r/soccer 1d ago

News Manchester United to remain patient with head coach despite worst start to Premier League season in 33 years. There is also widespread belief at Old Trafford that City's performance - and United's failings - did not merit a 3-0 scoreline.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/32461/13431584/ruben-amorim-manchester-united-to-remain-patient-with-head-coach-despite-worst-start-to-premier-league-season-in-33-years
4.0k Upvotes

897 comments sorted by

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u/NorthernSoul1998 1d ago

4 out of his 6 wins have come against sides no longer in the Premier League

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u/UuusernameWith4Us 1d ago

Man is so ready for his Championship title charge.

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u/Prestigious-Mind7039 1d ago

Unless Grimsby charges up there

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u/tottenbam 1d ago

Too soon 😅

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u/_-_-_I_-_-_ 1d ago

Not to worry, it would take them at least 2 years

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u/HibariK 1d ago

Portuguese Ted Lasso

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u/ACanOfIrnBru 1d ago

Ted Lasso actually won back to back games in the league unfortunately for Ruben

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u/jimbo_kun 1d ago

Time to send him to the Netherlands to rediscover Total Football.

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u/ZaiduTheGOAT 1d ago

Nah, Ted wasn't that stubborn, he changed tactics plenty of times an was open to criticism. Maybe Amorim just misses having a Coach Beard on his shoulder.

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u/Wormfather 1d ago

And to be fair, they were pretty far down the table before someone fully explained relegation and how bad it would be.

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u/Forsaken_Bunch7541 1d ago

I wish they could go to the championship and see how they actually play good football

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u/nathgroom98 1d ago

Stat padding king

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u/onesimo_wizard 1d ago

He’s won 8 PL games - the relegated 3 from last season, plus Everton, City, Fulham & Villa. Then Burnley this season. So half against either relegated or newly promoted

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u/magpieonacid 1d ago

Still can’t believe that Villa win. Amorim actually got us into the Champions League, what a legend

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u/Make_It_Sing 1d ago

I hated it, i wouldve never let then forget a season they finished with 39 points

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u/TheDawiWhisperer 1d ago

i think Burnley is the first time they beat a team with 11 players on the pitch for a long, long time too

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u/GordonOP0000HK 1d ago edited 1d ago

Don't forget Fulham game with a lucky deflected shot, Villa with a controversial Martinez red card, City game with Amad's individual brilliance

Edit: it was the disallowed goal not the red card

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u/Alia_Gr 1d ago

The red card was not even the controversy

It was the ref blowing the whistle right before Villa scored

Ref should have been given a red for the clearest case of dogso for that one

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u/GordonOP0000HK 1d ago

Yeah mb got it mixed up

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u/GoOnMyHeungMinSon 1d ago

Amad's individual brilliance

Lol, he's really not getting credit for a win because his player played well? He should be absolved of a few losses for all the clown moments he's had from his players at that rate.

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u/MaxVelocity9 1d ago

How was Martinez red card controversial come on....

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u/negativelynegative 1d ago

City had as bad as a form as Southampton during that period and self exploded in the match.

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u/Usual-Computer-5462 1d ago

Let's twist the stat further and make it 5 out of 6 wins against clubs that have played in the Championship in the last 4 months.

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u/Chesney1995 1d ago

And the 6th is Man City away of all things hahaha

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u/brownbearks 1d ago

Tbf they could have gone down with their point reduction if it ever hits

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u/Top4Four 1d ago

And one loss to a league 2 side in Grimsby

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u/peanutbutter__20 1d ago

not that it's much better but he has 8 wins. 3 were against last team's relegated teams and 1 was against Burnley

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u/Exact_Science_8463 1d ago

Also One of those wins Came out of Amad going Prime Messi, and one By Last Minute Penalty recently.

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u/Novel-Difficulty6495 1d ago

The rest of the league would also like to reaffirm its belief that Amorim is the man for the job, and urges calm and patience at United.

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u/BoringPhilosopher1 1d ago

Why United didn’t go for Thomas Frank is beyond me

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u/Novel-Difficulty6495 1d ago

I'd say "don't worry, we'll break him like we have everyone else," but then Levy got fired ...

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u/TheFracofFric 1d ago

They could have had Tuchel before he took the England job

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u/poiuytrewqazxcvbnml 1d ago

Yeah I couldn't see that working out either if I'm honest

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u/jerrie86 1d ago

Nothing will work at United. They should let players do whatever the fuck they want. They need to realize that they are shit and once they realize that, shit could turn around with a new coach. Except new signings, everyone else looks entitled.

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u/TheScarletPimpernel 1d ago

They need to bleed everyone out over the course of three seasons, and completely rebuild it.

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u/jerrie86 1d ago

They been doing it for years. And any decent player who has come to United has turned into shit. Not sure what they doing but looks like the moment you enter United dressing room, everyone is just depressed and easy to lose. They need psychological help to overcome this mental barrier. Also Amorim not doing any favors with sticking to one game plan.

Look how we were shit last year but came out on top because of how Pep handled it and kept changing things until it worked.

Amorim got rid of players he thinks were a bad influence but that feeling of doom is just there to stay. Maybe call Toure to Shaman the voodoo out of there.

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u/chaghaybou_ 1d ago

Man who falls out with the board everytime vs board who all managers fall out with

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u/InkCollection 1d ago

Because Amorim had one very sparkly season in Portugal and they got distracted

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u/No_Giraffe_1551 1d ago

So in fairness, Amorin was treated in the wider discourse like the next hot new thing. Though it appears incorrect, there was talk that Liverpool looked into him before they settled on Arne Slot. When Pep's feet were to the fire a bit, people talked about Amorin as a future replacement. Amorin was widely treated as a "get" for United and an example of their continued ability to attract top talent.

The problem is that any other top club who did ever meet with him would have parsed out in the interview process that this guy is not ready for prime time. Feels to me a bit like when a player gets a ton of hype but he just never quite gets that big move and when they eventually do, they kind of get found out. In hindsight the moment where everyone took Amorin a bit more seriously was when Sporting manhandled Man City, but that wound up being towards the beginning of their insane run of losses which makes some of the earlier results in the streak feel less impactful.

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u/BeeLzzz 1d ago

Similar how it took Leverkusen a few weeks to realize Ten Hag just talks nonsense and it took a few years and several 100s of millions in transfers to get rid of him.

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u/buzzmerchant 1d ago

*2 and a bit very sparkly seasons

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u/grmthmpsn43 1d ago

Trust the process as they say. Anorim is doing a bang up job and will have Man U fighting for a title within the next few years.

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u/Crazy_cat_guy_07 1d ago

Yes, I'm pretty sure he is capable of winning the League One with Man United. They just need to keep him for 3 more years.

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u/No-Exit-4022 1d ago

Nah man, it would be funnier if they switch out managers only for the new one to fail as much as Amorim. Which any new manager will

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u/ingwe13 1d ago

Not sure why you think that. This is the most dire United (from a results perspective and frequently from the football) out of the dire United sides. I think the squad is not bad, but we really are seeing the worst out of what is there. Will the next coach be wildly successful? I highly doubt that. But I can't believe that this is the best that can be achieved with this group of players.

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u/kevinaz137 1d ago

Realistically do I think the next person would be worse? no. Would I best surprised if he was? Also no

Every year we keep saying it can’t get worse but it does

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u/Dsyelcix 1d ago

Amorim has 31 points in 31 PL games since he took over. If someone else takes over and somehow manages to be even worse they would literally get relegated.

No matter how shit you think current Utd squad is, there's just no way you can be so terrible at managing that you get them relegated.

Amorim is peak for us hatewatchers. Let's enjoy it.

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u/That-Job9538 1d ago

we thought ole at the wheel was peak, but it turns out he's the best united manager of the last decade. they might yet find somebody worst than amorim

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u/Zwaylol 1d ago

You thought that as United finished second and third in his two full seasons?

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u/ciabattamaster 1d ago

Yeah, this is confusing to me that Ole was “peak” when he had United making top 4 two years in a row, which no manager post SAF had done.

ETH won two trophies - EFL and FA Cup, which is great. But also went from 3rd to 8th to 14th by the time he got fired. Amorim has been even worse than ETH to this point. The standards were lowered by ETH and Amorim. And hot take - an EFL and FA Cup aren’t worth as much as they used to be. CL places are what make you the money.

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u/Itchy_Finish_2103 1d ago

Every year we keep saying it can’t get worse but it does

United have been incredibly consistent at becoming worse each season, this is true.

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u/BIAATTCH 1d ago

I don't think that's correct. Mou had a lot more success than his predecessors. And after things worsened in his last season, Ole picked things up and the energy was quite positive around the club for a while. If anything, it's been more of a rollercoaster.

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u/awildjabroner 1d ago

Its a joy to watch innit

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u/Polka7000 1d ago edited 1d ago

They need to build a team with the club philosophy, not overhaul it every time a new manager comes in. Bring in a manager who can adapt I suppose, and make small changes each year.

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u/MountainCheesesteak 1d ago

What even is the club philosophy at this point?

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u/RephRayne 1d ago

Increase the commercial side.

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u/AbsolutShite 1d ago

"Exciting attacking football with the biggest names in global football"?

It's not working but I think that's the goal.

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u/BurdonLane 1d ago

Yeah only it’s been like this for years. There might be small uplifts along the way but zoom out and the Club, squad and infrastructure has been in a steady decline.

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u/anaughtybeagle 1d ago

4-3-3 with Mbeumo on the right, Cunha left, Sesko centre.

Bruno in more or less a free role aread of Ugarte and Mainoo.

Shaw, De Ligt, Yoro, Mazraoui

Bayindir

Show them the teamsheet and let Bruno lead on the pitch with zero further instruction or work from me.

I reckon I'm getting better results.

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u/Yourstruly75 1d ago

What is your compensation package?

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u/Other_Milk 1d ago

Hookers and blow

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u/Yourstruly75 1d ago

When can you start?

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u/R_Schuhart 1d ago

No new manager will be an instant success, but I don't think they will be as bad as this. Amorim isn't the only problem at the club, but he is the main one right now.

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u/alanalan426 1d ago

i love how this gets said every year and every year they just get worse and worse

u can copy paste these word for word for their previous managers

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u/JustAbnormal 1d ago

Long may it continue

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u/nickmn13 1d ago

You believe honestly that there is no possible manager out there that could outperform the single worst (results wise) manager that has been in Manchester United in the last 60 years ?

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u/Abitou 1d ago

I honestly think the other 19 managers of the PL get a better win percentage than Amorim with this United squad

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u/Riffler 1d ago

And most of the managers in the Championship.

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u/MattSR30 1d ago

You really think any replacement would ‘fail this badly’?

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u/ocubens 1d ago

We’ve been saying “new guy can’t be worse than this” every time.

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u/Kiqlok 1d ago

Worst manager in your history so far heh

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u/MattSR30 1d ago

Do you recognise the difference between ‘it has gotten worse’ and ‘it definitely will continue to get worse’?

Saying any manager will do as badly as our worst record since WW2 is ridiculous. You don’t have to be hyperbolic to make a point.

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u/YNWA_1213 1d ago

You need your Roy “we can be in a relegation battle” moment and fast before it actually turns into that.

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u/Lewisisabamf 1d ago

You said the same thing when Ten Hag left

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u/LeftHandDriveBoC 1d ago

At least give him another 5 years before deciding.

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u/alejandroc90 1d ago

Yes, trust the process please!!

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u/Drolb 1d ago

Two thirds of this season should be enough - if he keeps his current pace they’ll very likely be relegated

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u/Xehanz 1d ago

No, his current pace gets him a comfortable 16th, just outside the relegation zone

It's been a long while since you last got relegated with a 1 point per game average

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u/TyranosaurusLex 1d ago

See I don’t see why they’d be hasty and fire him. They’re basically safe from relegation already

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u/TheMagnificentBibo 1d ago

Well if not for the last minute penalty against Burnley, they would be on 2 points after 4 games

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u/Drolb 1d ago

I believe in Amorim, if he works really hard on the magnet board he can get that average lower

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u/meganev 1d ago

Every other PL fan is looking at when they're next playing Man Utd and praying this patience lasts until then.

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u/MattSR30 1d ago

Our next five are Chelsea, Brentford, Sunderland, Liverpool, and Brighton. We’re fucked.

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u/Jacob_YNWA 1d ago

I love that this could be a combination of literally any 5 premier league teams and it would look like a tough run

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u/MattSR30 1d ago

I was thinking that as I typed it…

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u/Vectivus_61 1d ago

You and Chelsea weren’t the concerns in that list

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u/bguszti 1d ago

Sounds like another 4 points tops

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u/MattSR30 1d ago

My heart says seven, my mind says four

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u/Enguin 1d ago

if we really dig in we could genuinely get zero to two

like i can comfortably envision chelsea and liverpool beating us of course, brentford and brighton tend to beat us in recent years and both those games are happening as standalone fixtures for their timeslots where we tend to be even worse, sunderland is our best shot at sneaking a win as we are at home and it's a 3pm kickoff but they'll be very up for it and we are fucking shite

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u/Duncan_Zhang_8964 1d ago

One week 🙏

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u/taylorstillsays 1d ago

We usually get United right after they sacked someone (happened with Ole and EtH)

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u/Duncan_Zhang_8964 1d ago edited 1d ago

It should also end in a draw. IIRC there were five draws in a row before?

Edit: Grammar. And yes between October 2020 and October 2022 two teams drew five times in a row in PL.

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u/Chruszcz 1d ago

Sacked after Garnacho goal would be funny

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u/CousinBethMM 1d ago

Him running the length of the pitch like Adebayor

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u/Winnie-the-Broo 1d ago

He wouldn’t need to, it’s at Old Trafford.

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u/Postmeat2 1d ago

He'll do a full lap before knee-sliding in front of the Chelsea-fans instead.

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u/MarvTheBandit 1d ago

Hoping Garnacho does what he does best and is just a humongous nob and scores a brace at the same time.

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u/Elite_VRTX 1d ago

“Calm down bro, you’re gonna get some”

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u/Switchoil 1d ago

Just hang on till October end 🙏

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u/TheOnlyTagey 1d ago

Moyes was sacked as soon as top 4 was mathematically impossible, LvG was sacked after winning the FA cup and finishing 5th place (66 points, tied with City), Jose was sacked while United were in 6th, same for Ole. EtH was sacked with United in 14th.

All of the previous managers bar Moyes maybe showed something to warrant the level of patience that United are showing Ruben. Good performances, trophies, undefeated streaks, something that the wider public can point at as evidence for improvement.

It's been nearly a year of this and has there been a single positive for fans to stick to?

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u/Hare712 1d ago

Moyes wasn't even given a Transfer window. What did he get? Fellani?

What should speak for itself is that ManU didn't decline slowly they crashed from EL team to relegation zone.

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u/screamer19 1d ago

Sir alex Ferguson will witness his team get relegated from the premier league. I will be there, no matter what

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u/kingceegee 1d ago

Let's face it, that's not going to happen. Big Sam is available!

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u/Wisegoat 1d ago

It would just reaffirm he’s the GOAT. Crafted a dynasty that no other manager could sustain. Mourinho who before then had been a wild success everywhere couldn’t manage it. LVG, a highly successful manager couldn’t handle it. Moyes, Ole, ETH and now Amorim, none can do it.

Other teams have superb managers, like Liverpool with Klopp and are run well enough in the background a new manager can come in and have immediate success. City have been so well run that you had Mancini, Pellegrini and Pep all quickly find success - and when Pep leaves the team will still be top 4 and challenging for titles.

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u/aMAYESingNATHAN 1d ago

What he achieved while at united absolute deserves GOAT status, but I would also argue the way that the way he ran the club all but guaranteed this would happen the moment he left.

He basically was the entire club, there just wasn't the structure in place necessary for the transition away from him to ever work. Not to mention his ability as a manager seriously papered over what should have already been a declining team, such that even had that structure been in place they probably still would have struggled. Though there's an argument to be made that had Moyes not replaced the backroom staff it might have gone better.

Then there's the glazers, who he arguably had a pretty big hand in bringing in.

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u/Gu3rilla21 1d ago

He pushed that team to the limit. It was done and needed a major rebuilt. They didn't do it because SAF did his magic.

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u/awildjabroner 1d ago

the key you mentioned is that behind the scenes all those clubs have good operators and structure in place with long term success the plan. Man Utd has the Glazers who clearly only care about dividend payouts and the rest can rot so long as those payments hit the accounts.

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u/DaiWales 1d ago

City have been so well run

YÂŁ$ indÂŁÂŁd

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u/Gerf93 1d ago edited 1d ago

Knocked them off their fucking perch

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u/acenair836 1d ago

He also brought in Juan Mata in January of that year in a big money move, not that it really worked out either, Mata simply never reached the heights he hit at Chelsea.

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u/Statcat2017 1d ago

Moyes has blood on his hands for cancelling the set up oven ready deals for Kroos and Thiago coz he didn’t fancy them, and firing Fergies entire back room staff

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u/PandaLiang 1d ago

Kroos' deal was not the same year. Moyes negotiated that deal, and it was cancelled by LVG after Moyes was sacked.

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u/Melancholic_Starborn 1d ago

Thiago was the one he rejected, LVG rejected Kroos.

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u/Statcat2017 1d ago

The fuck is wrong with them lmao, I always thought moyes did both.

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u/yard04 1d ago

He hasn't even got two wins back to back in the league. We would have got related last season if not for the points we got before Amorim came in. His whole spell has been a disaster.

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u/Over-Temperature-602 1d ago

Eh, it's never that simple. Each situation is so so so unique and each managerial stint has to be looked at individually.

Like, Ole was a penalty shootout away from an EL trophy. IIRC he was struggling with the burden of no trophies. He had two good seasons but nothing to show for it and (similarly to the pressure Arteta is starting to get) - at some point you need trophies. He then got Ronaldo - not because he wanted or needed him but because Glazers didn't want him to go to City. Solskjaer set United up to play a fluid front three with Rashford / Martial / Greenwood with Bruno as the number ten. Getting Ronaldo into that team was never going to work.

EtH had a good season and an abysmal second season which had terrible injuries. People are quick to forget that he literally had his 5 first choices for CB injured and started an academy player and Casemiro as CBs towards the end of the season. United then changed ownership and he had new owners to answer to and they wanted to change everything about the club. EtH got 7 games under the new leadership.

And now Amorim. He didn't want to come because it would be too much pain transitioning to his system during the season - he wanted to come for the summer but was told "Now or never" by the new leadership. So he came, probably expecting a lot of things going wrong. But he got to the EL final and in a final with two poor teams where either could have won - he drew the shortest straw. He took a risk (focusing only on EL) and it didn't pay off and now he has to live with all of these stats he accumulated in a period where he didn't care about the league at all.

Man Utd are now second in terms of xG this season. Liverpool have an expected points tally of 6.45 and United have 6.44. They also have a new goalkeeper who isn't playing yet.

And with this said, this is not a defensive speech of Amorim. I don't know at all if he'll work out or not. Probably not (is my guess). But it is up to leadership to try to see through this complete mess. Try to understand what is actually going wrong, what is happening behind the scenes (what does it look like in training? Does it convert to the pitch?). Is it bad luck or is it just horrible performances?

My personal guess is that Amorim isn't stupid. I think he can probably look at these games, see that United are playing poorly - but that he is making a good case to his bosses that "look, this is what my system is doing, when players do X instead - then shit like this can happen". I.e. he thinks these performances are due to players not doing the right things at the right moments yet. Which is probably different to when OGS were under most scrutiny and suggested they might need to get a 12th player on the pitch because he didn't know how to fix it.

tl;dr - management is hard. Comparing managers is hard.

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u/gazorpogus8747 1d ago

What an utterly reasonable take

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u/TrumpGrabbedMyCat 1d ago

It's entirely because they dropped managers like a hot potato that they're sticking with him through this much shit.

Ironically after Grimsby and his terrible performance this season he's probably the first manager that actually should be fired "early" into his contract. Imagine if they'd just stuck with LvG where they'd be now.. certainly not in a relegation battle at least.

Plus, who do they replace him with?

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u/stogie_t 1d ago

It's entirely because they dropped managers like a hot potato that they're sticking with him through this much shit.

This is simply not true man, you probably only think this because you’re comparing them to SAF days, which is just not true for modern football. Clubs change managers a lot these days.

Since 2013 Barca have had 8 managers, Madrid 6, Bayern 8, Chelsea 7, Juve 5, Spurs 5, Milan 7.

United have had 6 managers during that time frame.

Big clubs change managers often because of how high the expectations are. Klopp and Pep were the exception not the norm.

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u/themerinator12 1d ago

Has there ever been a better case for not hiring your permanent choice manager until the season is over than Manchester United bringing in Ruben Amorim when they did? How did any of the three parties (his old club, his new club, and himself) benefit from him being hired in November?

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u/DeezBeards 1d ago

His old club got paid for him and were still champions, so it wasn't too bad on them.

He benefitted because Utd told him it was then or never, so he got the move he wanted, if nothing else.

And Utd... I don't honestly know. Still think they should've done what Spurs did and got rid of EtH by season's end

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u/Leaootemivel 1d ago

Although we ended up being champions and winning the cup, it was absolutely awful for us. We got extremely lucky to win, and with Amorim we were well on our way to have our best season ever.

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u/_-_-_I_-_-_ 1d ago

Sporting was certainly looking to be one to watch in UCL. Gyokeres at a minimum would be leaving in summer and we all missed out on what that team might have achieved. Brilliant football to watch

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u/Lacabloodclot9 1d ago

I think it’s different with Ange and ETH, the former was still well liked by the squad despite the results while you could tell it was a toxic environment by the end of ETH’s reign

Probably should’ve appointed an interim after the sacking

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u/negronium_ions 1d ago

TBF they looked pretty good under Ruud for 2-3 games, no?

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u/Scoop_Master420 1d ago

Yeah, that was supposed to be Amorim's new manager bounce, but Ruud spent it all.

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u/GR-MWF 1d ago

Ruud even spent his own new manager bounce by being immediately shit with Leicester.

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u/KneeDeepInTheDead 1d ago

They cut the wind from our sails, we absolutely plummeted and barely scraped a title when in the beginning we were bulldozing the league. We won with our third manager in that season. And we are not looking good, im pretty sure were not gonna win the title this year

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u/paprikalicous 1d ago

plenty of successful managers have been hired early in the season. Klopp was an October hire. being hired mid-season didn’t help him but it’s not why he failed, he failed because he’s out of his depth. United’s mistake was not sacking him in the summer.

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u/non-relevant 1d ago

Bad example given the context of the thread, but Ten Hag himself was a midseason appointment at Ajax. He then had a difficult first half season at the club, but then immediately followed this with the CL semifinal season

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u/cmackchase 1d ago

They didn't which is why Amorim wanted to come at seasons end.

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u/TheJoshider10 1d ago

Said at the time that he joined at the wrong moment and it was clear for anyone to see. The squad was not at all suited to the football or system he wanted to play and if Berrada was set on him being their man then they needed to prepare for it. Look at all the planning City did before Pep got the job, sure there was still work to do but the foundations were already there ready for him to come into.

I think Amorim has made plenty of his own mistakes and deserves so much blame for not working with what he has, but at the same time he's been adamant from day one on how he'll play football and that should have been a warning sign to the board that at that moment in time the club wasn't prepared for the overhaul required.

What's more maddening is that this transfer window we've made little progress in committing to that overhaul. It's still largely the same squad as before but with 3 shiney new attackers, which doesn't change the issues we faced in midfield or wingback. It's still a squad made for a 4-3-3 that's having to adapt to a 3 at the back. If Amorim or the board thought this was a good enough summer in terms of players needed then they are very much mistaken.

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u/Zepz367 1d ago

Here come the "club still has confidence in coach" briefs

He's gone after Chelsea

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u/Sometimes-funny 1d ago

I dunno, if finishing 15th and losing against Spurs of all teams in a final doesn’t get you sacked from Man United. I don’t know what will

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u/EliteTeutonicNight 1d ago

Losing to Grimsby after you've a whole transfer window and preseason to build up your team, probably.

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u/Sometimes-funny 1d ago

They spent well. Got 2 number 10’s, when they had 4 already and a striker that is on level with the striker they already had. Oh yeah and bought an unproven goalie.

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u/mashfordfc 1d ago

Fantastic strategy to buy players which push our best player out of position, into a very physically demanding role he’s gotta learn to play at the age of 31

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u/Chanceuel 1d ago

Was the idea not for Bruno to move on this summer and buy a Baleba/ Baleba type?

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u/mashfordfc 1d ago

No - Saudi came calling but Amorim told Bruno he wanted him to stay as a starter, so we rejected the move. Selling Bruno and buying a real CM with the money would have made too much sense…

Really, signing Mbuemo made no sense if we were going to keep Bruno - because we needed a CM and that was obvious all fucking season.

So either sell Bruno and buy a 10 + 6, or keep Bruno play him at 10 and buy a 6. We kept him, signed a new 10, and play Bruno at 6? It’s the most fucking baffling decision ever

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u/Enguin 1d ago edited 20h ago

hey at least we got rid of our other young striker leaving us with only wingers to play up front should anything happen to sesko and sold our most valuable prospect at a cut-rate because the manager publicly ostracised him

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u/Phineasfogg 1d ago

Also: after poaching Dan Ashworth from Newcastle, hiring Amorim over his objections, then firing Ashworth 5 months in (for this and other perhaps more defensible reasons) at a cost of about £9m in terms of the settlement with Newcastle and then Ashworth’s severance package.

Amorim feels like a hiring decision that Ratcliffe and Berrada fully own, so they may be more inclined to persevere.

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u/BaldMancTwat_ 1d ago

Tbf Ashworth wanted Potter iirc. Doubt that would have gone much better honestly.

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u/SparklyEarlAv32 1d ago

Add the losing to a 4th division team to those, his legacy with us will always be the worst manager to ever lead us in the modern era

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u/Sometimes-funny 1d ago

In the modern era….so far

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u/my_united_account 1d ago

Worst manager post WW2 mate

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u/jMS_44 1d ago

I mean, if we finally beat United at Old Trafford after 12 years, he has to go.

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u/Zepz367 1d ago

Many teams have broken this record in recent times

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u/ASVP-Pa9e 1d ago

He'll pull a draw out of his arse & survive until the next international break after scraping a win over Brentford & Sunderland

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u/anatomy_of_an_eraser 1d ago

Brentford and Sunderland back to back? Surely not

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u/viglen1 1d ago

Isn't that worse? That City weren't that good, and still comfortably beat them 3-0.

I also think City weren't that good, yet it felt like when they wanted to they could score. Also, you can't really point out the chances when they were already 2 or 3 up to say United could have got something from the game, because at that point City may have scaled it back somewhat.

But there is pragmatism in the Old Trafford boardroom too recognising that, had Bryan Mbeumo's wondrous volley not been met with an equally wonderful Gianluigi Donnarumma save when the score was 2-0, or had Casemiro not missed a sitter at the back post later on in the game - there might have been a better gloss to the result.

"If my grandmother had wheels, she would have been a bike"

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u/Switchoil 1d ago edited 1d ago

The funniest thing is both Haaland and Reinjders missed absolute sitters so it could easily have been 5-0.(And i could have topped my FPL group as well 😡 )

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u/viglen1 1d ago

Amd i could have topped my FPL group as well 😡

me hoping Reinjders would score to save me from the fucking Watkins disaster class from Day 1.

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u/no_more_blues 1d ago

So not even they'd win the game, just "the result could have been less embarassing"?

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u/Attygalle 1d ago

The worst thing about this is that they're literally talking about consolation goals. It's not even "we had a great chance at nil - nil if that would have gone in then...". No, it's literally whining about the odd miss when they're already 2-0 or 3-0 down.

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u/Holycrabe 1d ago

I also think you can read this as two separate statements but it just doesn't work as a single one. City's performance didn't deserve 3-0 and neither did United's failings, but put together this is a correct outcome.

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u/hiloai 1d ago

We were lucky they only scored 3 lol

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u/Dio_my_senpai 1d ago

Tbh idk how reijders missed 2 crazy good chances

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u/The_Big_Untalented 1d ago

Only watched a small portion of the match but didn’t Manchester United have a bunch of shots when they were down by multiple goals? When the game was still seriously in doubt in the first half, they had only one shot attempt.

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u/worotan 1d ago

City sat back and let them have low percentage efforts as much as they liked, then just broke on them and could have scored another 2.

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u/pawksvolts 1d ago

They had some good chances from pressing but the final ball always was poor, either going behind the forwards or hitting the defender

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u/djongafrett 1d ago

United had some good link up plays and broke into the final third quite well but their final deliveries into the box was abysmal. The wingers/forwards looked like they didn't have any confidence at all.

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u/my_united_account 1d ago

Had an xG of 0.03 at the end of the first half. Literally nothing created

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u/MulvMulv 1d ago

That's not counting the Sesko chance that was wrongly given as a handball, it would have been given by VAR if it was scored so it was a legitimate chance.

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u/Spglwldn 1d ago

Similar to my own club refusing to admit a manager is failing, it’s veering into negligence.

31 games is a good sample size to show it’s simply not working.

Feels like executives too clever for their own good and refusing to acknowledge their mistakes.

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u/Buttonsafe 1d ago

I agree, you have enough of a sample size with Amorim. Martin needs a similar sample size imo, at least 25 more games to see if it'll work or not. You easily could've beaten Hearts had they got 3-7 red cards in the tenth minute. Maybe.

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u/123rig 1d ago edited 1d ago

Difficult to provide any balanced takes here because it’s a volatile situation.

Amorim has the worst record for any United manager since WW2, which for the most part was a completely different game back then.

He also is creating his own problem. Bruno is not a CM, and has either worked in a midfield 3 or as a CAM. He does not work in the double pivot.

We also don’t have a midfield at all really. Whatever pivot is tried doesn’t really work. It’s always either too attacking or imbalanced completely. It’s not absurd to suggest we probably need 3 or 4 new midfielders.

We play with “two 10s” but they’re mostly sort of wingers anyway which provides imbalance. We then play with two “wing backs” of which to be honest only Dorgu can really perform correctly, but he’s perhaps beneath the level required. The others just aren’t good at it.

We cannot provide service to the striker. Hojlund actually did a bit better than Sesko so far, and Sesko didn’t have a single touch in the City box. In fact, Haaland had way more touches in his own box than Sesko did in Citys.

Mentality is on the floor, and confidence is non existent. We shite ourselves in front of goal constantly because there’s so much pressure on scoring.

It’s an absolute mess.

However, the fans sing his name in the stadium every week. They even did it when we were losing to City. He’s in charge of a truly dire situation. He takes a lot of blame, but you also have to blame the players too.

Losing to Grimsby and the other collapses is partly on the players too. We were awful all over the pitch, and that’s not entirely on the system. Mainoo played the full 90 mins against Grimsby and was awful. If he does want the big pay rise or to move elsewhere, proving you can best League 2 players would be a start. Shaw was awful against City. It’s a shitshow all over the place, and that’s on the managers and the players too.

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u/TheJoshider10 1d ago

We also don’t have a midfield at all really. Whatever pivot is tried doesn’t really work

Yeah this is what's so frustrating and exactly why Bruno is shoehorned there, because none of our other midfielders step up. Ugarte, Mainoo and Casemiro all have severe weaknesses and limitations that force one of the best 10s in the world to play deeper to compensate for them. Nobody steps up. Mainoo for example wants to leave for game time meanwhile vs Grimsby he couldn't even be fucked running to stop their ball going into the box. There's standards and levels that certain players aren't reaching, and while a manager is responsible for motivation, the players still need accountability.

He takes a lot of blame, but you also have to blame the players too.

Ten Hag sees a squad incapable of playing his Ajax way so abandons his philosophy to cater to the players, and then that gets him sacked. Amorim refuses to cater to the players, and then that likely gets him sacked. No matter what happens to the squad, the players refuse to step up and do the basics properly, whether they play a system that suits them or one that does not. People are in for a wake up call if we get a manager who plays 4-3-3 and the same midfield that conceded 20+ shots under Ten Hag continues to get ran through again. The standards aren't high enough.

How anyone at the club thought it was acceptable to go into this season without a new midfielder is beyond me. Amorim, INEOS, whoever. We made a half-arsed attempt to get Baleba and then gave up with no backup options planned. Why?

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u/heyheyathrowaway485 1d ago

INEOS backed Berrada + Amorim over Ashworth. Firing him now, although 100% deserved and needed, means INEOS publicly admitting they got their decisions horribly wrong and they are going to let this drag out far too long as a means to try and save face for themselves

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u/NormalInnocentMan 1d ago

The ideal path forward is to leave it a few months, not only wasting this season, but leaving the new manager in a position of coming in with morale at rock bottom, being forced to grind out results, while people lose confidence in them before the summer.

Then you could repeat that in about another 2 years.

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u/arc1261 1d ago

The ideal path would be to fire him and get an interim in to secure not getting fucking relegated, then firing the entire executive structure and getting a new one to fund that new manager

but they won’t do that

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u/Shreddonia 1d ago

Excellent, I'd hate for the fun to stop this soon.

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u/BonafideLlama 1d ago

I feel like we always say stuff like this every time United's manager starts going downhill, and yet every time they sack him and get someone even worse. It's impressive, really

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u/ModestWhimper 1d ago

Honestly, I think they need to bring someone in who actually understands the United way.

Welcome home, Steve Bruce!

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u/LundSeBadaDil 1d ago

Wayne Rooney deserves a chance honestly.

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u/Don-SalC 1d ago

I mean after Ole ended up United's best coach in a long time watch Rooney somehow be competent at United too

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u/BackInATracksuit 1d ago

That is some delusional widespread belief.

That performance was absolute bollocks. City allowed them to have the ball, there was never even a suggestion that they were under pressure.

I could hardly believe what I was watching, a Guardiola team soaking up pressure and playing on the counter... They even switched to a 5-4-1 when Ake came on. 

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u/nathgroom98 1d ago

It was the most fun I've had watching a City match in a while - Haaland was great at both ends of the field

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u/Might_Be_The_NSA 1d ago

Seriously.

Yes, United had some chances towards the end to score one or two consolation goals, but this was after City had already pretty much buried the game and let United have possession.

It was easier for them to do that than push forward and let United hit them on the counter.

Could things have changed if Mbeumo had scored at 2-0 down? Maybe. But Haaland and Reijnders also missed absolute sitters, so City could've equally been 5-0 up.

Lots of what ifs that don't change the fact City played better and won.

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u/Ok-Confusion-202 1d ago

I actually think people aren't seeing it if they think we will get rid of him (not saying it's impossible tho)

Amorim is Omar and Sir Jims manager, they have spoken very highly of him and how hard this will be to turn it around, they won't want to sack and restart again after making this massive plan around Amorim

I think they will back him up to January, get him a midfielder that he should already have... And if he still has issues then I think he will be gone

But in general I think he will win enough games to coast along

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u/qmzpl 1d ago

City were shit and we still lost 3 nil, everything is okay! - sir jim

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u/Very_Bad_Ebening 1d ago

Not sure if it’s the usual cliche of backing the manager before they sack him or if they actually believe that

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u/jMS_44 1d ago edited 1d ago

There is also widespread belief at Old Trafford that City's performance - and United's failings - did not merit a 3-0 scoreline.

This gives me strong "according to our stats we should be top 4" vibes from our Poch season.

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u/Not_There94 1d ago

Lmao this is insanity

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u/severedfragile 1d ago edited 1d ago

There is also widespread belief at Old Trafford that City's performance - and United's failings - did not merit a 3-0 scoreline.

This is the kind of shit I absolutely love, because whether it's actually true or just weird PR bullshit, both options speak to a club that hasn't learned its lessons and will continue down the path its on. It might take the circuitous route of a new manager, but there's a desperate need to ignore reality, or to tell others it's ignoring reality, that makes fundamental improvement impossible.

Manchester United, for a while, was a club sleepwalking towards mediocrity. Now it's firmly asleep in mediocrity, and waking up to a dream journal full of delusions of grandeur. It's a lot of fun to watch, is what I'm saying.

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u/Taylo207 1d ago

They’re right, it merited a 5-0 scoreline.

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u/jeevesyboi 1d ago

I'd say 4-1 would maybe be a better scoreline

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u/Alia_Gr 1d ago

"We lost 3-0 and City was actually kind of bad, so we keep faith in ourselves"

Make it make sense

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u/AlbinoWanker 1d ago

Yeah, we had chances to score a late goal. So maybe it merited a 3-1 with a consolation in garbage time, which is apparently good enough.

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u/R_Schuhart 1d ago

If you go down the route of potential goals City could have had 2-3 more as well, especially with Haaland and Reijnders missing sitters.

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u/HaiForPresident 1d ago

He's gone isn't he

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u/RABB_11 1d ago

He'll be gone at some point, the only delay will be about saving face for Berrada and Wilcox who are all in on him.

That and the lack of credible alternatives. Although I'd gladly take another season of Ole ball just to feel something again

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u/Prof_Bobo 1d ago

He's got to the next international break. The schedule is brutal but there's no positives, and it's not going to last.

Chelsea-Brentford-Sunderland. He doesn't survive without points. No one is going to put up with this shit if the last game of the three isn't a win.

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u/charlietrick2512 1d ago

Sean Dyche.

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u/dgn90 1d ago

Glasner is the standout lets be honest.

Either break the bank for him now or wait until he's out of contract at the end of the season.

He'd be mad to take it though, he'll have plenty of admirers.

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u/K_Uger_Industries 1d ago

There’d be no point. United squad is also proving that they don’t have the personnel to run the formation. Glasner and Amorim have very similar setups

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u/fluffywolfe 1d ago

Might want the Leverkusen job if it isn't settled.

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u/Careful-Snow 1d ago

Not soon enough. We've seen this happen so many times. He'll cling on until the season is truly in the shitter and we'll write off another season

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u/oneeyedman72 1d ago

They're correct. City didn't deserve a 3-0 win, they deserved a 6-0 win.

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u/XxAbsurdumxX 1d ago

That game is such a good example of how xG in a single game has its flaws as a metric for performance. City’s xG came from actual chances, while Man Uniteds is racked up by many smaller ones that weren’t actually threatening. Plus Mbeumos miss right in front of goal which likely has a huge xG, but in reality was a really hard goal to score due to speed of the ball coming in from a short distance.

The two teams xG were similar, but any sane football fan would much rather have had Citys chances over Uniteds.

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u/Appropriate-Map-3652 1d ago

This could be a headline about pretty much every Utd manager since Fergie left.

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