Alan Smith says Ruben Amorim will be ‘kicking himself’ at Man Utd now after realising something

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Manchester United continue to break all sorts of wrong records in the Premier League with the loss to Spurs the latest low in a season full of them.

Ruben Amorim is finally facing pressure as Man Utd face the threat of getting dragged into a genuine relegation battle if the next two games go the other way.

The long-term project at United means there will be short-term pain but the threat of relegation was not on anybody’s agenda when Amorim took the job.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
13	Crystal PalaceCrystal Palace	25	7	9	9	29	32	-3	30
14	EvertonEverton	25	7	9	9	27	31	-4	30
15	Man UtdManchester United	25	8	5	12	28	35	-7	29
16	West HamWest Ham	25	7	6	12	29	47	-18	27
17	WolvesWolves	25	5	4	16	35	54	-19	19

The manager’s job should still be watertight, and rightly so, but Alan Smith says that the Man Utd manager is likely already regretting one thing he’s done at United after a realisation.

Alan Smith on Ruben Amorim’s Man Utd realisation

Amorim walked through the doors of Old Trafford knowing fully well that the job ahead of him is tough and long, hence his “storm is coming” remark after a big win.

However, the intensity, scrutiny, and barrage of negative results is likely to have caught even him by surprise because for United to be talked about as genuine contenders for relegation is unheard of in the Premier League era.

Through it all, Amorim has maintained a defiant stance on his methods, even at the cost of some goodwill from a section of fans and pundits.

Count Alan Smith among those who think Amorim is likely regretting his stance. In an interview with Sky Sports, he said the realisation is likely hitting Amorim now.

Smith said: “Ruben Amorim, now, has boxed himself into a corner with his statement about how he’s not going to change his system, that’s the way he plays.

“I think, now, he will be kicking himself that he actually said that having realised that he hasn’t got the players and the players may be losing faith now with the system. That’s when things can really turn pear-shaped.”

Smith’s Man Utd comments are far off the mark

Smith’s comments effectively imply that Amorim didn’t know about the squad he was taking over and came with the intention to implement his system blindly.

That simply can’t be true, and his rotation in the early days made it clear that Amorim knew fully well that the players are not an ideal fit but at some point, an identity has to be introduced.

More importantly, all this discussion over Amorim’s point misses two big points. The first one is it works on the presumption that the team was an all-conquering outfit when they played a back-four which couldn’t be further from the truth.

The second is that the shape and formation are some sort of rigid identities and the players can’t move from that position during the game.

United still defend effectively in a 4-4-2 at times and attack with the same front five in a 2-3-5 shape that they used under previous managers.

Amorim has also said that the formation is just a starting point from which the shape can be changed all the time during a game. So, to imply that changing from a back-three on a piece of paper will alleviate every United concern is simply not true.

It’s an oversimplification of a problem that has plagued multiple managers over more than a decade.