Rúben Amorim has arrived in Manchester and the smiles are back. The Portuguese head coach has been meeting supporters around Old Trafford in his first week with his new club, and will soon get to work. "We have to win, we all know that," he told club media channels as he took in the breathtaking scenes of Old Trafford under the lights.
United has not had anything to smile about this season. Sitting 13th in the Premier League table and 15th in the Europa League league phase, he takes over a club struggling to hit its former heights. It's been more than a decade since United sat at the summit of English soccer and plenty have tried (and failed) before him to restore old glories, but there is optimism that this time may be different.
Amorim was greeted on arrival in England by members of United's new structure—including Omar Berrada, Dan Ashworth and Jason Wilcox—each installed by new owners INEOS to put the focus back on the club returning to the top through better process. Amorim is the first appointment of the new era and has competent off-field backing that his predecessors never benefitted from. But Amorim knows what's at stake and needs to turn the tide quickly. Here's how he could do it.
Build a Solid Foundation
Every successful team is built on a strong base. Amorim left Sporting CP in November top of the Portuguese league with 11 wins from 11, conceding only five goals in the process. They also averaged 3.5 goals a game, but we'll get to that later.
One of United's biggest weaknesses under Erik ten Hag was their lack of concentration. It was a team guilty of making the same mistakes repeatedly, whether that be switching off at the back post after failure to track a runner, conceding to a cut back or a careless pass in midfield leading to a dangerous turnover. Generally, United's own errors would lead to them conceding goals, and conceding goals leads to dropped points and losing matches. You know the drill.
United conceded seven injury-time winners during Ten Hag's two-plus years in charge, compared to just two in the 20 years of the Premier League before his arrival. They took countless heavy defeats, including 7-0 and 3-0 losses against rivals Liverpool, a 6-3 at Manchester City and two 4-0 defeats to Brentford and Crystal Palace. Mental fragility and capitulating under pressure were hallmarks of the most recent iteration of Manchester United.
Amorim is expected to move United to a back three for his opening game at Ipswich with two hard-working midfielders—former player Manuel Ugarte included—offering an aggressive buffer ahead of the back line. The switch should offer more defensive solidity from the outset.
Install a Style of Play
It's a pre-requisite of any modern appointment. Entertain me.
But Manchester United must entertain and win at the same time. Ten Hag won two trophies in two years but didn't win enough matches, and few could recognize what he was trying to achieve in terms of game plan and style. Amorim has risen to prominence and been given this job because of his work turning Sporting into one of Europe's most exciting, efficient teams. United would benefit from turning players into world-beaters and flipping them for huge profit to reinvest and continue growing.
Supporters want something they can buy in to after years of lost faith. Amorim has a charm that has endeared him to millions even before his arrival, and his charisma may be the tool that convinces the players he'll inherit to buy into his ideas. Amorim will demand hard work and for his players to carry out his instructions, and the pressure will ease if the early signs are good.
Gone must be the days of André Onana shooting the ball 50 yards out of play because there are no short passing options. The simple diamond patterns, a trait of Amorim's Sporting team in possession, will need to appear quickly so United can retain the ball and progress it up the pitch. If there are wing-backs, and it's likely there will be wing-backs, there must be the required energy to get up and down and contribute in defense and attack.
The world isn't expected immediately, but something to hang a hat on would be a great start.
Maximize Potential
With a new system comes new challenges. Amorim takes over a squad of underperformers who were disillusioned with the radical style of play that was once expected of them. Many will look at United's current team and point to the holes within it, the players that need to leave as the regeneration process continues. But this is a club with a transfer value of over $1bn, the eighth-highest in world football per recent data from CIES Football Observatory. Amorim's job will be to make this squad match its worth.
He'll do that through implementation of his ideas and communicating clear instructions. There is plenty of talk of Viktor Gyökeres moving to Manchester next summer but in Rasmus Højlund, United have a striker with similar traits and stature, strength and raw pace, underused in the old system with growth stunted because of it. Where Ten Hag asked Højlund to play with his back to goal to bring wide forwards into play, Amorim's chief focus is feeding the center forward. Højlund's game is better suited to running beyond the defensive line and finishing chances from through balls, or isolating defenders and beating them. Operating to put chances on a plate for the striker may even give Marcus Rashford another chance to prove his worth through the middle.
The expectations will be there for the squad of players and the question will be how they react to what's being asked of them. Will Amad Diallo finally carve out a regular place in behind the striker? Will Antony swallow his pride and look to adapt his skills into a hard-working wing-back who can operate in an Amorim system? Which players will break into the first team from a thriving United academy? Maximizing potential is of the utmost importance.
Decide Winners and Losers
Not every player will find a place in this team, and some will not make the cut. That's to be expected, though, and it's a natural part of the process. One of Amorim's jobs before the end of the season will be to determine which players come with him and which players don't.
Amorim's title of head coach means he will likely have less of a say than those before him in United's transfer strategy moving forward, but the transfer team will nevertheless prioritize finding players with the skills to work in a team Amorim coaches. They will also be in charge of moving out the unwanted parts.
It's likely that Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Jonny Evans won't remain at United far beyond the end of the season, primarily due to age, but some who were out in the cold have another chance to prove themselves. United's squad is not the 13th best squad in the Premier League and the time is approaching for players to step up and make the difference for a new head coach. It''s that or the exit door.
Turn Results Around
Results will always be the most important thing, and Amorim is under no illusions. He insists he''s relaxed about taking on the job and that quiet confidence should take him a long way. Though no head coach can last long if results don't improve.
United may be 13th in the Premier League, but sit only four points from a Champions League qualification place. Teams in the positions between have habits of taking points from each other, such is the competitiveness of the league, but the thing that sets the best teams apart in England's top flight is the consistency. Liverpool have a healthy lead at present because they have notched up points even when not playing at their best. If United find it, they will rocket up the table and back into contention.
Clean sheets will be a start, and coaching the good things from Sporting into this United team will be the key to unlocking the door in an attacking sense. Amorim's Sporting have taken 6.9 more shots from the six-yard line to the edge of the penalty area (the danger zone) than they have conceded this season. It's the best differential of all teams across 63 leagues and puts Sporting ahead of the likes of Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Barcelona. Bring those numbers to Old Trafford and the likelihood of conceding drops, with the likelihood of scoring increasing.
That, in turn, increases the prospect of United winning matches again. They are not out of touch in the Premier League despite a disastrous start to the season, and remain second-favorites to win the Europa League, with Tottenham Hotspur (who struggle to win trophies) the only team favored ahead of them. Do the basics right and success is not out of the question, even in the early months of Amorim's United.
READ THE LATEST MANCHESTER UNITED NEWS, PREVIEWS, PREDICTIONS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rúben Amorim’s Five Steps to Fixing Manchester United.
