Southgate is ‘Chosen One’ to ‘save Man Utd’s soul’; Amorim sack ‘highlights total absurdity’ of INEOS | OneFootball

Sacking Ruben Amorim apparently ‘highlights the total absurdity’ of INEOS, while Gareth Southgate must be ‘The Chosen One’ for Manchester United.

This bumper afternoon Mailbox also includes backing for Liverpool boss Arne Slot, while Spurs are told that they should have kept Ange Postecoglou.

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The Chosen One

Another promising manager falls at the wheel of Manchester United. None of the other managers similarly cast aside since Fergie left ever recovered. Moyes is probably the best of them – back near enough to the level he was before his appointment. Mourinho is utterly gone from the elite. Van Gaal was basically retired by the job. Solskjaer’s not even a manager anymore. As for Ten Hag, he’s probably in an asylum somewhere after the most embarrassing attempt at a rebound job in history at Leverkusen.

The players fare little better with promising stars like Sancho basically having their careers stop dead the second they pull on the jersey. Bruno Fernandes is basically Sisyphus – vainly pushing the club up the hill for all eternity only for it roll back down every time.

David de Gea once famously said the club was cursed. Maybe he was joking but I’m not. I wrote in previously about how what Utd needed was a Shaman rather than a manager, an exorcism rather than a gameplan. Liverpool achieved this in 2015 when they finally cast off years of failure and banter to become a serious club again via the alchemy of Jurgen Klopp. Man Utd are in that position now. This isn’t about football anymore. It’s spiritual. They need to save their soul. Forget tactics and formations. Find a magic man, a Messiah who can lift the curse and purge their demons.

Only one man on the market (other than Klopp) has ever done something like this. He brought the English national team back to a major final after decades in the wilderness. Even more miraculous was his lifting of the penalty shootout curse that guaranteed England’s exit from major tournaments up to that point.

Southgate isn’t the manager to bring Utd back to the summit of football. But he is the man to wipe them clean, to placate whatever gods they have offended and then to hand them over to a manager who can, finally, start with a fresh slate like Tuchel with England.

Do it now, Mancunians, before it’s too late. Damian, Dublin

Amorim and the Absurdity of the United Corporate Mindset

The sacking of Ruben Amorim highlights the total absurdity of the corporate mindset currently running Manchester United, regardless of whether your think Amorim is a good or bad manager, he was destined to fail.

​Amorim was honest from the start. He was clear about his system and his identity. To hire him and then act surprised when he doesn’t want to play a 4-3-3 is like hiring a specialist and then being annoyed when they do exactly what is on their CV.

​The real story here is the internal self-preservation. Christopher Vivell and Jason Wilcox have spent months covering themselves by briefing about “predictable” tactics. They’ve essentially set up a “win-win” for their own job security: if Amorim fails, they say they warned him; if he changes and fails, they say he couldn’t coach the transition.

​Look at Marco Silva. He didn’t even beat United in August, but he gave a clinical interview highlighting his tactical plan against the 3-4-3. This was immediately hijacked by the corporate people at United to claim the manager was “predictable.”

For Vivell to then admit he bought players for a “modern dynamic system” at odds with what the manager uses is indicative of massive corporate overreach. It is people in offices thinking they understand every role better than the specialist they hired.

​United are chasing a 4-3-3 template that isn’t even the modern system anymore—it’s an old idea they’ve rebranded as progress while the elite clubs have already moved on to positional fluidity. Real modern coaching is about the fluidity seen at City, Madrid, or Leverkusen, where fixed formations are replaced by “rotations”—centre-backs stepping into midfield and wingers becoming interior tens to create overloads.

​While the best move toward being “unmarkable” through movement, United are still obsessed with the rigid lines of a 2019 system.

They ignored the red flags Liverpool saw because they wanted a system manager, then spent months trying to strip away the very things that made him successful. It’s another manager chewed up by a club where the executives are more concerned with their own narratives than building a football team.

As a Gillingham fan I’m not to fussed who they choose next to fail, but as accountability goes, there will be none and Utd will continue to lurch forwards to mediocrity. Kif, Aldershot

Amorim’s replacement ‘can’t be worse’…

I guess I should submit my obligatory mail after the good news. Long overdue, and while I’m nothing but elated at the outcome, it’s extraordinary that it took him challenging the board on what his role is (Head Coach, btw, not Manager) for the axe to finally fall.

Anyway, the big challenge now is who comes in and the question is how do INEOS mess it up.

If it was my money on the line, and I was making the selection, there’s three groups: – former United players (Ole, Carrick, Keane, Ruud) – PL managers (Iraola, Glasner etc) – big names from abroad (Xavi etc)

I would suggest the squad needs some uplift and the fans need to see some Unitedness returned, so probably a caretaker for the rest of the season. But we know how that can end up becoming permanent (although only if they do well, and what more can you ask?).

Asking a manager to come in half way can be a great chance to establish things but also there’s no time to get to know the club and, if they don’t align with the squad, we’ve seen (twice, with Rangnick) how bad it can go. Tricky.

A big name is no sure thing. A former player may lack experience and/or ability.

Based on our new approach to player signings, my guess is a PL manager is most likely, but will any want to leave half way?

For me, I’d be picking between Carrick, Iraola (Glasner just made a big signing so I can’t see him leaving now, while Semenyo is off) and Xavi.

Either way, it surely can’t be worse. Step forward, INEOS… Badwolf

Amorim ‘lucky to have lasted this long’…

What a great start to the year it has just become, thanks to my lot (Manchester United) finally getting rid of their worst manager in living memory. Some of the immediate discussions in the WhatsApp groups (hey, it’s the first Monday back at work – everyone’s looking for something else to do) were whether Amorim should’ve been given more time, based on United’s history of chopping and changing managers too swiftly.

My opinion is that he was lucky to have lasted this long. I agree that managers, if they show signs of progress, should be shown some patience and allowed to develop the team and a playing style. But come on – anyone who’s watched United play in recent months will know how bad it’s been. The few lucky, narrow wins we’ve had have mostly involved clinging on for dear life (such as the recent Newcastle game, or at Anfield against what we now know to be a pretty hit-and-miss Liverpool) or against ten men. Failing to create any real chances against a ten-man Everton (who have just conceded four to Brentford) over the course of 80 minutes was akin to psychological torture. And there’s been no sign, more than a year in, that anything was going to improve. 17 points off the top, 17 points from relegation. Nobody’s asking for a title challenge, but ‘meh’ isn’t what anyone wants after investing so much in the squad.

I watch an episode of Frasier each weekday morning with breakfast (my wife’s idea, started many years ago when she gave up on the news) and in the current cycle, we’re at the point where Frasier becomes increasingly desperate regarding his love life – even more so than usual – and starts dating god-awful colleague Julia, trying to convince himself that there’s some good in her somewhere. Despite all the evidence, he gives her lots of leeway and makes excuses for her, worried about giving up on her too quickly. After she’s unapologetically offended everyone else, he only finally breaks up with her after she insults his new Italian hand towels. Amorim was United’s Julia – a totally unsuitable choice, who was given too much time to prove this.

Cheers, Dan (I guess that makes Leeds the finest Italian hand towels, which seems like it’s probably a compliment), Worthing

Actually, Man Utd have made a ‘terrible decision’…

So now we add Ruby to the scrap heap of post-Fergie Utd managers. 3 points off top 4 and playing the best attacking football we have in years (statistically anyway) even though he only had one summer transfer window. Not to mention fantastic results against Liverpool, Chelsea and City (last season).

Terrible decision and terrible timing. Should at least have given him until the end of the season. Hounded out again by a narrative driven by ignorance and a belief that this is still 90s/00s “Manchester United we are talking about”. I despair.

Give it to Giggsy, sure. Garey Vance, MUFC

Amorim ‘needed to be backed’…

So basically, Ruben has told Wilcox and Co to f off and also if they have the b..ls to sack him. It was evident that things were already downhill between the manager and the board. But this seems the final straw and only an unbelievable U-turn of stance and ego will keep him in his job.

While the general consensus is that Utd have improved this season and slightly better on the points table, problems of formation, set-up and tactics have persisted. Also he’s been inconsistent in his in-game changes and substitutions. Even yesterday against Leeds, he didn’t make changes bar one because he simply didn’t have CBs or other defenders to bring in. They were all in the playing XI.

Also while our form as compared to last season seems better, we need to understand that this is one hell of a PL table wherein with a couple of bad results Utd could go below tenth in the standings. And with the upcoming games against City and Arsenal, it is rather uncomfortable for us to be in bad form and shape heading into those matches.

We are missing 4 key players from the starting XI and also 4 other players who have featured regularly from the bench. Any team with so many players missing is bound to suffer and especially when quality from the squad is lagging, this was bound to happen. Yes, we are unsure of bringing in new players and additions to the squad but only time will tell on where we are headed in that regard.

But Ruben should also help himself by adapting to the situation and rather be versatile in his team selection and tactics. Why bring on Josh only after Leeds score? Why not look at the bigger picture and go for it in the games against teams down in the bottom half? These dropped points will definitely not help him in the long run.

All said and done, now is not the time to look for a new manager and especially with what happened last season after the change mid-season, I’m not sure how it is going to help the club achieve our ambitions and objectives. With our main players expected to come back and also the team showing better resilience than earlier it is time to stick to Amorim and everyone at the club stick together and show determination not only on the field and also off it as well. Vasanthan (Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India).

Frankly… Spurs should have stuck with Ange

I like to think of myself as a sensible Spurs fan… but is that in itself an oxymoron?

During our most recent summer of change, when Ange left, to be replaced by the ultra-sensible, adaptable Thomas Frank, I wrote in to this mailbox to say the good times were coming.

I was the staunchest of Ange supporters, but I understood the logic for change. The helter-skelter madness week-to-week, the injury crises, the boos – they couldn’t go on. The Europa league win was glorious but 17th in the table is grim… Something had to change. And that change was Thomas Frank.

With my logical hat on, I said this would work. We’d become a solid, sensible team, adapting to each game and opposition, tighten up at the back, and actually appreciate set pieces. Back to 5th we’d go!

But look at us now. One position worse off than this time last year – with no Europa League salvation on the horizon.

I’m generally the one who says managers should get patience: But that patience has got to be based on something. Some sign that there is something to be built, even if that process will take time.

Unfortunately with Frank, right now, I can’t see it.

And unfortunately this leads me back to a very unhelpful conclusion: I should have stuck with my heart, not my head: Spurs should’ve kept Ange Postecoglou.

Tactics, signings, formations, set pieces. They’re all very important factors of football, but none of these are as important as belief. Teams that believe they are winning teams, and play with that confidence… tend to be the ones that win. Look at Arsenal, as much as it pains me to say. Arteta’s biggest achievement so far has changing the culture of that team to think of themselves as *winners*. Yes, you can mock them for not getting over the line, but you can’t deny the culture change over the past few years.

Ange came to Spurs, and for better or worse, he said Spurs won’t be bridesmaids any more. No more shrinking back – Spurs were going to win, and they were going to do it playing attacking, exciting football. Yes, it went wrong plenty of times… but when it worked it was glorious. And yes, by the end, much of ‘Angeball’ had disappeared… but he still turned that Spurs team into winners for the first time in 20 years. Even lately, players like Micky Van de Ven have spoken highly about the belief Ange instilled in the team.

Thomas Frank, he seems like a good manager and a great guy… but I don’t see the same belief in those Spurs players. Right now, those Spurs players don’t know what they are – and they are playing like a team with no identity. They’re a rudderless ship, moving from one dull 1-1 to the next.

With Ange, even in the dark times, there were enough bright spots that you could see the possible bright future. With the current Spurs team… I just don’t know.

Hmmm.. maybe this is a very ‘first day back at work’ mail. Apologies. COYS Andy, Eire

Slot ‘hamstring by the decisions made above him’…

Whilst I do agree that the football has been awful recently, I also feel that Slot has been rather hamstrung by the decisions made above him. I am of course referring to the wonderfully quaffed and stylishly stubbled, Richard Hughes.

Minty asks, why does Slot always seem to play Gakpo. It is quite simple, it is because Diaz was sold, and no replacement (shy of a 17YO) was identified. Last year, Diaz was the release valve, a player capable of direct running at pace, either from the left or central, but he was able to move the ball up the pitch quickly. Gakpo isn’t that player. Ekitike might be, but he is only half a season into his LFC career.

Nunez was capable of the same, but he was also not replaced. Isak, I am sure will be a success, but he is more of a poacher and not as creative, direct or robust on the ball as Diaz or Nunez.

Couple this with the tragic loss of Jota, again another direct player, and Harvey Elliott going, we lost four attackers and replaced them with two stylistically different players.

Add into the mix Salah’s strange drop off, something that I am sure no one expected to be this dramatic, and you have the perfect storm of shiteness we are sitting through each week

We all remember the trident of Mane, Firmino and Salah in their pomp. They were an indestructible force of pressing, creativity and scoring. However, I am sure that, that level of 3 players playing for one team is a generational thing. AFCON aside, I don’t really remember Mane and Salah missing too many games.

Wirtz, again, I feel, will be a success, as he is now scoring and creating. But without a settled team, how is he able to understand and link with those players around him? This team is building the plane as they are flying it.

And this leads me back to my starting point. The executives, who make decisions, appear to be coated with Teflon in these matters. Hughes at Liverpool, Wilcox and Man U and the 5 Sporting directors at Chelsea make the signings and agree sales and say to the coach, make a team play. However, buying the hot new thing does not guarantee success. Liverpool bought Robertson, Gini W and Shaqiri from relegated teams, and they turned out alright.

I remember Rafa Benitez saying of the directors when he was at Valencia (winning titles), “I asked for a table and they bought me a lamp”.

I am sure that Slot did not want Diaz to go – recent subtle leaks confirm this – so whilst I do hold him responsible for some of this concerning drop-off, I think that others hold equal, if not more, responsibility and need to look at their own actions before considering swinging the axe.