Ruben Amorim is the toast of Manchester United right now after another brilliant performance by his team in a marquee game.
Arsenal were on the receiving end of the latest Manchester United committed performance, getting knocked out of the FA Cup after United’s heroic display with ten men.
Altay Bayindir had a generational redemption arc while Harry Maguire continued his own brilliant run of form as United kept themselves in three competitions with a statement win.
Most importantly, they exorcised the demons of their first loss in a marquee game under Amorim, in the league against Arsenal when set-pieces were their undoing.
After this game, where Arsenal failed to replicate that set-piece danger, Ruben Amorim showed his true colours with a completely contrasting message to his own tone 20 days ago.
Ruben Amorim’s contrasting message
Amorim has managed the media masterfully so far, be it the Marcus Rashford situation or the bad PR the club received courtesy of Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos’ decisions.
On December 22, 2024, United welcomed Bournemouth to Old Trafford, determined to start their climb up the table after the victory in the Manchester Derby.
Instead, Bournemouth piled on the same problem United first experienced at Arsenal, scoring from set-pieces and completely outplaying United in a collapse that looked straight out of the Ten Hag era.
The set-piece weakness was becoming chronic and Amorim faced some tough questions in the press conference afterward, particularly for his decision to make Carlos Fernandes, his assistant, in charge of set pieces instead of Andreas Georgson.
Amorim said then: “The responsibility of everything is on me, not Carlos. We are a team in good moments and bad moments. We suffered again on set-pieces and we have to improve. We have a way of doing things. We are working on that and we are going to improve, but we didn’t lose because of set pieces.”
That was a manager shielding his team from criticism by becoming the public face of the club in a trying time, a mark of a true leader.
Against Arsenal, when the narrative had flipped and there was credit to be had for neutralising Arsenal’s set-piece threat, Amorim struck a different tune after the game.
He said: “The set pieces is not my part and today we were amazing at set pieces. Carlos (Fernandes) was really good, Andreas (Georgson) was really good and Manuel (Ferro) was really good.
“And they chose the right players to score the penalties, was not my part, it was them. They did a very good job.”
Ruben Amorim proved Man Utd have a leader in charge
For a club that has had its own manager talk about the bad football heritage of the team, Amorim’s words show his true colours as a leader who can inspire his team.
Taking the criticism for himself and distributing the praise to the team is a true mark of a leader who mobilise his team to go through walls for him.
That is the exact trait Amorim showed with two contrasting messages in the wake of two very different results and narratives.
If the players and the staff are convinced that the manager will continue to demand accountability without throwing them under the bus for self-preservation, it sends a positive message.
Amorim has so far served as the man to bring the players down to earth after a victory and lift them up after a defeat, striking the perfect balance in the carrot-and-stick approach.
After a long time, it seems like United have a manager who doesn’t come with an asterisk attached.
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