Well, they did it. They sacked Amorim.
I wrote a post not that long ago outlining why I didn’t think sacking Amorim was the right decision, at least not yet, and I stand by that. But it doesn’t matter what I think. He’s gone, Darren Fletcher is stepping in as interim manager, and the hunt for a replacement is on.
This explains why January transfers seem to be off the table. The leadership have obviously been discussing this move for a while and didn’t want to buy players for a manager they intended to sack.
But why now?
Well, it’s hard to look past that press conference, isn’t it?
Did Amorim Sack Himself At The Press Conference?
If you haven’t seen it already, have a quick look at this:
Apart from looking like a man about to break, listen to what he said:
- He came to be the manager, not the head coach.
- The scouting department and the director of football need to do their jobs.
It’s not 100% clear exactly what he means by these statements, but it is crystal clear that there were major issues behind the scenes. Amorim obviously felt like he wasn’t getting the deal he agreed to when he joined the club, he obviously wasn’t feeling backed, and he appeared to have a dig at Jason Wilcox and others.
Aside from your opinions on his performance as manager, talking like this at a press conference looks a bit like he was trying to get the sack. Or at least like he no longer cared either way.
Was Amorim Underachieving?
This is the big question, and it’s multi-faceted.
There was so much going on at Manchester United when Ruben Amorim was hired, and there still is. All this talk about the project, the culture change, the fresh start, and yet, it’s business as usual.
New manager doesn’t instantly set the world on fire, and he is sacked.
But what could we fairly and realistically expect from Amorim at this point? He hasn’t even had a full season in charge, he had half of last season and half of this season. He doesn’t have all the players he needs for the way he wants to play, the way he was hired to play. He is currently missing 7 key players, some of them being injured and others being away at AFCON. For the game against Leeds he had a bench full of kids. His squad is paper thin.
And yet, we sit in 6th place, and a win against Burnley this week would put Man Utd 4th. All things considered, I think he’s doing alright. And one thing I know is that constantly unsettling the team with big changes is not a recipe for success, especially when a new manager is moved on before he has even built the team he wants.
I just don’t see how we can fairly judge Amorim on his record given everything he has had to deal with. Sure, the stats don’t look great and he has made some very odd choices in his time at Old Trafford, but the stats don’t tell the full story and I saw a manager who was learning, developing, and becoming adaptable.
Now we are back to square one.
League Position
I mentioned the league position and I will just touch on it again, but from the alternative angle.
Some of you might be thinking it’s odd to sack Amorim considering Manchester United sit 6th in the table. However, this season has been much tighter than usual and we have got very lucky with other people’s results too.
What I mean is, we aren’t necessarily in 6th place because we are playing significantly better under Amorim. There have been a lot of draws, against teams we should be beating, and we have much tougher games coming up – Arsenal away and Manchester City at home to be exact. We are going to drop points in the next 3 or 4 weeks. Potentially quite a lot of points.
On top of that, the teams below us are within 3 points of our position. If they all win a few and we lose a few we could very easily be in 12th place, potentially even 14th if things go really badly for us and Tottenham and Crystal Palace get a few results.
Our league position belies the true state of affairs.
The Wrong Decision
I still think that sacking Amorim is the wrong decision. I just don’t think we can judge the guy effectively based on his time so far and everything he has had thrown at him.
He might have forced the issue with that press conference, and who knows what arguments have been going on behind the scenes, but based on the football and the squad alone, I think it’s a very bad move.
No manager is going to turn us into title contenders in a season or two. We need to give someone a couple of seasons to bed in, get the players they want, establish their authority, and then reassess. Only when the club is settled can we make sensible decisions on our future.
As it is, we are yet again left with one foot in project Amorim and the other foot already onto the next manager, having only just stepped away from project Ten Hag.
So around and around the circus goes, and where it stops, nobody knows. Least of all Manchester United fans.
On the bright side he got rid of Garnacho, and Kobbie Mainoo might stick around now…