teams standing in the league. The result merely further proved that this team only gets up for a match when they feel like it. And, even when they do decide to play well, they can barely muster a draw in a match where the opposition practically handed us the game.
The fact we are only in 13th place rather than last is by the grace provided to us from the failures of other teams. Otherwise Ruben Amorim’s United would be in a relegation battle.
Not only has the transition from Erik ten Hag to Ruben Amorim proven far more complicated than fans were led to believe, but it has laid to bare just how far gone our club really is… AGAIN!
Amorim’s Approach
I think Ruben Amorim came to Manchester United knowing exactly how hard the Premier League and United job was going to be. Amorim saw the mountain, and decide to climb it anyway.
Despite United’s current form, Amorim’s approach of getting worse to get better is probably the right call.
His tact seems to be; force this team to play his way, for better or worse. In the meantime watch and wait to see who won’t cut it versus who can rise from the ashes. Then based on that analysis, turn over as many players as possible as quickly as possible.
The problem Amorim has to navigate is this was a team largely built for Erik ten Hag. Ratcliffe handicapped Amorim by investing so much this summer into the dutchman. Both from a squad and financial fair play perspective. He then further handicapped Amorim by firing Ashworth. INEOS knew they were handing Amorim an impossible task.
I subsequently believe that the Amorim then went to Berrada and Ratcliffe and told them this was his plan. He told them it was going to get worse. He told them that Erik ten Hag was the calm before his storm. And he told them that he was going to toss this team into the deep end to see who will sink and who will swim.
To their credit, United’s front office appears to have accepted this and appear happy for Amorim to use his methods to unequivocally weed out the weak.
In Ruben Amorim I Trust
United’s new boss deserves a lot more credit than results have bought him. Regardless of the team’s current form, he has done the one thing that no recent Red Devil’s manager has been able to do. He has stuck to his philosophy. He has held true to the approach that has made his teams successful. So far.
He is also unforgiving in his attempts to learn what players he can rely on, what players he needs to put his foot down with, and what players are surplus to his requirements.
What’s more, Amorim has achieved yet another milestone that most recent managers have failed at. When United play, regardless of who they play, you can see his system on the field.
Forgetting for a moment how poorly the players are implementing those tactics, they are still obvious. Under ten Hag especially, it was hard to see what the players were trying to do or how the manager wanted to play.
Under the Portuguese boss, United have a clear formation, patterns of play, and positional awareness. Even if at times they look terrible trying, it is still clear what Amorim is trying to get them to do. Which is a huge improvement from the last few managers.
Amorim or Bust
On that point, I agree with Gary Neville. Recently, Neville pointed out that the failures of all of United’s contemporary managers can, in part, be traced back to the moment they gave up on their philosophies to cater to the players they had.
Each of our previous managers, post Ferguson, has complained that they didn’t have the players for their styleo football. Regardless of more than $1 billion dollars in investment across those managers, they all changed their tact to adapt to the players they had.
Normally this would have been a scrupulous yet wise decision. However, a lot of times, a manager changing their methods shows their lack of faith. Both in themselves, the club and the players. And it shows weakness, either in the manager, or the support behind the manager from the club.
Fortunately, Amorim has shown that he believes in his methods to a fault. And he will not change them for anyone. No matter how far down the table United plumet or how many players he pisses off. For good reason. He has also shown that when a team buys into his methods they can be unstoppable.
Unfortunately, Amorim’s approach has also shown just how few of the current Manchester United players have the tactical flexibility to play under him. His approach has exposed just how poor the collective mentality of the players is and how INEOS is still learning how to manage a football club at United’s level.
I have immense respect for Ruben Amorim, for sticking to his guns and seeing the next 6 months for exactly what it is. A learning opportunity.
Glory, Glory Man United!
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