Wolves woe shows Manchester United and Ruben Amorim’s ambitions don’t align | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim has had a full season and now an entire calendar year as Manchester United boss. Whichever timeframe you view it from, and whatever context you apply, it’s been turgid.

The manager will point to the league table as evidence that United enter 2026 in better shape than they stumbled into 2025, when Amorim was still getting his feet under the table at Old Trafford. A year later, this is his team, in his image. It was matched and, in some metrics, bettered than a team now mainly concerned with not being the Premier League’s worst ever.

Being held by this Wolves side would inevitably prompt handwringing and teeth grinding on the Stretford End, but Tuesday’s 1-1 draw was not a result in isolation. It is the latest in a pattern of results and performances that Amorim owns to make it very difficult to be optimistic going into the new year.

Everton: two wins in eight when they turned up. West Ham: two wins in 10. Bournemouth: two wins in 11. And Wolves: no wins in 18. All came to Old Trafford in the last six weeks and collectively left with double the number of points taken by the hosts.

A bigger sample: Amorim has won just nine – losing the same number – of his 23 Premier League home games. Under him, United have a 39 per cent win ratio at Old Trafford.

The manager knows that is not an acceptable record. That he doesn’t try to spin it any other way earns him more credit with many United fans than perhaps he is due. It resonates that Amorim is generally as exasperated as the fans over what his team have made them watch.

But there is only so long that such honesty provides a pass before it washes no more. If that hasn’t expired after 12 months in charge, it certainly doesn’t stretch beyond a full calendar year.

While the club were seeking simply to achieve a level of competency that would represent chronic underachievement in many previous years, Amorim appears to have been on a mission just to show United and the world how clever he is.

Finally, after so long that many had given up hope of it ever happening, Amorim deviated from his precious 3-4-2-1 for the visit of Newcastle on Boxing Day. Lo and behold, putting footballers in a shape more suited to their individual characteristics prompted one of the better performances of the year, at least for 45 minutes.

Amorim deserves some credit for ducking out of a corner his dogmatic tactical approach had backed him in to. He insisted he would never deviate from his formation, even going so far as to warn the Pope not to bother trying to convince him to choose a path of enlightenment.

So insistent was he that he was almost damned either way: for sticking with methods that were not succeeding; or for going back on his word.

United fans were far more willing to forgive the second of those sins than the first. Four at the back sparked an improved performance with limited resources and an all-too-rare home win, despite yet more peculiar in-game changes that bordered on further self-sabotage.

Next up: winless Wolves at home. And while weighing up whether to stick with what worked or return to his old ways, it is hard to shake the suspicion that Amorim looked at the visit of the league’s worst side as an opportunity to show his system can work if we would all just give it a 427th chance.

In many ways, we have brought this on ourselves. It is not just United fans – but it’s especially United fans – who demanded a philosophy, a coach with a clear, discernible style. Everyone insists on recognisable patterns of play, as if predictability isn’t the easiest thing in football to defend against.

Players want it too. Too many now cannot think for themselves having been prescripted every pass and run. Maybe it is easier to play that way, but it certainly a lot less fun for everyone involved.

Well, you wanted a philosophy, you’ve got one. And, as a consequence, one of the many managers who views validation of their principles above all else.

While that remains the case in 2026 and for as long as Amorim won’t change, nor will United.