We've wanted this at United for a while. We've wanted a manager to come in and bring his philosophy on how to play football as what we had been used to seeing was nothing short of shit.
Amorim's style at Sporting was the reason he was hired by the club and why we were all so excited for this appointment. The same could be said of Erik ten Hag.
That's where I'll start: the former manager whom ex-Red Rapha Varane has spoken about in an exlusive interview with The Athletic. A great read.
But with ten Hag, and this is something I've said many times before so forgive me for repeating myself, but how his Ajax team played was quite something. To take such a young side and do what he did was seen as incredible culminating in their epic Champions League run that along the way, saw them absolutely hammer Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu 4-1!
Yeah, that will live long in the memory.
While they unfortunately couldn't go all the way in that 18/19 campaign after being knocked out by Spurs late on in their second leg, the way they played was beautiful and still earns a lot of plaudits six years later.
When United needed a new manager, a lot of people were looking to ten Hag as the ideal appointment given all he'd done at Ajax (he won three Eredivisie titles out of four, with the other not happening because the league was suspended due to COVID).
More than that, it was his ability to develop young players because that Ajax side had an average age of just 25-years-old and at United we're all about the youth. This was another feather in his fast-growing cap.
However, as we know, things didn't go as expected.
We unfortunately never saw 'ten Hag ball' at United because of several reasons one of which was the manager abandoning his style just two games in thanks to the heavy losses to Brighton and Brentford in his opening two official matches as MUFC boss.
ten Hag then went all out defensive in the hopes to get some points and wins and try to boost the confidence of the players as well as uplift the club after such an awful begining to his time at Old Trafford.
And it worked.
United had some important wins that saw us gather that momentum, confidence and points to start to move up the table. His first win was over Liverpool in his third match. Nobody saw that coming considering the recent record of the two sides and the form that United were showing under the Dutchman.
Once we got to a point where we felt we were in a good position and we needed to start playing better football, ten Hag struggled to get his players to transition into something he actually wanted.
He was playing in a way that they were used to and preferred which was this more basic approach, something that was used under Solskjaer and for a period with Mourinho. Telling them to play a more modern brand of football was too much to ask because they were (and still are) incapable of doing so.
This is when we started to hear those all too familiar rumors that the manager perhaps needs a style change or that the players were unconvinced by his methods. Amorim is now facing the same issues.
Everyone was quite upset that ten Hag never truly tried to implement ten Hag ball as many felt that he needed to stick to his principles once we got up and running with those early wins.
After his sacking, we all wanted a manager to come in and start to play his way and stick to it no matter what.
Amorim is doing just that and hasn't budged at all when people have been wanting him to tweak the system, formation and/or approach. He has remained firm.
This confirms to me that there will be NO change and that if these players want to succeed, they will have to improve and adapt to this 3-4-3.
Or get out of the club.
The stupid thing is that not only does this system work, it worked,
WITH THESE PLAYERS!
What happened at Anfield? We drew 2-2 against the best team in the world and at the toughest ground in the world.
How did we manage that?
Oh yes, the players actually gave a shit and listened to what the manager told them. They did what he wanted and ended up playing the best football we've seen at United in a while and certainly the best football we've played at Anfield. While we also got a draw there last season, that really was all out defend whereas with Amorim's United, we actually played some good football, went toe-to-toe with LFC and were full value for that point.
The manager, captain and everyone else associated with MUFC were actually really angry at this performance because it showed that we can play Amorim ball. Why did we do at Liverpool but against no one else?
Even a week later at Arsenal in the FA Cup, we were ok but displayed incredible resilience to manage to overcome seemingly improbable odds with 10 men against 12.
It can be done, even with this lot. They just have to want it, something Amorim said of Rashford in the early days of his reign. Many agreed with him about a player we all have affection for but is something that can be said of the rest as well.
The 3-4-3 formation and use of wing-backs is also not a problem when looking at the countless successful teams that used this formation in the past and present.
Antonio Conte won the Premier League with Chelsea and Serie A with Inter with this style; Thomas Tuchel took over at Chelsea later than Amorim did at United and used a 3-4-3 to win the Champions League with a side that wasn't his; Atalanta and Bayer Levekusen are two of the more exciting teams of today and play this formation.
And of course, there was Sporting Lisbon under Amorim. They hadn't won the league in two decades before he took over and won it in his second season. Sporting were flying high in the Champions League as well as in his four games in charge, Amorim had them sitting pretty at the top of the table with three wins, one draw and zero defeats.
Lisbon failed to win any of their remaining four in the league phase after his departure and just about made it through to the playoffs. They did lose 3-0 to Dortmund in that first leg though, so it looks like their European journey is over.
This is proof that Amorim isn't a bad coach nor is it a system problem. These players also have the ability to play well in it when looking at that Liverpool performance.
So what's the issue?
I believe it's simple mindset and goes back to how much do they want it.
And what style and system do they want to go back to? We weren't that much better with a 4-2-3-1 as we were in 13th and drew our first three Europa League matches under ten Hag.
Just as a sidenote, can you believe that ten Hag was our manager THIS season?! Feels like a lifetime ago.
But the players weren't performing in that 'familiar' formation and approach so why should we go back?
When looking at the Spurs game in particular, we didn't play too badly even though we were up against another poor side but there was a lot to like about it. Dorgu especially put on a top display as he did exactly what Amorim wants from his wing-back. Garnacho ignoring those overlapping runs isn't because it's a system problem but more because of an individual failing to carry out the manager's instructions. We've had this problem with players in the past as they can be quite selfish and show a lack of wanting to follow instructions.
A formation change to a four at the back wouldn't have made sense for this match either because of the injuries.
Maguire cannot play in a back two and is more comfortable in a back three and is the reason he's looked much better under Amorim; Dorgu and Mazraoui would be fine as full-backs but Bruno and Casemiro obviously don't work in midfield but with those injuries, there was no one else to play there which would've meant that Zirkzee would have to play as the lone CAM which requires a lot of work which isn't something you would associate with the Dutchman when looking at his laidback approach; and also that Dalot would have to play as the right-winger and nobody wants to see that.
So how would it have worked?
I swear, sometimes people don't think before they speak but unfortunately, a lot of people will listen and agree with them.
It's part of the reason why we fail.
The fear I have though is that things will continue as they are, or perhaps get even worse 😬.
In the event this happens, I'm not sure whether we'll win either of the FA Cup and/or Europa League, we're certainly not qualifying for Europe through the league and as we're in 15th and 8 points behind the top 10, getting into the top half of the table looks unlikely.
Imagine saying that for Man United: not sure whether they would make it into the top half 😔.
There's no reason for me to believe otherwise that INEOS may sack Amorim if the worst comes to pass despite him being their guy. We know that it's always the manager who gets the ax and these players remain only for us to be here in a little while with the new boss and saying the same things all over again.
If the club don't stick by Amorim through what is undoubtedly going to be a difficult season, if they don't back him and remove a lot of the crap players, then what was the point in bringing him in in the first place? They may as well have kept ten Hag because at least the players 'knew his style'.
They should rather have done what Amorim initially wanted and hired him at the end of the season. He would have then had a pre-season, proper chance to assess the squad, had a better chance of signing who he wanted and removing those he deemed not good enough and would've given him a better chance of succeeding.
This mid-season, not signing anyone, not selling anyone and not even coming out and backing the manager publicly crap gave him little to no chance of making it at United this season.
Sacking ten Hag for all that makes no sense when looking back on things now. That £15m they had to pay the Dutchman off could've been better utilized elsewhere like not having to make 200+ staff redundant. That would've been a good start.
The fact that the club especially INEOS as they hired Amorim, don't come out and speak to us but instead let the manager do ALL the talking (like, how many interviews has Amorim done?) is something else that is very Glazer-like.
INEOS were supposed to change a lot but they just appear to be another Glazer.
Honestly, I don't know where Amorim and United go from here. The manager seems to be all on his own, everyone seems to want him to stray away from who he is as a manager and no one is helping him out.
But the more I hear and see this sort of stuff, the more I BACK Amorim. Stick to your guns boss. Know that there are some who will be by your side until the end ✊.
My Manager.
What do you make of this talk that Amorim should change his approach? Agree with it or not?
Background Image: Ruben Amorim | Creator: Ash Donelon | Credit: Manchester United via Getty Images - SuperSport