Any time a Ruben Amorim is compared to Erik ten Hag, it will understandably set alarm bells ringing among Man Utd fans but the Dutchman wasn’t all bad.
Erik ten Hag won two trophies at Man Utd and gave debuts to academy products who form the spine of the team now in, especially Kobbie Mainoo.
The challenge for Ruben Amorim was to separate himself from Ten Hag on his faults and lean into his strengths to get the best of both worlds.
In a recent happening, he has already repeated a Ten Hag trick with the same player that will endear him further to the Man Utd fans. The timeline is matching perfectly so far.
Erik ten Hag engineered a downfall
United haven’t been favourites in big games for the last two to three years, especially under Ten Hag when fans used to wait for these games with a sense of trepidation.
That was understandable too, since United lost these games, more often than not pretty convincingly, from the 6-3 loss at Man City to the infamous 7-0 drubbing at Anfield.
However, on Ten Hag’s last trip to Anfield, they unexpectedly drew 0-0 courtesy of a rearguard action. That happened in December 2023 but United faced Liverpool again three months later.
Liverpool were going for a famous quadruple to send their departing manager Jurgen Klopp in a blaze of glory.
Then Amad happened.
The 4-3 win in the quarterfinal of the FA Cup not only allowed United to salvage their own flailing season by winning the cup and qualifying for the Europa League, but it sent Liverpool into a tailspin.
Klopp’s men would go on to get eliminated from every competition and finish far behind the chasing pack in the league as Klopp left with a solitary Carabao Cup.
It’s impossible to not make a comparison to the 2-2 draw at Anfield under Ruben Amorim and what has followed immediately after.
Ruben Amorim repeats Ten Hag trick
The scenario was the same again. Nobody gave Man Utd a chance against Liverpool who were again looking like an all-conquering side, having lost just once all season.
They didn’t lose against United, although they could have if not for Harry Maguire fluffing a glorious chance, but the result and the performance dented their momentum.
They followed that result with their second loss of the season, away at Tottenham in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal where they didn’t look up to it again.
Combine that with the focus being on Trent Alexander-Arnold and his ongoing saga with Real Madrid, Virgil van Dijk unhappy with the state of affairs and contract confusion around multiple player, and it is very likely that after Ten Hag’s United, Amorim’s United have also sent Liverpool’s season into a tailspin with a single result.
Amad was at the centre of it again in a bit of coincidence that Man Utd fans would love. If Liverpool collapse again moving forward, the schadenfreude in Manchester would be one to witness!
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
