13th in the league, out of the Carabao Cup, two unexpected home defeats and a sense of deja vu with bad performances, Ruben Amorim hasn’t had the most ideal start at Old Trafford.
The victory over Manchester City stands as another false dawn as things stand because Man Utd have followed it up with two losses.
The loss against Bournemouth will hurt the most as it was straight from the Erik ten Hag era, full of wastefulness and panic, with Ruben Amorim admitting that nervousness got to the players.
When Amorim arrived at Old Trafford, he made it clear to everyone that this was a huge job and a long-term view should be taken but that doesn’t make the defeats any easier to digest.
Fortunately, there’s also something else he said when he started the job which is coming true now, and it is a major silver lining to this disaster.
Silver lining for Ruben Amorim at Man Utd
Fans are so angry that they break into the club’s training ground and attack the players, with several sustaining injuries.
Players, fearing for their lives, are shaken and some demand a transfer away immediately, pretty much marking the nadir of a club that was once a giant.
The title has eluded the club for nearly a long time and with this happening, that stretch seems destined to continue for a long time.
Of course, things aren’t that bad at United right now, but they were this bad at Sporting when Ruben Amorim took over the Portuguese fallen giant.
Amorim had said after agreeing to take over at United that coming to a struggling club was what he preferred because that was the time when he could drive change from a position of power.
He relishes the challenge of giving a directionless and flailing club identity and bringing the fans back together in a cultural reboot of the organisation beyond the results on the pitch.
Too often the “new manager bounce” sweeps the plaguing issues at the club under the carpet and when that euphoria wears off, the ugliness resurfaces.
Therefore, in many ways, the problems rearing their head this early into his tenure is a welcome change because the first step to solving the problem is to acknowledge they exist.
Short-term pain for long-term gain at Man Utd
The reason why Amorim hasn’t overseen an immediate upturn in results, the likes of which was seen by Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Jose Mourinho, and pretty every other manager after Sir Alex, is because of a simple reason.
Erik ten Hag brought in a philosophy, abandoned it after two major defeats in his first two games and could never get the same buy-in from the players.
Solskjaer achieved wins on a transition style of play but was thrown under the bus when he tried to instill a more dominant style.
The same happened with other managers so what Amorim is avoiding so far is foregoing his philosophy in search of some immediate results.
He has already said that they could either buckle up and start turning up for three points without really addressing the problems, or they could take on short-term pain but fix the underlying issues at the club.
The latter has to be the way to go and with Amorim being arguably the strongest manager after Sir Alex in terms of the board’s view of him, he’s best placed to do so.
He likes to take over a struggling team, and United’s struggled showing up soon will only benefit in the long term.
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