The time has now arrived for Ruben Amorim to start work for Manchester United and excitement is at a fever pitch.
It is two weeks since Erik ten Hag was sacked by Ineos for his terrible start to the 2024/25 campaign. Manchester United were winless in Europe and far adrift of the top four in the Premier League when this happened.
Quite quickly after the signing, it was evident that Ruben Amorim was option number one for United and by the Friday, he was officially the next incoming head coach.
Now, his period of leave has been served and has been pictured arriving at Carrington. As he now prepares for his first full day in charge, we have taken a look at five things we would urge Amorim to consider immediately.
Push Amad Diallo to commit his future
One of the biggest benefactors of Van Nistelrooy’s brief spell in charge was right-wing sensation Amad Diallo.
Amad has become an undroppable over the past week, scoring twice in the Europa League and assisting a goal against Leicester. however, one issue is Amad’s contract situation remains in the air – although there is confidence.
Upon arriving Amorim must make it clear to Amad that he has a big part to play and get the contract situation sorted as soon as possible.
Liaise with Adam Lawrence and Travis Binnion
This season, the brilliant academy has been almost ignored by Ten Hag, with the likes of Harry Amass and Jayce Fitzgerald knocking on the door and on the bench, yet they are not being used.
Left-back problems in particular have been an issue as Ten Hag made the claim that a left-footed player here would solve his problems – while ignoring Amass.
This should change under Amorim given his record of promoting the youth – and through liaising with Adam Lawrence and Travis Binnion, we could see the academy play a key role.
Begin working on clear identity and style
One of the main problems at United under Ten Hag was the lack of footballing identity at any point in his two-and-a-half years in charge.
So on day one, Amorim needs to make things crystal clear to his players and get everyone reading from the same hymn sheet to ensure we are seeing structure and patterns of play in the coming weeks and months.
Adding to this, Amorim must not compromise his tactical style which earned him the job early on like we saw Ten Hag do after just two games.
Make standards clear from day one
One thing which has dropped severely in the past few seasons is standards have dropped and under Amorim, we need to see these restored.
Too often, Ten Hag normalised an eighth-place finish as a successful season simply because we also picked up silverware at the end of the campaign.
Silverware would be nice, but first Amorim needs to get it ingrained in his team that we should be winning weekly – and losing is unacceptable.
He can take United back to the status that the club deserves by doing this – so hopefully this is on his list to do.
Check out United’s under-21s
Manchester United’s under-21s are in action on Tuesday November 12, taking on Huddersfield Town in the Football League Trophy.
It’s an away game, so whether Amorim wants to travel to Yorkshire for the fixture is unclear – but at the very least, United could supply him with a stream to watch the game remotely.
Amorim is a big backer of youth, and this would be a great way for him to check out the club’s academy stars immediately.
And if he is able to travel along for the fixture, it would send a fantastic message to the young players involved too.
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