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Ruben Amorim reportedly fears that the Manchester United job is more difficult than he vouched for.
Any momentum in the sails of his arrival has been buffeted by back-to-back defeats by Arsenal and Nottingham Forest – only the second time he has suffered consecutive league losses as a manager.
Amorim hadn’t lost a league game all year before arriving at Manchester United, and you have to go back to February 2023 for his previous home loss in any domestic competition.
But with an ailing squad, Sir Jim Ratcliffe‘s unpopular decisions, and the exit of sporting director of Dan Ashworth, the Portuguese believes the job is ‘more complicated’ than the one that was pitched, according to ESPN.
United sit 13th in the table with 19 points after 15 games – eight worse than at the same stage last campaign, which turned out to be their worst Premier League season.
Amorim has won two, drawn one, and lost two of his five games in charge, but even one of those wins was a struggle, with United having to come from behind to beat Norwegian champions Bodo/Glimt 3-2 at Old Trafford in the Europa League.
Ruben Amorim reportedly believes that the Manchester United job is more complicated than he initially realised
United have lost back-to-back games and are languishing 13th in the Premier League table
Amorim insists he believes in his players but he has had a mixed start at the club since joining
Of course, Amorim realised that this was going to be a difficult job.
His style as a manager relies heavily on hard running and high pressing – only Manchester City, Benfica, and Porto had higher defensive lines since the start of the 2023-24 season before he left Sporting CP.
But being flown into Manchester mid-season means that he cannot adjust everything radically and make all the changes he would like with immediate effect.
He has been taking extra sessions on United’s academy pitches to make up for the lack of time with the squad.
The Portuguese also refrains from having too many personal meetings with players, leaving that to his sidekicks so that he can maximise his time out on the pitch, ESPN reports.
This explains why the entire squad held back from wearing a LGBTQ+-sympathetic rainbow jacket prior to their clash against Everton earlier this month after devout Muslin star Noussair Mazraoui refused to do so on religious grounds.
Amorim adheres to a group mentality and expects his players to stick together.
Hard work is non-negotiable. After the 2-0 defeat by Arsenal, in which they were undone by two corners, he said: ‘I think that is a key point for us, and we have to understand our supporters, just in two weeks, four matches, they just want to see effort, then they want to win games and after a while we win games, they will want to see a very dominant team.
Amorim had not lost a league game all year at Sporting Lisbon but has lost two of four at United
While some players have benefited from his arrival, he has not had much time to drill in his philosophy in training
Amorim complained after his first game in charge that media commitments were taking away from his time with the players
‘These are the phases we have to follow. Effort is easy, full sprint back and forward, so that is a key point and our focus is on that.’
And Amorim revealed after his first game at Ipswich – a 1-1 draw – that the number of media commitments had taken him aback.
‘This week I spoke more to the media than I did in four years at Sporting. I just want to work with my players. Nothing more,’ he said.
Amorim will reportedly not be given a war chest in the transfer window and it is likely they will have to move on players to free up funds. Marcus Rashford could be one star on the chopping block.
Sky Sports have reported that United are open to selling their academy graduate, 27, while The Telegraph claims there are worries about his lifestyle and him being dstracted.
The forward netted 30 times during that memorable season and penned a new five-year deal worth a reported £325,000-per-week shortly after.
However, he added just eight strikes in 2023-24 in a season that was marred by disciplinary issues and Rashford has scored four Premier League goals this time around, though he is showing signs of improvement under Amorim.
It is also hard to operate when multiple problems are rumbling on behind the scenes.
Marcus Rashford could be sold in January after a slow start to the season and reported concerns about his lifstyle
Divisions upstairs don’t make things easy – sporting diector Dan Ashworth was let go just five months after arriving to great expense
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has been making some unpopular decisions which risk alienating supporters
Ashworth was told that he had lost his sporting director job after the Nottingham Forest on Saturday just five months after joining from Newcastle with a gilded reputation.
Mail Sport has since revealed that both parties agreed he was not a good ‘fit,’ and that Ratcliffe had been left ‘infuriated’ in September when Ashworth publicly distanced himself from the decision to keep Erik ten Hag.
Columnist Ian Herbert has also offered a scathing view of the call to sack one of football’s highest-rated men and suggested an alternative executive name that United should have canned.
Moreover, Ratcliffe has made swingeing cuts and unpopular decisions in the name of cost-cutting despite spending exorbitant sums. The standard ticket price for the rest of the season has been raised to £66 with no concessions, while Sir Alex Ferguson stepped in to make sure the family of legendary manager Sir Matt Busby have kept their privileges at Old Trafford – after having his own ambassador role slashed.
Busby passed away in 1994 but members of his family have always had complimentary season tickets in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand next to the directors’ box with access to a lounge.
It’s understood that the seats were moved to a different area of the stand as part of a restructure in the summer, but the Busbys lost their hospitality table and were concerned over a lack of communication from the club.
Ferguson intervened and spoke to United’s chief executive Omar Berrada and chief operating officer Collette Roche to ensure the family were taken care of and they were given access to the directors’ bar.
There has been concern over Ineos’ attitude towards United’s traditions since Ratcliffe completed a £1.3billion minority takeover a year ago. Amid that backdrop, Amorim aspires to forge his own heritage – but turning around a super-tanker is no mean feat.
