Ruben Amorim will be under no illusion as to the size of the job at Old Trafford after arriving from Portuguese champions Sporting this week.
Manchester United bombed out Erik ten Hag after a poor start to the new Premier League season that currently has them sitting in 13th, even after Ruud van Nistelrooy helped them to four points against Chelsea and Leicester as caretaker boss.
There's plenty for Amorim to tackle now he has made the move - here's just a few of the most pressing issues for him to take on in the immediate future.
What Ruben Amorim needs to address at Manchester United
1. Goals, goals, goals
Quite an important part of football, we find – and an area where United have been badly lacking this season. Only Everton, Crystal Palace and Southampton have scored fewer this season than United (11), who have failed to find the net in four of their 11 Premier League games.
The data suggests that will probably correct itself over time: there has been a lot of wasteful finishing and good goalkeeping standing in their way, leading to the biggest xG underperformance in the Premier League so far this season, with Opta suggesting they should have had 6.4 more goals than they have actually managed. Bruno Fernandez and summer arrival Joshua Zirzkee have been particularly wasteful in front of goal.
Sporting have enjoyed the opposite phenomenon. They outperformed their xG by a whopping 23.5 goals last season, and are already 9.8 up on their xG in 11 league games this season.
The worry for United is whether that is actually something that can be coached or whether you need the right players to replicate that – but there is a scintilla of hope in the fact that Sporting’s players almost universally met or exceeded their xG across the squad last season. It was far from just being down to star goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres.
Amorim does at least have something to work with from set pieces. Sporting were the top scorers in Portugal from dead ball situations last season, and United have only been outscored by Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest from free kicks and corners this season – a vast improvement on the mere nine they were able to muster last term.
2. Find a style the fans can get behind...
Bless Erik ten Hag, he tried. But the build-from-the-back style that served him so well at Ajax never looked a good fit for United, in spite of an ever growing list of signings supposedly well-versed in what he wanted them to do.
When we talk about doing things the [insert name of club here] way, it’s often a load of rubbish: most fans don’t particularly care what style they’re playing as long as they’re winning. Manchester United are one of the rare exceptions.
This is a club built on rapid attacks, giving star players the flexibility to express themselves, and a relentless “we’re going to try and score four and just you try to get one past us” tradition. Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho did as well as anyone has with United since Sir Alex Ferguson left, at least for a spell, but fans were bored by the football and made their feelings known.
Players feel that on the pitch, and it leads to second-guessing and sapped confidence. That’s not a criticism of the fans, but rather a reflection of how unsuitably United have selected their managerial appointments.
Thankfully, Amorim’s side are known for being stylish and free-scoring. At Sporting he has tended to prefer a 3-4-3 with an expansive defensive line that pitches in with midfield duties. Rather than patiently waiting for an opposition mistake – as often felt to be the case under Ten Hag – Amorim’s side actively try to force the issues, packing the midfield and always trying to make sure they hold a numerical advantage.
That would be a far cry from what often looks like ‘give it Kobbie Mainoo and hope he does something with it to get us forward’. United have resembled a disparate set of individuals more than a cohesive team in far too many games under ten Hag.
3. ...but be willing to be a bit pragmatic in the meantime
For all that, it is a results business, and there are big question marks about whether or not Amorim will be able to directly port his Sporting philosophy over to Old Trafford with immediate effect.
First is the question of whether United have suitable options for the creative wing-back roles that are so key to his preferred system. Nuno Santos, for instance, racked up ten assists from left wing-back last season, while right wing-back Geny Catamo only trailed Gyokeres for dribbling past opponents. The closest thing United have to a wing-back with that skillset is Diogo Dalot, and even his numbers fall some way short.
We’re also nothing like convinced United have centre-forwards who are mobile enough to play as fluidly as Amorim would prefer on the ball and capable of maintaining the kind of sheer pressing intensity he demands. Are Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund really going to become that kind of player overnight?
Probably not – and it would take yet more investment in the transfer market and, in all likelihood, a full pre-season for Amorim to get that sorted out.
So what to do in the meantime? There may need to be a bit of acceptance that this squad has been recruited to play a different shape and a different style, and that they weren’t even particularly good at that.
At the same time…there will be an expectation of at least signs of improvement, even if any suggestion of making a push for the top four currently looks like a mad man’s dream.
United fans have good reason to be wary of managers with big reputations coming in and failing to make an impact. Although he will want to use the rest of this season to get his ideas into his squad, to keep the fans onside he may need to be willing just to find a way to get results with little compromises here and there to suit the tools he actually has at his disposal.
4. Make Manchester United… united
We shouldn’t know anything about what goes on in a dressing room, ideally, yet United’s has been leakier than a colander full of leeks for years now.
We can probably attribute at least some of that to pure tabloid guff, but in our experience those kinds of rumours of discontent often have at least a small grain of truth in them.
Those behind the scenes at the club will – or should – already be aware of what is going on there, and Amorim needs to make a good first impression to get as many of his new players on board as quickly as possible. And those who don’t? Get rid asap. You can’t be doing with any kind of toxicity.
5. Make clear what he needs from the board
This will have been a big part of the interview process, of course, but Amorim will be finding little issues under rocks wherever he walks at the club.
There’s no room for timidity in that context. United have underperformed for over a decade, and Ineos seem to have no compunction about changing things that need to be changed.
That means Amorim needs to be central to a collaborative approach alongside Dave Brailsford, Dan Ashworth, and the rest of the higher-ups at Old Trafford. If Amorim feels the nutrition is wrong, he needs to be given what he needs. If he feels they need two key signings in January, they must be willing to move heaven and earth to make it happen.
Ineos seemed willing to extend that courtesy to ten Hag over the summer, only for it to turn out they were backing entirely the wrong horse. There is both virtue and folly in that; but if they really believe in Amorim, they cannot be shy about giving the same show of trust to the new gaffer.
For his part, Amorim needs to be willing to ask. We have heard of managers who have been slightly timid about asking for what they need, unsure about whether it is their place to ask. Well…it is. So ask.
