Ruben Amorim is NOT The Issue At Manchester United | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim is not the issue at Manchester United and at this stage of this season, he definitely shouldn’t be considered for the sack, let alone have supporters calling for his axe. In short, the young Portuguese coach is not the problem. The issues at Manchester United run far, far deeper than the coach.

Whilst Ruben Amorim isn’t perfect, he isn’t the issue. Let’s take a deeper look at both perspectives.

Why Ruben Amorim is not the issue

Ruben Amorim is a coach set on his principles and his philosophy, which requires athletic and physically dominant profiles all across the pitch. Whilst Manchester United invested heavily in the forward line in the summer window with Matheus Cunha, Benjamin Šeško and Bryan Mbeumo coming in, as well as young Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens joining the Red Devils from Royal Antwerp on deadline day, that is miles away from the full squad overhaul some supporters are suggesting has already happened.

Garnacho, Eriksen, Lindelof, Evans (retired), and Højlund were among those who left the club in the summer, as well as Andre Onana, who left on loan to join Trabzonspor. That’s a good core of last season’s group gone, but that still isn’t an entire overhaul with the likes of Malacia, Bayındır, Shaw, Casemiro, and Ugarte among those still on the books despite them being well past it or quite simply not good enough.

Whilst it is frustrating for Manchester United supporters that the entire squad that caused total failure last season didn’t leave, it’s also important to realise that it wasn’t realistic that an entire new squad could be brought in across one window. A total overhaul takes time and multiple windows.

As mentioned above, Ruben Amorim is a coach that has set principles and a philosophy that requires physical and athletic profiles, and the truth is, the Manchester United squad as a whole is still a fair few short of reaching the needs to play his kind of football week after week at a consistently high level.

A big issue that’s been highlighted numerous times over the years is the general mentality of some of these players. They have been coached numerous times across the summer that they should always look to jump, press and be aggressive against the opponent when there’s an opportunity to force a turnover. Yet despite all that coaching, all that time and attention to detail, and the implementation across the pre-season games, there is still that hesitation and fear. Why? That just highlights a big mental worry that they may get caught behind. But in a system with three centre backs and two wing backs, that shouldn’t be a worry because there is cover around the back.

Some players also seem to have a habit of not communicating, and in this system constant communication to guide one another on positioning, timing and just general awareness of possible attacking threats from the opposition is really important. That’s just basic, not a systematic failure.

If there’s a big gap between the left centre back and central centre back, for example, as seen for Manchester City’s opener in the Manchester derby, it’s important the player who is in the correct position tells his teammate they need to come round on the cover and into their correct position. De Ligt is too close to Haaland; he needed to shift across with Shaw occupied with another City player. But why is Shaw not yelling at De Ligt to get into position? It’s basic communication as defenders.

There isn’t a true leader out there for Manchester United; not one of them wants to take responsibility within the moment. It’s ok to acknowledge that you needed to be braver in this moment or in that moment after the game, but that’s no use when you never seem to correct the same error the following game.

These basic details aren’t on the Head Coach, that’s on the players. A failure to communicate and correctly organise, regardless of tactics or shape, isn’t on the Head Coach because these things are basic things that seasoned professional footballers should know by now.

Is Ruben Amorim immune from criticism?

Absolutely not, Ruben Amorim is also at fault for some of the struggles Manchester United have faced. Whilst the squad just doesn’t have enough physically dominant and athletic profiles, there is no need from a structural perspective to have an out-of-possession shape of 5-2-3.

This just allows teams to easily pin Manchester United into a deep low block and due to being outnumbered in midfield, it makes it near impossible to then get out unless a near-perfect counterattack is made in order to reset. Ruben Amorim must tweak this structure so that Manchester United aren’t so easily pinned into a low block.

Another issue is putting some players into the wrong positions and giving them specific instructions that they can’t fulfil due to it not being their strength.

For example, let’s take Bruno Fernandes. On top of the structural issue without the ball, he’s asked to effectively play as a no. 6 in a double pivot. Technically on the ball, he’s capable of doing it, but against most good-quality teams, it simply doesn’t work because he hasn’t got the defensive instincts, the positional discipline, the positional understanding, or the defensive awareness. That’s simply because he isn’t a defensive player.

Ruben Amorim should stop using Bruno Fernandes in this kind of role when Manchester United play better and stronger teams because what opponents will highlight is that they can run off the back of him and score. Emile Smith-Rowe for Fulham and Phil Foden in the Manchester derby highlight just this.

Another big concern, which is more than fair to point out, is his record as the Manchester United coach since he came in last November. There’s no other way to put it other than the fact that it’s quite simply shocking; it’s really bad. Even with the disadvantage of not having physical profiles, you should always at least find ways to win a game or grind out results to buy time. For one reason or another, whether it be some of his tactics or the players not doing things correctly or bravely, that just hasn’t happened and in the short term that has to change; otherwise, it ultimately ends up one way for Ruben Amorim.

Should Amorim get sacked this early into the season?

A big no from me; he absolutely shouldn’t be sacked at this stage of this season. Weirdly, something isn’t adding up with some performances in games and then the results. Manchester United have had some good moments and performances but it just doesn’t translate to results.

Football is a results business so more important than anything, securing three points in the league is key. But also the performances do come into it because Manchester United haven’t necessarily stunk the place out week after week and been totally outclassed; that isn’t the case at all. They’ve paid the price for fine margins at the top level at both ends of the pitch.

Defensively, there has been a mistake of some sort, whether it be the goalkeeper, the defenders, the positioning of midfielders or not tracking correctly, which has been punished with goals being conceded and those mistakes have cost Manchester United some very important points.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but if those mistakes weren’t made, Manchester United’s record would look better than it is at the moment.

The same can be said going forward. The number of chances created, the number of shots, the number of fast breaks, and high turnovers. All those statistics that Manchester United are among the top in – that should be translating to lots of goals and the more goals scored increases the likelihood of more points even with defensive worries and concerns.

Again, hindsight is a beautiful and wonderful thing, but the margins are incredibly fine at the top level.

Final Thoughts

Ruben Amorim needs time; his Manchester United should not be expected to be perfect so early in the season.

There are good signs of what has improved and is improving; there are signs of what has been worked on during pre-season and how it’s developing. There are also the concerns of tactical and structural setups that need tweaking to benefit Amorim as well as his team.

The squad hasn’t been fully rebuilt yet but the process to do that is ongoing and inconsistencies will be there because of some of the flaws that still need addressing from a recruitment perspective and from a coaching perspective.