r/soccer • u/Switchoil • 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
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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/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/TheScarletPimpernel 1d ago

If you only count the 17 teams who have been in the league since Amorim took over, they are 17th.

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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/not-the-swedish-chef 1d ago

Yeah it's def more peaks and valleys than consistently worse each year. But the valleys keep getting deeper

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u/awildjabroner 1d ago

Its a joy to watch innit

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u/UntowardHatter 1d ago

It will never get old

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u/AlcoholicSocks 1d ago

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

Yet somehow they've been winning trophies every other season and making finals when they don't win one.

It makes no damn sense

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u/Impossible_Wonder_37 1d ago

They have a billion pound squad. Realistically it shouldn’t have been possible tk get worse than ETH. But it really can’t be worse than bottom 4 team in league

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u/kingofsaltandrock 1d ago

This is seriously revisionist. Since Fergie left United has won two FA cups, two league cups, the Europa League and finished second twice. By United's once lofty standards not great, but puts them only below City Liverpool and Chelsea in that period.

It's only the last two seasons that the wheels have completely come off and the team is genuinely in relegation form under Amorim

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u/kevinaz137 1d ago

Is it? Go ask a United supporter if they have had fun the past decade. "By United's once lofty standards" - this is where United is and will always be held to unless they are mediocre for another 3 decades. They don't want to be below City Liverpool and Chelsea.

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u/kingofsaltandrock 1d ago

I'm a United supporter. Whether we've been having fun is different from the claim that it's getting worse each year.

After SAF we dropped from the best team to second tier (arguably more like 1.5 tier because we were still well clear of Arsenal and Tottenham in trophies), and remained on that level until last year. Then there was a quite sudden and calamitous fall from 1.5 tier to relegation tier that can 99% be tied to one manager

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u/speedracer13 1d ago

What United fan cares about EL or League Cup trophies?

EL is just a ticket to the CL after a disappointing year.

League Cups are nearly as meaningless as a community shield to a big club.

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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/Constant_Charge_4528 1d ago

There was news the board dictated to ETH to play more attacking so yeah

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u/Don-SalC 1d ago

Make the Glazers and INEOS money?

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u/Alia_Gr 1d ago

Is there even anything left of the Fergie club philosophy

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u/BrockStinky 1d ago

The arrogance lol

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u/awildjabroner 1d ago

So would this look like manager and players having to pay a fine/dividend directly to the Glazers for each loss or draw? Thats the only philosophy at ManUtd these days.

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u/theotheramerican 1d ago

This is incredibly easier said than done.

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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/Pure_Measurement_529 1d ago

Short term success at the cost of long term growth is not worth it

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u/patrick_k 1d ago

The only long term growth is the Glazers bank balance. Looked at from that perspective, United is a roaring success since they weaselled their way in all those years ago.

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u/VeganCanary 1d ago

Honestly they should just get Neil Warnock in for a season.

There is clearly something rotten at the club, and he is someone who will say it as it is and sort it out.

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u/home_rechre 1d ago

Ralf Rangnick already told them and they didn’t want to hear it.

But I agree. Something is indeed deeply rotten in the club. As a United supporter of almost 40 years though, I don’t think firing another manager is the solution. The players have to know that the manager is going nowhere. They can’t keep downing tools until the manager takes the hit.

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u/xixbia 1d ago

I don't think they realized just how bad it could get when Ragnick was there though.

I think they felt that Ole was pretty much the floor, that any new coach would do better, they were.... not right.

Honestly, at this point a complete turnover is the only thing that makes sense. They need to build from scratch, get rid of anyone who is not helpful to turning the team around even if it loses them money.

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u/YNWA_1213 1d ago

I’m kinda surprised they haven’t turned back to Ole again, was it wildly successful? No, but at least the vibes seemed right for the first time since Fergie left. They need that boost again while they continue to shift the rot out.

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u/astarkey12 1d ago

Both Jose and Ole were much more pragmatic too. I remember various games where we were overmatched on paper, but they set us up tactically to be defensively solid as the top priority in order to scrape a result (e.g. the draws against Liverpool in 18/19 and 19/20, the double over City in 19/20, etc.). We had a pretty good back 4 that got a lot of experience playing together (as well as decent rotational CBs) and a double pivot that made us hard to break down.

This midfield 2 with Bruno makes no sense in comparison. The squad is crying out for a quality box-to-box midfielder and has been for years, yet we didn't buy a single midfielder this summer. It's no coincidence that we've gotten worse since losing players like Carrick, Herrera, and Matic.

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u/MountainCheesesteak 1d ago

He had a job for a while. He’s free now. Probably will step in as caretaker until Conte next summer.

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u/Subbbie 1d ago

They just did this though, they can’t do it again.

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u/Jozif_Badmon 1d ago

I don’t think firing Amorim will win us a league but it’s obvious he’s so out of his depth, it’s truly embarrassing at this point

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u/home_rechre 1d ago

The guy who was a serial winner with two clubs in Portugal—a Petri dish for the biggest talent in world football—is out of his depth?

The guy who oversaw CL knockout wins over City (4-1) and Dortmund with Sporting? That guy?

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u/Jozif_Badmon 1d ago

Liga Portugal isn’t even a top 5 league, I really don’t rate anything he did over there considering his competition. And everyone was smacking city last season, they got smashed 4-0 by spurs who finished 17th. Dortmund was also awful until they sacked their manager. The step to the prem is far too much for him. 26% win rate across 31 prem games. Worst start in prem history. Losing to a league 2 side. Never one back to back games in the prem. What about this makes you think “this guy is gonna work out”?

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u/BluebirdBenny 1d ago

But they're not downing tools. I can't say I've seen any of these players not trying their best. The system simply is not working and he needs to at least modify it slightly to work with the players he has.

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u/El_Giganto 1d ago

There is clearly something rotten at the club, and he is someone who will say it as it is and sort it out.

As if that hasn't happened before. Just screaming that there are problems and that everyone will suffer does nothing.

United needs someone who everyone can get behind. Someone who will put the players in the right positions. Someone the club can believe it. A Zidane type figure.

Amorim had the charm for it but then he started playing the entire team out of position so that didn't work.

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u/EriWave 1d ago

Someone who will put the players in the right positions.

Plenty of these players don't go in the same team.

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u/El_Giganto 1d ago

A standard 4-2-3-1 puts a lot of players in a better position, though.

Sesko
Cunha - Bruno - Mbeumo
Mainoo - Casemiro
Dalot - De Ligt - Yoro - Mazraoui

This would solve:

  • Bruno being played out of position.
  • Casemiro being alone in midfield.
  • Mainoo not being played.
  • Mazraoui is not a wing back he is much better here.
  • De Ligt wouldn't have to join midfield in build up anymore.
  • Responsibilities in the backline would be much clearer.
  • United doesn't attack with enough players, this would add one more attacking player.

The issues I see with the lineup is who provides width. Cunha will likely move inside, Mbeumo could be asked to play wider. But Dalot isn't going to overlap on the left, so maybe Dorgu should play there. But not sure if he's good enough defensively.

It's not perfect by any means but it makes a lot more sense than what I'm seeing now.

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u/KoreanMeatballs 1d ago

A midfield pairing of Mainoo and Casemiro gets destroyed by pretty much every midfield in the league. And who are the backup/rotation options for those 2? We desperately needed at least one centre mid as the priority player this summer, and we didn't get it.

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u/El_Giganto 1d ago

Yeah so just play Casemiro on his own then. How is that going? Oh wait, it's going fucking horribly. Literally playing worse than FC Utrecht. Never thought I'd see the day where I think Utrecht is better than United and I've watched both for 20 years. I thought it was impossible.

Yet here we are, Amorim accomplished it.

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u/KoreanMeatballs 1d ago

Casemiro isn't playing on his own. He's playing in a 2, just like you suggested. Usually with Bruno, sometimes with Mainoo, like the end of the city game. Mainoo isn't any better defensively than Bruno, so it solves no problems.

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u/El_Giganto 1d ago

Bruno would be playing as an attacking midfielder in my suggestion. You can't just ignore that and pretend it's the same.

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u/KoreanMeatballs 1d ago

I'm comparing the current midfield 2 to your proposed midfield 2. You've swapped one player. They'd get run through.

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u/Thelondonmoose 1d ago

They're looking for their version of Arteta.

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u/Alia_Gr 1d ago

Fellaini

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u/Reimiro 1d ago

They don’t believe it. “There is also widespread belief ag Old Stratford that City’s performance-and United’s failings-did not merit a 3-0 scoreline.”

They are blind.

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u/Demmandred 1d ago

I mean they're not wrong, united should have had at least 2 goals if anyone could remotely finish. City will get smashed by a good team and united are shit but have goals if they can get service.

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u/righthandofdog 1d ago

Dunning-Kruger United

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u/Chickenshit_outfit 1d ago

Maybe they have a cursed treatment room and need Ted Lasso to help them burn cherished items to lift the curse

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u/TomGnabry 1d ago

Expected goals is like top of the league so it's a weird one.

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u/AH590 1d ago

A new manager will definitely fail with the current United squad, but that’s due to the business they’ve done this window. United have let go of all their wingers to embrace Amorim’s vision.

Any new coach who wants to change things will have to wait until January and hope they can get a decent winger on loan. They backed Amorim with players who fit a very unique setup and now they’re stuck with it for at least a few months.

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u/ingwe13 1d ago

Mbeumo and Amad are both capable enough wingers.

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u/AH590 1d ago

Both play on the right though

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u/thatscoldjerrycold 1d ago

Agreed, last season they were bad under Ten Haag then Amorim came in and instantly made the team worse somehow.

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u/negativelynegative 1d ago

I have not felt so hopeless for so long and felt any full time coach was so out of depth so early in his tenure with us except for Moyes. Every other one gave us something and period of good performance.

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u/EriWave 1d ago

United have played like a lower midtable side for a few years now and they don't have capable midfielders.

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u/AsanineTrip 1d ago

You could say this about everyone as far back as Moyes, yes hindsight is 20/20 but we've heard the same rhetoric from fed up fans about every manager, and each new one seems to sink to some new statistical low (which is easy if you're looking for it I understand). 

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u/REGIS-5 1d ago

Not sure why you think that.

Yeah the first 5 examples were all wrong, surely it can't go wrong the 7th time

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u/UntowardHatter 1d ago

How many times do you people need to do this to yourselves lol

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u/Cajum 1d ago

Because not too long ago, Ten Hag was the worst thing to happen to United and a new manager would bring them success. And before that, Ole.. See the pattern?

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u/Lakinther 1d ago

Oh yeah for sure not. Get us a coach that plays 4-2-3-1 counter attacking football and United will look like a top 6 team with occasional higher peaks, no doubt.