No, he hasn’t been sacked which for some would be bad news but looking at the news, there have been quite a few contradictory reports regarding the under fire Man United manager.
Before we get into it, I just want to say that for anyone who does want him gone probably won’t have to wait too long because even with INEOS apparently backing him (as per some of those reports) even they can’t accept this shit show going on for much longer.
With his decision-making in terms of selections, tactics and substitutions, Amorim will sack himself because even as someone who doesn’t want him gone, I am struggling to truly back him based on those frankly awful decisions.
Let’s get the reports out of the way.
Simon Stone is saying that Sir Jim Ratcliffe is still behind the manager and feels “it is only fair to judge him on a full season with what he views as the right team.”
Stone adds that “The suggestion of a shortlist of replacements for Amorim has been dismissed by United officials, who are adamant no one is being lined up to replace the current manager.
However, speculation will continue, which will increase the strain on Amoirm.”
Amorim himself even said that "I am never concerned about my job - I am not that kind of guy."
However, other reports have already suggested that United have some replacements lined up should they pull the trigger with current Palace manager Oliver Glasner, the Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola and former England coach Sir Gareth Southgate as the next in line [Alex Crook, Ben Jacobs].
Even though it sounds like there is more of a backing towards Amorim it doesn’t seem like United are entirely convinced that the Portuguese is the man.
So, with all those reports in mind, these are my honest opinions on Amorim, the tactics, lineup, substitutions and formation. I also want to discuss the players and even the board because they are perhaps the biggest problem.
The Lineups
This is where the issues start for the manager.
I feel that it is a major problem when the fans and manager don’t select the same XI or at least one that is very similar. By this, I mean that if you were to ask any fan of any other club to name their strongest XI, the manager will probably pick that same XI. Under Amorim, that is very rarely the case.
On top of this, recently, even our predicted lineups for the team we think he's going to pick have been wrong. So we can’t even get that right.
He’s also done something in these last two matches that other managers have done just before their end: playing ‘experienced leaders’ in their XIs.
The likes of Maguire, Shaw, Bruno and Dalot have all been selected in the games against Chelsea and Brentford. These players have been here for five or more years and have played for Mourinho, Solskjaer, Rangnick, ten Hag and now Amorim.
How do these players last that long?
More than that, why is Amorim selecting them?
Not only does it not make sense based on their time at the club and the amount of sackings they’ve seen (which should tell you something) but they are also just shite.
That is cause enough to have sold them.
That’s on the club but also the manager for not doing his homework and also selecting them.
When you look at some of the tactics, I don’t think it has anything to do with the formation but rather who he plays and where.
Why use a goalkeeper that we know is not good enough when you have a new GK on the bench? Why play a high line with Maguire as your last man? If you want to do that, surely you have to use Yoro who is our quickest centre-back?
Why we didn’t look to sign wing-backs is something I can’t understand as while Dorgu is improving and is young, he is struggling especially in attack whereas Dalot has had one of the worst drop offs in football as after winning United’s player of the year in 23/24, he has taken a complete 180 and I don’t even know what he is. He shouldn’t be starting.
Considering that his 3-4-3 system is heavily reliant on strong wing-backs, why he or the club didn't look at those areas as priority positions to strengthen is something I can't wrap my head around. They are so important to what we do going forward and as we are a side that lacks for creativity and quality in the final third, wing-backs HAD to be an area to sort out.
None of Dorgu, Dalot, Mazraoui, Amad and young Leon (who is yet to play a minute for United) are wing-backs. They're either traditional wingers or full-backs.
I spoke more in detail about the wing-back situation here.
Do I even need to discuss the midfield?
We all seem to know the issue and it's just one player but the problem is, the manager doesn't seem to know what the midfield problem is or is choosing not to see it.
Both are serious red flags.
If he wants to use Bruno in the midfield, then he has to tell someone like Cunha or Mbeumo to drop in and make it a three man midfield rather than a two so as to not let us get overrun which happens in almost every game. That extra man will maybe allow Bruno to have more freedom as he may not need to be so defensive due to the other midfielder.
A slight amendmant to the formation could work as well. Instead of 3-4-3/3-4-2-1, perhaps Amorim could adjust it to 3-4-1-2 and use Bruno just behind the two forwards whilst having someone more suited to that no 8 role as part of the midfield pair?
Or just drop Bruno which is something that I think we can all get behind.
The front three isn't the problem but when you spend £200m on a completely new one and it still struggles to create chances and score goals, then you do have to wonder what is going on on the training ground.
Speaking of Carrington, what are we doing there?
With a week off thanks to no European football and being dumped out of the Carabao Cup in round 2 by a League Two side in Grimsby (which is another feather in a cap full of shite for Amorim), we have a FULL WEEK OF TRAINING!
Yet it appears as if we've gone backwards with our style (not that there was one in the first place) as there has been no improvements. The stats did indicate that something was happening but stats are one thing and reality is another and the reality is, we are truly awful in more ways than one.
Amorim mentioned last season how having a week to train can make a difference and almost convinced us that maybe it wasn't the worst thing if we didn't get European football which at that point, relied solely on lifting the Europa League which obviously didn't happen because, you guessed it, we were terrible in that match too.
If he isn't going to change his tactics and his starting lineups are questionable, he does have the chance to use his bench.
While he often makes at least four changes, almost all of them leaves you more confused than you were before.
At 2-0 down against Brentford and it not looking like it was going to change, we could all see that a substitution needed to happen as early as in the first half. Brentford are the quintessential counter-attacking side and as you are going to press high up the field, maybe it's time to get the quick defender on and take the slowest one off? Even if Amorim wanted to keep Maguire on, take Shaw off because he's just as bad and move Harry over to the left with Yoro down the middle for his pace.
But he didn't do it.
Everyone saw that Bruno was having yet another shocker of a game as even before his poor penalty (which is now his second miss in just three spot kicks), the 'captain' looked to be unbothered by all that was occurring.
Going back to the selection of him in the midfield, this is where I don't blame the skipper and turn to the manager again because as while Bruno has been one of our worst players, his best and most effectual position is attacking midfielder. Play him there and he'll be more involved in the game and perhaps he'll create some of those chances we are so desperate for.
Play him further forward and put Mainoo in midfield and you kill two birds with one stone and instantly make us better.
As I mentioned Mainoo, why does he have to compete with someone in a position that they are not suited for when that psoition was already Mainoo's?
For Amorim to repeatedly say that Mainoo has to compete with Bruno for that central midfield role is utterly baffling because Mainoo is an actual no 8 whereas Bruno isn't and Mainoo was playing there (and playing well) before Amorim's arrival.
As the academy product is a fan-favourite and from the famous 'La Carrington' this causes fans to be even more against the manager because there is more of an affection for these academy players. Mainoo is also young, has loads of talent and is arguably our best midfielder. It ain't as if he's being bench by Xavi, Busquets and Iniesta as well, is he?
Why can't he take Bruno off? There's nothing wrong with that. People will actually love him if he does this. He took him off in the win over Chelsea at a time when we could've used a player like him even more so because Bruno was further forward as an attacker.
Against Brentford, bringing on Zirkzee and Mount for Dorgu and Shaw really did make you believe like Amorim didn't know what he was doing.
With the current players he has available, this is the team I think he should go with:
Lammens
Yoro, De Ligt, Heaven
Amad, Mainoo, Ugarte, Dorgu
Mbeumo, Cunha
Sesko
No formation change, he doesn't have to use a different approach and it is a team that is more balanced than any other. Should he want his captain in the side, Amorim will have to make a big call and drop one of his attackers even if it is Sesko should the manager like a false 9.
I believe that that is a side a lot of us would get behind and would actually get a lot of the fans behind the manager which as we know, once you lose the supporters, you're gone, and at this point, it's probably 50-50 in terms of the Amorim inners v Amorim outers.
That is not great for him.
The Players
Then I'd like to move onto the players because regardless of the manager's selection, tactics, formation and substitutions, they are responsible for going out there and giving it everything.
Unfortunately, we've said far too many times that we cannot trust this team because at some point, they won't show up at all especially when the going gets tough. Brentford was one such game.
This is what Cunha had to say after that loss:
He's putting the responsibility on the players. This is also something we've said on many occasions because as a player, all you have to do is try your best and do what the manager wants whether you or anyone actually agrees with him.
If you go out there and perform as well as you can, then we cannot question your attitude and all the focus will be on the manager as nobody can say that the player/s didn't do what they were asked.
But this isn't the case. At the moment, it looks like this manager and squad pairing is perfect as Amorim is as much at fault as his players when looking at what's going on on the pitch.
Having sacked so many managers before, you would think that some of them would try to improve upon that unwanted record and make us think that maybe they are improving and aren't as bad as we thought.
All they've done is just repeat their mistakes of the past and prove us right.
The attitude is pathetic and we see this best in difficult moments during and after games where they smile, shake hands, or appear as if all is well. On social media and in post-match interviews, they seem unafraid to do and say what they want which adds to this un-disciplined mindset. Just the fact that they feel like they can get away with this is a problem. This isn't the case at any other club.
It sets an unwanted tone.
When we see that as fans, that really does make us hate these guys because they just don't get it. Lose a game of football, come out on Instagram with a 'we tried but we didn't get the result we wanted. We go again' posts.
As for the smiles and 'winning team' photos on United's socials, God, these people really don't know how to read a room, do they?
What this also does is it infects new recruits be it players or staff with the shit negative energy. We see it when people join as Amorim looks like he doesn't know how to manage even though he was the up-and-coming manager before he joined (the same with ten Hag), Bruno has become awful in the last two years despite being our best player for so long, the aforementioned Dalot falloff, Shaw is another and even Casemiro who similarly to Dalot, was arguably the player of the season in 22/23 over Rashford but has only given us that one incredible season in three-and-a-bit.
Then there are those who've left. We all agree that the likes of Rashford, Garnacho, Sancho, Antony, Onana and others needed to go for differing reasons but it's uncanny how well they perform at other clubs.
Rashford is looking like that 22/23 version over in Barcelona, Antony was Real Betis' player of the year last year despite only signing in January and their Sporting Director has even stated that he is their best-ever signing, Hojlund scored a goal on his debut for Napoli with a chance he never got at United and perhaps the worst of the lot is Onana getting the MOTM award on his debut for Trabzonspor. He even got an assist in his second match.
When even he is performing, then you know something is truly off.
These players seem to go into these new environments that isn't so negative and it's almost as if they know that they cannot do the same stupid shit at United because it won't be tolerated. Their attitudes have been better upon departure.
The Board
And herein lies the greatest issue of the lot.
And specifically INEOS. This isn't to completely exemp the Glazers of blame as they were the ones who agreed to this co-ownership with Sir Jim Ratcliffe but as Amorim was their choice, I just want to look at INEOS.
Amorim was their appointment. He was the manager they wanted. Considering that he plays a completely different style with a completely different formation to anything we've ever seen at United, you would think they would have a plan in place to make him succeed, even more so because he is their manager and won't want him to fail. Should Amorim succeed, it would show a change and improvement compared to what we've seen under the Glazers and previous football boards over the last 12 years.
INEOS would feel like they are 'The Man' if Amorim were to succeed and succeed right away. I think this is why they haven't pulled the trigger on him (yet) because they are hoping that he can somehow turn it around which seems less likely than pigs flying. They won't want their first managerial appointment to fail, to fail so badly and fail earlier than any other manager other than David Moyes.
But as the Portuguese was the one they wanted and according to Amorim, United were the only club for him, homework needed to be done by either on either so as to check whether they are the right fit for each other.
INEOS had to look at Amorim's style and see that it is something entirely different to what we're accustomed to at United. This would mean backing him like no other manager has been backed.
They would have to get rid of most of that squad and buy pretty much a whole new one with players who are capable of playing in a 3-4-3. This would also have to come after spending over £300m on Erik ten Hag before sacking him and having to pay him £10.4m. There's also the thing with Dan Ashworth which is another bad mark on them on top of all the staff sackings, increased ticket prices, cancelling of charity events and so on.
The last thing they would want is to add manager sacking just a year or so into his reign.
Why it is turning out to be a failure is because INEOS have simply not backed Amorim enough. That £200m+ that was spent in the transfer window was not enough and certainly not on the right personnel nor position.
I have nothing against Cunha, Mbeumo, Sesko and Lammens but they aren't going to take us to where we want to be and certainly not in the near future which for Amorim, is what he needed.
Cunha and Mbeumo are actually the two types of players we need considering what they bring to the table in terms of age, experience, quality and being PL-proven. Sesko is a similar profile to Hojlund and Lammens is so young and inexperienced that he hasn't even been used despite Bayindir being unsurprisingly suspect.
The midfielder we were desperate for hasn't arrived, the wing-backs are nowhere to be found and according to some reports, Amorim did prefer the likes of Emi Martinez and Ollie Watkins over Lammens and Sesko given that they are very much like Cunha and Mbeumo.
Four players of that ilk will give Amorim more chance of success now and in his 2-and-a-half years at the club, which is how long his contract is.
This then indicates another problem: why would they give him such a short contract and then not fully back him?
Signing two young players out of your four transfers was never going to mean immediate success but more for the long-term. 2-and-a-half years isn't long-term so signing Sesko and Lammens doesn't make sense in that aspect as well.
Amorim has stated many times that his is a long-term project but nothing about it seems very long-term other than those two signings which isn't what he needs at the moment.
It's a very contradictory thing what they've done.
As we can all see the mistakes of the manager on the pitch, surely INEOS and 'lifelong Man Utd fan' Sir Jim can see them as well?
I know it isn't their job to tell the manager how he should manage but they do have to have a word with him. I suppose if the board do end up telling the manager how to manage, then maybe you gotta change your manager.
Then there was the decision to keep Bruno.
I am never a fan of inconsistent players regardless of how well they play when they are on it. The captain is one such player. Brilliant on his day, dog shit when he's off it.
That £90m would've helped us in more ways than one. Not only was it a large sum of money that was necessary, it would've also removed a player that clearly isn't fitting in this system and if Amorim persists to play him as a no 8 (which he is) then selling him would've removed this problem. This would've then given us the opportunity to buy a player with that Bruno money and use someone like Mainoo as that no 8 to give us a better midfield.
There were more reasons to sell the skipper than to keep him.
Whoever made that call needs to look at themselves because it was one of the worst. This isn't even a case of selling our best player and captain either.
I don't think Bruno is our best player when looking at his performances over the last two years and he certainly is no captain and leader.
As he is very divisive among the fan base, you make half of them happy as well buy letting him go.
You then ask yourself why they sacked so many staff and had all these cost-cutting measures but kept all of these players? I understand that it's easier to remove normal staff compared to a crap player on £300k-a-week but if you truly wanted to be a big club, you would find a way to do it.
Removing those 400+ staff didn't get INEOS in anyone's good books with some suggesting that they might be worse than the Glazers which is the ultimate insult.
Maybe had they sold Bruno, Dalot, Shaw and any of the other players who need to go, some fans would've been brought back on INEOS' side?
The club have also not signed certain players and in certain positions. We continuously do this thing with managers where we give them some of what they need but not all and also keep players that should've been gone a long time ago.
This is a double whammy for the new manager who regardless of what he does on the pitch, will always have the excuse of not getting the business done that he wanted.
We then go back and look at the club and point the finger at them for not completely backing the manager and setting them up to fail.
United then sack a manager, bring in his replacement, not back the new one and in a year-18 months, we're in the same position of saying 'these are the potential replacements for so-and-so.'
I'm just tired of that 😩.
And if they are considering hiring Southgate, then we truly are doomed.
One final thing I would say about the owners is can they not just come out and clarify what's going on? Can they not tell us the direction of the club or what's their stance on Amorim or literally anything? At least we will then know what the fuck is happening and we can remove all of this speculation.
Give us some direction. The lack of communication from the board is something else that they don't do well as they don't communicate. Amorim is the only one who speaks and we know all about the amount of interviews he's done since becoming United manager.
The club don't even tell the media to stop with those and just leave him out there all on his own.
In terms of Amorim needing to do his homework on United, the Glazers and INEOS, clearly he hasn't done it or done enough of it.
Had he had done so, maybe he would've taken more time to make his decision before rushing into it. The club gave him the ultimatum of 'now or never' when they hired him and of course, Amorim chose now.
Was it the best call from him?
I'm not sure how much time he would've had to do his homework as this all happened so fast. Amorim wasn't even the out-and-out favourite to replace Erik ten Hag as Gareth Southgate was high on the list. Thomas Tuchel, Xavi, Roberto De Zerbi were all viable candidates to takeover from the Dutchman as well.
United obviously chose Amorim and here we are.
The Portuguese should've done some homework at least despite the short notice and seen how horribly the club is run, how managers aren't wholly backed, a lot of those players are untrustworthy and the fact that INEOS themselves are somewhat unknown.
Sir Jim and his colleagues are in a way, inexperienced themselves because this is the first time they've owned (or co-owned) any sports team of this size. Yes, Mercedes AMG, the Sky cycling team, and all the others they're a part of are big, but they're not Man Utd big. The level of scrutiny and pressure on this club is next level and coming in as these sort of 'saviours', they needed to make things work straightaway so as to not add more pressure onto themselves especially because they helped keep the Glazers when there was a small chance they could be removed entirely.
They already started on the back foot with most of the fan base because of this.
Jason Wilcox is United's Director of Football. He was previously Technical Director and before that, the Academy Director at Man City. Neither of those roles are the same as a DOF which is why Dan Ashworth was brought in.
Just on Ashworth, INEOS had no issues in sacking him in the ruthless manner that they did. It can be done!
Omar Berrada was the Chief Football Operations Officer for the City Football Group which is an umbrella organisation that overlooks Man City and several other clubs. This was a more hands-on role in terms of the football whereas at United, he is now the CEO which has greater authority as he is the boss of the whole organisation.
Being the CEO of Man Utd is certainly a lot bigger than CFOO at Man City. Was he ready for such a job?
This is what the CEO said during pre-season:
"I can't talk about specific names, but we've been planning for many months, considering different scenarios. We're clear about where to invest. We'll execute the plan."
Does this fill you with confidence that he is the guy who should effectively be running our club?
Final Thoughts
That was A LOT to get through 🥵. If you stayed until the end, thank you 🙏.
There's just so much to say and we cannot pinpoint the problems onto one player/person. It's a collective issue and the sooner we start to sort out at least one area of our club at a time, we will continue to be in this seemingly never-ending cycle of shite.
I feel like I've been doing too many of these type of posts in recent times. Every so often, a post like this comes along that gets the real truth out and boy, does it hurt.
I feel the next time I do one of these, it would probably be for Amorim's sacking.
What do you think needs solving first to get United back to being successful?
Ruben Amorim still has the backing of Man Utd board (for now) | Creator: Justin Setterfield | Credit: Getty Images Copyright: 2025 Getty Images via Goal