The MEN spoke to some Man Utd fans to gauge their opinion on Ruben Amorim’s future after the Brentford defeat.
Steven is a senior writer and covers Manchester United for the Manchester Evening News. You can follow Steven on Twitter at @StevenRailston.
Ruben Amorim watches United lose to Brentford
Ruben Amorim is under growing pressure at Manchester United after a bad start to the season.
United suffered a 3-1 defeat to Brentford at the weekend, which means Amorim is still yet to win back-to-back games in the Premier League since his appointment from Sporting Lisbon.
Amorim is understood to retain the backing of the board, despite suffering a further setback at the Gtech Community Stadium, and United have insisted no replacement is being lined up.
That hasn’t stopped Amorim’s future from dominating headlines. United were forced to clarify that Amorim would not be axed after defeat to Grimsby Town in the Carabao Cup last month, and supporters are becoming increasingly impatient with United’s failure to string together a run of positive results.
The Manchester Evening News contacted some fans to gauge opinion on Amorim. Some suggested it could be time for a change, yet another believes United’s head coach should be given more time.
They were all asked to react to the start of the campaign and give their honest thoughts.
Tot Barling, a lifelong United fan and European away regular, said: “I mean, inevitably you’ve got to be disappointed [with the start to the season]. I know it took Fergie five years and Klopp five years, but that doesn’t happen these days. You have to give time to build, but in the modern game, he’s been there long enough. With the summer signings, one was hoping for a good start.
“It looked ok against Arsenal, albeit the result wasn’t good. I was talking to friends after Saturday and I was disappointed with the whole feeling. The players don’t look like they’re up for it.
“Amorim has lost his spark, that joyous spark that he had when he first came, and so there’s not a lot at the moment to grab hold of in terms of when is it going to get better? How will it get better?
“I’m disappointed and worried to summarise. For a man who seems to be so tactically aware, he is intransigent. It’s clearly not working for whatever reason. Maybe the Premier League does not suit his formation compared to Portugal’s top-flight.
“I can’t believe now with the turnover of players that it’s because they are not all up to understanding what he wants. Maybe it just doesn’t work. I’m not sure that giving him more time will help.
“I don’t know whether getting rid of him is going to help either because I’m not sure what the deep-seated problem is at the club. We’ve gone through so many managers who haven’t been able to turn it around. Although I have one controversial view that if we hadn’t brought Ole back, I think he would have done a good job. But that scuppered him.
“Apart from that, it always ends up in these dressing room conflicts, reports of the manager losing the dressing room, and that’s how it appears to be at the moment, because the players don’t seem to be responding to what he wants.”
Barling (far right) pictured with two friends in Bilbao for the Europa League semi-final.(Image: Tot Barling)
Barling continued: “He’s an intelligent man, he’s principled and knows what he wants, but I was just looking it up. The phrase ‘madness is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result’ is what he seems to be doing at the moment.
“You would have thought common sense… The opposition is different each week, so you surely have to change your system, and given that the players at the moment aren’t responding, that’s another reason to tweak it. His refusal to do that either before or during a game is baffling for somebody with a good understanding of the game. That is what is confusing me.
“I don’t know whether he is actually just not that good at understanding the game, or whether he only knows this way of doing it and he’s got nothing else to try. But my view would be, he must know the writing is on the wall with the way things are going, so why not mix it up a bit?
“Bruno [Fernandes] is being played out of position, in a role he cannot fulfil. Why didn’t he take the wrath of the fans, take the £100m and sell Bruno, and say well, he wasn’t going to get in the No.10 role because I have Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
“There are too many inconsistencies. And likewise, I’m not saying he’s better or worse, but why sell [Rasmus] Hojlund and bring in [Benjamin] Sesko. They are very similar players, Sesko is untried in the Premier League. Everybody agreed Hojlund wasn’t working because he wasn’t getting service from the wings or midfield.
“You go and replace with him with a guy who has scored a few goals in the German league, but who relies on service from the wings and midfield. And you’re not giving him that service. All they’ve done is spend money on a young and unproven striker in the same mould.”
Matt Pickett, who has a season ticket in the Stretford End, said: “It’s the same s***. We’re just getting worse. I was at the Arsenal game and I saw a completely different team. The chances we were creating, the way we were playing. We were unlucky with an individual error costing a goal, and then we should have had a penalty. Even though we lost, I was quite happy.
“However, if he can’t adapt to different systems now, I wouldn’t be sad if he were gone tomorrow. I liked him for getting rid of some of the deadwood, wanting to bring back standards and not pandering to some of the bigger names.
“But the stats don’t lie now. At any other serious club he would be gone, regardless of what he’s good at saying or doing in a press conference. I don’t want him to go because I would like him to stay, but if he did go, then it wouldn’t be an issue for me. If anything, it would be more exciting.
“You can’t go that long without winning back-to-back games in the Premier League. It’s inexcusable now. Sunderland are above us in the league. The players we have, that shouldn’t be the case.
Amorim pictured after the Brentford defeat.
“I know we had a tough start with the fixtures, but we should have beat Fulham, we shouldn’t be getting beat by Brentford, we scraped it against Burnley and only beat Chelsea probably because they had 10 men for a large part of the game.
“And I was looking at it, the games Amorim has won have been against bad teams. He keeps changing the starting team. He’s stubborn and it will cost him the job, but I don’t think he cares any more.
“Fergie was always making little tweaks to his system and evolving. It’s obvious to everyone, you’re going to have to be able to change how we play. Certainly if it’s short-term to depend on who we are playing.
“The wing backs don’t really do anything, Dalot has been poor and Amorim is just digging in more. We’re getting into Ten Hag territory now. And why did Yoro not start on Saturday? It’s just concerning.
“As a match-going fan, I’m getting bored, and getting bored of the excuses, bored of getting beaten. It’s hard in the work group when I can’t even stick out. We have bought decent players.”
Pickett added: “If you look at Madrid, Barca, even some of the lower league teams, if it’s not working, they make a change. You don’t get time now. If you’re losing because we’re playing so well and someone makes a mistake, you can forgive it, but not when we’re getting overrun by Brentford.
“We don’t look like we have the capacity to score against some teams. I was firmly behind Amorim with Garnacho. It was disappointing, but I was behind him. The way he managed that one was good. Even with Rashford. He did nothing for two years and couldn’t be a****. When Amorim got rid of him, I thought fair play because you’re making hard decisions and putting the club first.
“Even with the Mainoo thing when he wanted to leave on loan. Just because he wants to play at the World Cup, what if someone got injured and we needed them? He’s 20, you play for United.
“I like his man management, and the decisions he makes like that are refreshing and almost Fergie-esque. But then his ability to actually look at a game and change the system isn’t there. He’s stubborn.”
Salford-based Will Cooper said: “They’re incredibly inconsistent, which is annoying. There are moments we do look good, and then there are times when we look like we’ve never played football before.
“I thought we could have won 4-0 against Burnley, but we made a meal of it. City game was a disgrace. It looked like the players didn’t want to be there against Grimsby, but the system is irrelevant for that game because our players are so much better than their players. It shouldn’t have even been a close game.
“I don’t think he should be sacked, though. I can see what he’s building towards, but I think the entire system is built around having two great midfielders. You can’t play with two in midfield against a three-man midfield without having the players for it. We need someone who can win the ball back, who can carry it.
“I think he should be given more time. The team selection is sometimes a bit odd, but I still think he’s trying to figure out his best team.”