Ruben Amorim is the latest man tasked with the impossible job of reviving the fallen giant that is Manchester United and after two months, early signs are positive.
Man Utd are playing well in big games again, many players, like Harry Maguire have had their careers resurrected while others, like Noussair Mazraoui, are arguably playing the best football of their life.
Amidst all these positive signs, the need for a rebuild, or at least a cultural reset is still not lost on anyone, not least for Patrice Evra because the long-term job is still a tough one.
He has identified that there are some players at the club who have had five coaches sacked during their time and are still there, with the real problem lying somewhere else.
Patrice Evra identifies Man Utd problem
Erik ten Hag was expected to be the one who revives Manchester United after his brilliant debut season at Old Trafford but the tailspin that followed has made fans wary.
Ruben Amorim has been in the know about that weariness since day one, being under no illusions of how difficult a job this is going to be.
Furthermore, he’s had to effectively teach the players on the job with minimal training sessions, something that is only easing a bit now.
Evra said that for Amorim, the rest of the season is a write-off. He’s not expecting anything from the club this season and just wants Amorim to weed out the problem players.
Without naming names, he said there are players at the club who are still there despite having five coaches sacked under their watch.
He said: “Amorim has a big job to do. I’m not expecting anything from Manchester United this season. He’s in the process of seeing who he can go to war with next season, who can adapt to his system.
“The problem at United isn’t the coach, there are less than ten players who are still at the club after having had five coaches sacked.”
Evra’s indications are clear
Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, Manchester United have had five permanent managers with a lot of interims sprinkled in between.
Throughout that turnover, the squad has also seen a lot of change but some players, like Marcus Rashford or Luke Shaw, have been at the club through it all.
Shaw joined under Louis van Gaal and Rashford broke through under him, but neither player has been very consistent during that time till today.
Shaw has been injury prone and reliance on him has doomed multiple managers, while the Marcus Rashford situation has escalated under Amorim but had been simmering under previous managers too.
Evra’s diagnosis that the problem isn’t with the manager is precise now that the same problems players are also emerging under a new one. Again, he doesn’t name names but one look at the squad makes it clear who the longest-serving players are.
With Amorim being the man the new ownership group has put their all-in bet on, expect the problem players to be finally addressed instead of another manager being sacrificed at the altar of Old Trafford.
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