From bad to worse. That was the story of Manchester United’s week as their deflating 2-2 draw away to Lyon was followed by a 4-1 thrashing at Newcastle.
The worst part? It was all too predictable. The Red Devils have taken just 23 points from a possible 63 in the Premier League since Ruben Amorim took charge, with the club having sacked Erik ten Hag in October.
Amorim made five changes to his starting XI for the trip to St James’ Park, including in goal, but the defeat leaves them just three points above 17th-placed West Ham and now they’re guaranteed to finish this season with their lowest-ever Premier League points tally. United have also won just four of their 14 games in a turgid run stretching back to January and the ex-Sporting Lisbon boss has since admitted that his job is at ‘risk’.
The sack question might sound premature, especially given Amorim’s attempts to radically change the Red Devils’ style of play and with so many players underperforming, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe has set a precedent. Dan Ashworth was afforded less time as sporting director than United spent chasing him while Ten Hag got the sack just months after being backed with £200million worth of signings.
With all of that in mind, and as a portion of supporters call for the axe to be wielded once again, we asked Mirror Football’s writers the looming question for our Big Debate: should Amorim be sacked?
Sacking Ruben Amorim any time soon would just be in keeping with Manchester United’s other catastrophic, knee-jerk decisions. You have to give him time. You have to give him at least next season, another two windows – and arguably even more to simply put right the existing wrongs and start afresh.
This is a manager who is regarded as one of the smartest, brightest young coaches in Europe. And if United believed that a few months ago – why change now? A few things do worry me. Like being welded to one tactical plan. Players make systems. Systems don’t make players. If he cannot move from his back three formation then that shows a weakness and an inflexibility in his make-up.
But just look at the squad. It’s shocking. The worst United team in living memory. Even the stats confirm that now. And that is not just down to the manager. Sir Jim Ratcliffe was lauded in some quarters as the saviour. He has made it worse. The recruitment has been appalling. But I was up at Newcastle and the United fans were singing Amorim’s name right until the end.
There have been green shoots. And setbacks. Amorim has put all his eggs in the Europa League basket. And that gamble must come off.
Should Manchester United sack Ruben Amorim or is it too soon? Have your say in the comments section.
There are a couple of ways of looking at Ruben Amorim’s record as Manchester United manager. You can either deem his inability to produce any noticeable improvement out of the side as abject failure or you can accept the fact he took over a dysfunctional squad of players.
I go with the latter. A record of 13 wins, seven draws and 12 defeats in 32 matches is not pretty. But, on the other hand, to only lose 12 out of 32 is not bad when you consider the players at his disposal.
He has to be given a pre-season to reset the squad and he has to be given significant backing in the transfer market. The issue, of course, will be how to get rid of the many unwanted characters and how to attract the right ones and that won’t be solved in one window.
There will be no dramatic turnaround next season but Amorim remains the man for the long term.
Why would you sack a manager who could still lead United into the Champions League next season? It is no longer a stretch to suggest Amorim can win the Europa League and decorate this car-crash of a season at Old Trafford with a trophy.
United have a gilt-edged opportunity to reach the last four – if they cut out elementary mistakes – against Lyon on Thursday night, so this is not the week to be spouting spurious talk about ditching Amorim. When the music stops at the end of the season, however, a major reset is required.
Sir Jim and the United power brokers need to sit down with Amorim, treat him to a video of his Sporting Lisbon team destroying Manchester City in the Champions League just five months ago, and ask him what he needs to replicate it with United. Winning the Europa League would bring the likes of Viktor Gyokeres to Old Trafford and give Amorim the ammunition for a sorely-needed makeover of his squad.
But sacking the manager now? Don’t be daft.
Sacking Ruben Amorim would achieve nothing. Because it’s not his fault Manchester United find themselves in a pit of despair.
It’s not his fault he has inherited a neglected team, poisoned with woeful recruitment. It’s not his fault United continue to be a club in decline, with the wrong people in positions of power.
Who would be the right man to replace him? In fact, who in their right mind would want to replace him? The only thing Amorim is guilty of is being naive to take the job in the first place.
Because it’s nothing more significant these days than a poisoned chalice.
I thought the post-match interview after the Newcastle defeat was the first time that you saw things really getting to Ruben Amorim. Saying he ‘didn’t care’ about criticism just made him come across like a moody teenager, and while he really isn’t helping himself by being dogmatically wedded to his system, he’s not the biggest problem at Manchester United. He’s not even close.
Ownership, recruitment, off-field costs, the amount of years left on the contracts of various unwanted players – you can take your pick for the No.1 spot in the Problem Table, and while Amorim must have known there’d be issues when he joined the club, he can’t have thought they’d be this bad.
He sees the Europa League as a chance to save the season and bounce straight into the Champions League, but in truth United would probably benefit from a campaign out of Europe with fewer games and more time on the training pitch to learn their manager’s strict, and only system.
But whatever happens in midweek he shouldn’t be sacked already, even if he might see it as a relief.
No. When will those in charge of Manchester United realise that changing managers isn’t the solution? The new regime undermined themselves by giving Erik ten Hag another few months when he clearly wasn’t their man, so on this occasion, have some backbone and stick to your guns.
Has Amorim done enough to prove that he deserves a war chest this summer? Of course not – even Manchester City don’t answer to Pep Guardiola’s every transfer wish – but given United’s recruitment record, who’s to say that’s the answer anyway? There’s no quick fix. I’d argue time on the training ground would be more valuable than an influx of new signings.
This squad – one full of rough diamonds and good enough players who can still win the Europa League – wouldn’t even challenge for the Premier League title under any other manager, and as Sir Alex Ferguson said, that’s the name of the game at Old Trafford. So give Amorim more time; time to coach his players and time to send a message that the manager won’t always be the fall guy when the Red Devils are struggling.
Plus, can they even afford it?
Absolutely not. If there’s a problem in Manchester it is not the manager. You don’t go from being one of Europe’s most exciting managers to useless in a matter of months. It’s also not like Amorim was excelling with Porto, who more or less win the league most years, it was with Sporting Lisbon.He’s already had to punch above his weight just to make a name for himself and his request to start the job in the summer looks as if he really is as intelligent as he sounds. His opening months have been a disaster, but I don’t buy this ‘he’s failed to be pragmatic’ narrative.Amorim made it clear his philosophy came first and we won’t know whether he’s the ace in the pack or a complete joker until he gets the players he needs. He’s not given much to feed off, granted, but he was on a hiding to nothing with this current squad.In truth, it would be so United to sack him, pay him off and then plead poverty as they put more jobs at risk. But even they must acknowledge that judgement day is not upon us yet.
As Roy Keane made very clear, Manchester United were abject in the second half at Newcastle. And Ruben Amorim’s apparent lack of interest in the result made a mockery of the hole they’ve dug for themselves.
The way he immediately steered his post-match interviews towards Thursday’s game against Lyon was telling. It suggested he wasn’t in the least bit surprised to lose at Newcastle.
Yet, while he’s clearly made very little impact, with United just as bad as they were under Erik ten Hag, now is not the time to change tack again. The new regime has made it clear that they are going to give Amorim time to implement his ideas – and the summer transfer window is crucial to that.
I don’t hold out much hope for a complete revival next season, largely because they will struggle to attract the calibre of player required due to the depths they’ve sunk to. But they at least have to try, otherwise shelling out all that money to sack Ten Hag and hire Amorim and his staff mid-season was entirely pointless.
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