Ruben Amorim's post-match comments make for grim but very truthful reading.
"We are the WORST team maybe in the history of Manchester United. We need to acknowledge that."
👏👏👏.
I have to applaud that as this is one of if not the best thing I've heard come out of United in the past decade. This is right up there with open heart surgery.
To be hearing it from the manager as well makes it even better.
Saying that we are perhaps the worst United side in the history of the club is quite a statement but who would disagree?
United were once relegated in the 70s but I don't think that that was a group of unlikeable players and from what I've heard (as I wasn't born during this time) is that people actually enjoyed the season in the second tier. I also believe it wasn't for a lack of trying from those players but more simply a quality thing, correct me if I'm wrong.
But with the current lot, they don't have anything about them to suggest they should be worthy of wearing even the shirts of those that were relegated let alone those worn by some of the greats.
There is very little, if anything, to like about a lot of these players. They aren't even that good at football nor do they display the mentality for what is required to play at the highest level.
This isn't all of them but beyond a handful, the rest are simply shite. If most of this squad is sold today, I wouldn't cry.
But I guess that this is where the problem lies.
The squad.
We've known for a long time that the players we have aren't good enough to play for most mid-table teams and before you say anything, we aren't a mid-table team.
We're actually a mid-table team of the BOTTOM HALF of the table. We're 13th.
So the fact that they're playing for MANCHESTER UNITED tells you all about the recruitment of the club and those that run it.
The Glazers are still there and couldn't care less what happens as long as they make their money. INEOS came in and kept them and only bought a portion of the club whilst also taking over football operations.
This means that the Glazers are STILL the owners of the club. They own about 50% of it so the final decision should be down to them.
But this partial deal with INEOS works in their favor because they can still remain as majority owners and keep milking the club but not take any of the slack for what's happening with the football side of things because that is now on INEOS.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe and his band of people came in looking like they were the real deal with the appointments of Omar Berrada as CEO, Dan Ashworth as Director of Football, Jason Wilcox as Technical Director and Christopher Vivell as Head of Recruitment.
This 'dream team' led us all to believe that perhaps the glory days weren't far off and that maybe the man from Manchester and lifelong United fan Ratcliffe was the one to restore this club to it's former glory.
However, these appointments were probably the only good things they've done in their year of co-ownership, although some might argue that even they aren't at the level required.
One could make the case that INEOS have gotten worse as just 5 months into his job, Dan Ashworth was removed as DOF even after the long battle with Newcastle for his signature, the period of gardening leave resulting in the club having to wait for a bit before he actually began his role, and having to pay however many millions of pounds for his services.
This made them look like mugs but when reading some of the choices Ashworth wanted in terms of people to bring in, maybe it wasn't the worst decision to let him go. But it still made them look foolish. It makes them look a little like they didn't do their homework on him.
Hiring Ruben Amorim as the manager to replace Erik ten Hag was another decision they made that was kind of eye-opening as it was an amazing coup. Many thought that it was wrong to keep ten Hag after the FA Cup final win but I agree with that decision. I believe it was right to keep the Dutchman after a surprising win over City in the FA Cup final. He deserved to have a chance after that.
But this appointment of Amorim was one right decision surrounded by several terrible ones.
INEOS let go off 200+ regular staff at the club, canceled Christmas parties, reduced Christmas bonuses, canceled charity events and increased the ticket prices to £66.
All this to keep so many players who don't deserve to be at the club and let us watch that shit we see on the pitch.
This is where the new co-owners have to be looked at because they've made so many unpopular decisions whilst not doing what many would've expected in terms of trying to improve the area of the club that needs the most improving: on the pitch.
I don't mean in terms of coaching the team but rather to bring in the players the coach needs in order for us to be better at football, the most important thing of it all.
Amorim is also their manager. He was the one they identified as the guy to succeed ten Hag and gave him an ultimatum of 'either you join now or not all' despite Amorim's wish to continue to the end of the season with Sporting and make a decision on his future then.
He obviously joined now (November) but the club would have had to have given him reasons to go against his original plan. One of that surely had to be that we will give you the tools to play the best football.
January was only 2 months away from when Amorim joined so by then, they should've identified which players he would like or would see as part of his team for the future.
In these two months, the manager himself will have had enough time to identify which players are NOT part of his plans, those he deems not good enough to play for him.
The 39-year-old is also a smart guy and wouldn't have taken him long to see who fits in his system and who doesn't. I believe he may have told the club who he would like gone and who he would like to keep.
He's even telling them indirectly as the likes of Casemiro, Eriksen, Antony and the biggest fish of them all, Rashford hardly feature for the Portuguese.
In fact, after yesterday's defeat when asked about Rashford (which he seems to be every time the media get even though Amorim gives the same answers), the boss said “No matter what, I am NOT going to put a player I do NOT believe is the best for the team”.
“Marcus is out of this moment because he is not playing."
Clearly, Rashford is not a player he fancies.
This was made clear a long time ago as the last time Rashford played was in the 2-1 win at Viktoria Plzen on 12 December, a game in which he was terrible as well.
What more does the manager need to do to tell the club that he needs certain players gone?
United are also constantly saying that it is a 'sell to buy' situation but they aren't even selling anyone. Those players I mentioned are all on the fringes and have all been linked with moves away from Old Trafford.
Antony for one, looks set to join Real Betis, but that is a loan option with no buy clause and United will cover some of his wages (Fabrizio Romano).
But that isn't him gone completely with some money coming in. We get NOTHING and we'll have to look to move him on in the summer again. And if this deal is true which it probably is because it's Romano, we may as well keep him. At least we will have an extra body because if we don't get money for him, how will we buy anyone, given United's sell to buy policy?
What about Casemiro, Eriksen, Rashford? That is £800k-a-week not playing for United. Just sitting on the bench or in Rashford's case, not even in the matchday squad.
If they don't back Amorim, what was the point? They may as well have kept ten Hag until the end of the season and brought Amorim in then. At least there would've been more time to do deals and he would've had a pre-season. These players are also well versed in ten Hag's system (not that that was working) but at least they knew it better than one that we've never seen at United before.
This isn't me saying that Amorim should change his approach because that is what made him who he is. If he abandons that, he may as well leave because it goes against everything he is as a coach.
It's also something that he said he won't do anyway so people should stop wanting this formation and style switch from him. Again, I must repeat that it's not as if the players were doing well under Erik ten Hag's 4-2-3-1 system this season even though it was a formation they've been playing for many years.
INEOS will look like real knobheads if they don't back the manager they wanted. Sacking ten Hag not long after giving him a new deal followed by doing whatever you can to bring Amorim in sooner rather than later and then to not give him the tools required to do the job makes zero sense.
Seriously, what was the point?
All that's happening now without incomings and outgoings is that it's damaging Amorim's reputation as a manager. We all saw that he isn't and that his style worked at Sporting, which is why we were all so excited for him in the first place and perhaps one of the reasons as to why INEOS wanted to sign him on as manager.
Erik ten Hag abandoned his approach not long into his time at the club and many (including myself) didn't agree with that. We wanted to see Ajax ball at United and was the reason we all got so hard for his appointment. The fact that he didn't try to implement it was on him as it just gave everyone a reason to say maybe he isn't the guy.
An interesting thing that ten Hag did say though was that we will never see the football he played at Ajax at United because he has different players.
However, he was backed more than any other manager and is the reason why I would put more responsibility onto him compared to Amorim now in terms of why it's going wrong.
The new boss hasn't been backed so we cannot say for sure whether he is him or not.
The club have to sort themselves out otherwise this is only going to get worse.
It terrifies me to think how bad things could get after what we're currently seeing.
This is without the issues about the stadium which in itself is a topic to discuss.
What I also don't like about INEOS is that they don't come out and speak to the public. This was something the previous regime and the Glazers never did so it was something that could've been an easy improvement for Sir Jim and co.
It's refreshing to hear from those running the club and it could perhaps give us a better idea of why they may not be able to sign players or why they make the decisions they make.
It could make us more understanding of the current state of affairs.
At the moment though, it is Amorim who is literally doing all the talking. Nobody else says much other than a player every now and then.
And how many of these interviews is Amorim doing? Every other day he's doing another one. He's complained about doing too many and it seems that they make him do more.
The club don't even stop this.
That quote by the manager should get a response from the players but let's be honest, they're more like to get worse or perhaps even go behind his back knowing their mentality.
I don't know when (or if) things will change because at the moment, like I said and as is feared by most, it will probably get worse.
Background Image: Sir Jim Ratcliffe | Image credit: Getty Images via Goal