The transfer window is in the background and the focus now quickly turns back to matters on the field, with Manchester United in a precarious position again.
The 0-2 loss to Crystal Palace was another blow to Ruben Amorim’s increasingly worrying record at Old Trafford as the Europa League becomes the safe haven for the team.
During all the losses, the Man Utd manager has generally escaped criticism, and rightly so, because he’s trying to instill an identity into the Man Utd squad that has been lacking for far too long.
That comes with bumps in the road, especially when the team is not “his” from a personnel point of view, but Paul Scholes saw Man Utd do something under Ruben Amorim that would have ‘fried his head’.
Safe to say he’s not a fan!
Paul Scholes on Man Utd warm-ups under Ruben Amorim
So far for Ruben Amorim at Man Utd, it has been a case of coaching players through the games because the time spent on the training pitch has been minimal.
He’s shown his coaching prowess when he’s been afforded time to train with the team, with results against Arsenal in the FA Cup and Liverpool in the league coming after United were off for a week.
However, his insistence on drilling down the basics of the system is coming at the cost of sucking all the freedom away from the players, according to Paul Scholes.
Speaking on The Overlap, Scholes revealed his frustration, in particular, with the way United warm-up under Ruben Amorim.
He said: “Life is sucked out of footballers today because it’s so tactical. Last couple of games I watched their warm-up and they’re doing team shape with the back five, in and out of [possession of the] ball.
“They even started doing set pieces in front of everyone. C’mon, it’s a warm-up. You want to get your touch right, want to enjoy it and kick the ball. Everything is just so intricate and tactical. My head will be fried!”
Scholes is only partly correct
As always, every take Scholes has is bound to divide opinion and in this case as well, it’s impossible to shake the feeling that his gist is correct but he’s taken it a bit too extreme.
It’s true that the game has become too tactical and intricate with the footballers losing that individual touch of brilliance to fit into the system.
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At the same time, it becomes necessary to get with the times because when everyone is planning everything to a tee, a team that doesn’t prepare and relies on “freedom” to get results will always get found out.
Pointing out Amorim’s warm-ups is especially a weird hill to die on because it’s a unique case of a manager using every minute he has to try and accelerate the process towards improvement.
Football has changed and Scholes doesn’t seem to be a fan of the direction that change has been in.
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