Ruben Amorim has arrived at Manchester United and large-scale change is already underway, mainly with regard to the staff and the tactical setup.
More can be expected in the future as first-team players return from international duty, giving Ruben Amorim time on the training pitch.
Amorim is United’s first “head coach” instead of manager, reflective of the new structure under the Ineos regime but that doesn’t mean he’s powerless.
It’s more a division of power instead of one man having unilateral power. Therefore, expect a lot of chances to still be driven by the Man Utd manager.
Rio Ferdinand believes a big one is coming soon in a departure from the managers after Sir Alex Ferguson.
Rio Ferdinand predicts big change under Ruben Amorim
For pretty much every manager after Sir Alex, their cycle at Old Trafford has followed a similar pattern of a good start, building on it to give hope, crashing down, and then rebuilding under a new manager.
The hope this time is that it’s not a false dawn because the structure above the manager has finally changed.
In addition, the manager is also the youngest Man United have hired in the post-Sir Alex era who has a track record of restoring fallen giants to previous glory.
Rio Ferdinand recently spoke on his YouTube channel, Rio Ferdinand Presents, and said Amorim will bring big change to the team and demand a lot from the players.
He said: “He’s [Amorim] telling people it’s gonna be different. What they’re [players] used to like the details, positions, specifics, individual players, it’s not gonna be as straightforward as it was before.
“[Amorim] is gonna make demands from the players and it’s gonna be different from what you’ve known but buy into it because I did as a player.
“He’s shown he can bring success. He brought it to a club that was starving of success at Sporting Lisbon. He’s got Twitter pages waiting for his press conferences because he always delivers a line.” [Relevant comments near the 27.50 mark].
A welcome change under Amorim
The question of “identity”, or the lack of it, has followed every manager after Sir Alex Ferguson in different forms. It’s either unclear, unwanted, or too shaky.
It was expected that Erik ten Hag’s arrival would address that problem since his Ajax side had thrilled Europe with its sparkling attacking displays.
As it would transpire, United received a shadow of the manager who they thought they were getting or conversely, made him into a shadow of the manager he was.
If Amorim has the force of personality, which Ten Hag arguably lacked, to drive change and bring an identity to the club, it would be a welcome effect.
Making demands from players isn’t rocket science in football management and that’s something where Ten Hag has already put building blocks in place.
The Dutchman inherited a mess in the dressing room and that’s something that is vastly improved now so he deserves credit for it.
Amorim still needs to drive a lot of change and Man Utd fans would agree with Ferdinand that the early signs are positive.
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