There are clear, systemic issues in the squad, which even Carlos Baleba would struggle to solve, so the spotlight is on Ruben Amorim<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Man Utd manager<\/a> has now been told that a key issue is that he\u2019s building Man Utd<\/a> almost \u2018in reverse\u2019, which is an interesting take that makes a lot of sense. <\/p>\n The pressure is on Amorim this season, not just because of a poor last season, and that he\u2019s finally had a full pre-season, but also because of the transfer window. <\/p>\n United have blown past all expectations and spent north of \u00a3200m to refresh their entire front line, and some injection of youth with Diego Leon has been welcomed as well. <\/p>\n There are positions in midfield and in goal that need addressing, but United clearly prioritised adding goals to a team allergic to scoring them last season. <\/p>\n However, that way of building the team hasn\u2019t always paid dividends, as United are realising now. <\/p>\n A porous midfield and a shaky goalkeeper are adding unnecessary pressure on the attackers, whose missed chances are magnified because United concede from the few chances they give away. <\/p>\n Ex-pro Robbie Earle, speaking on NBC Sports, said that a good team builds from the back, getting their goalkeeper right, then moving forward. <\/p>\n He said: \u201cMost teams I\u2019ve worked with, most coaches I\u2019ve worked with, generally build from the back forward. They get the back line and the goalkeeper all right. David Moyes, when he went to Everton, is a great example of that. Then you get a midfield that\u2019s robust, that\u2019s strong, that might not be as technical, might not be great playmakers, but we\u2019re going to protect.<\/p>\n \u201cManchester United are almost doing it in reverse. The front line, with the right things behind it, can be top six, but the stuff behind it, you\u2019ve got a couple of massive glaring issues. You\u2019ve got a holding midfield role in which there isn\u2019t one player who\u2019s naturally suited to that role.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m being hypothetical here, but if you found a Patrick Vieira-esque next to Bruno, that possibly could work, because he would get around and he\u2019d do all that work. But since you haven\u2019t got any of them, Bruno\u2019s not a number six.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruben Amorim needs vindication soon<\/p>\n Considering the performances last season, and Amorim getting backed in the summer while also getting a full pre-season, the mitigating factors are disappearing.<\/p>\n The underlying stats suggest United are still playing well enough to eventually be a threat, but there\u2019s a lot of substance to Earle\u2019s suggestion.<\/p>\n The wisdom of buying two attacking midfielders can be questioned when there were massive holes in central midfield and the goalkeeper.<\/p>\n If anything, having both Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha has had a cascading effect to disrupt the whole team balance.<\/p>\n![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2229212862-1024x683.jpg\")
Photo by Molly Darlington\/Getty ImagesRuben Amorim building Man Utd \u2018in reverse\u2019<\/p>\n