Manchester United continued the trend of “one step forward, two steps back” under Ruben Amorim, losing 3-1 to Brighton at Old Trafford.
Brighton have been Man Utd’s bogey team for a while now so perhaps this shouldn’t even be considered a surprise but the bluntness of the performance was an eye-opener.
After a midweek display salvaged by Amad’s single-mindedness, United finished the Brighton game with a single shot on target, the penalty which Bruno Fernandes scored.
The referee didn’t help United at all, a running theme this season, but the extent of the issues at Old Trafford goes far beyond inept refereeing, which is not in their hands.
After the game, Ruben Amorim revealed what’s needed to fix the club, and he disagreed with one of football’s most common cliches.
Ruben Amorim on fixing Man Utd
Amorim has earned more than enough credit in two months at the club that nobody will be questioning him, especially this season when he’s working with someone else’s team and took over at a disastrous time.
However, with the way things are falling in the league, United could live up to Amorim’s shock and find themselves in a relegation battle soon.
It is one of football’s most common cliches that a club wants another game to come quickly when they’ve just lost because it’s a chance to put things right.
However, Amorim revealed after the Brighton loss that preparing for another game is hardly the ideal way to go about things considering the state of affairs at United.
He spoke on MUTV and disagreed with the interviewer’s assertion that the upcoming Rangers game is a good chance to put things right. He revealed what’s needed to fix the club’s problems.
Amorim said: “We try to have possession, control the ball, but the players are anxious, no putting the ball between the lines, always a touch. This is not acceptable.
“We are losing so many games at home is not acceptable. We need to win games to help us sell the idea to the players. We need training to fix things, [not another game].”
Man Utd have to turn up for Europa League
Amorim clearly does not prefer to have this quick a turnaround time between games, and rightly so, because he’s shown what the team can do with time on the training pitch.
However, that is the deal he signed up for and even though it’s going far worse than anyone could have imagined, they still need results at least in one competition.
Most Man Utd fans have probably made peace with the fact that United aren’t going to do anything in the league, and avoiding relegation is the bare minimum.
However, the Europa League is a chance to turbo-charge the project and on paper, United have the best squad to win it.
Not only does it get the club back into the Champions League, but you get the feeling that a launchpad is needed to kickstart Amorim’s era.
He might not want the Rangers game to come this soon, but the Europa League has become the most important competition for United this season.
They have to turn up.
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