Manchester United’s 2-3 loss to Nottingham Forest last Saturday raised no alarm bells.
Languishing 13th in the Premier League table, expectations are so suppressed at Old Trafford that the result failed to register as shock.
It is dispensable evidence in a trial long ago adjudicated: Manchester United are not presently situated to compete at the highest level of English and European football.
Newly appointed head coach Ruben Amorim was asked in the post-match press conference about the struggles his club will face.
The 39-year-old told reporters: “We already knew [it would be tough].
“It will be a long journey but we want to win because this is a massive club.
“You feel it, when you lose one game it’s really hard for everybody.
“I can understand that.
“I can feel it in the stadium after the first goal.
“We understand the context but we have to keep going in the same way, doing the same things.
“The same words I have here with [the 4-0 win over] Everton, I have today.
“Focus on the performance.
“We need to improve in a lot of aspects of the game and continue to do the same things tomorrow in training.”
Ruben Amorim finds himself in somewhat of a compromised position.
The Portuguese coach is wed to the 3-4-2-1 formation.
It was the basis upon which his towering achievements at Sporting Lisbon were built; one would be foolish to immediately change what brought them success.
Amorim has thusly and justifiably remained loyal to his principles despite having no say in the collection of Red Devils at his disposal.
United’s squad is a Frankenstein’s monster; the sum of collected parts mined from Sir Alex Ferguson, Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Erik ten Hag.
Coherent results should have little expectation until an established level of continuity arrives.
This desire was certainly the principal motive behind keeping ten Hag after last season – though the club were not wholly blinded by the light reflecting from an unanticipated FA Cup trophy.
The 17-day period between the FA Cup final and INEOS Sport’s decision to retain the Dutchman suggested genuine internal debate about the correct pathway forward.
A series of candidates were investigated as potential successors, including Thomas Tuchel, Roberto De Zerbi, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank and Kieran McKenna, but ten Hag survived the end-of-season review.
Predictable if not inevitable, the move backfired.
Ten Hag was sacked in October, and Ruud van Nistelrooy made interim head coach until November when Ruben Amorim was announced as the club’s newest full-time head coach on a contract running through 2027.
Ideally the 2024/25 season is completed by Van Nistelrooy, Amorim is allowed to remain in Portugal, and the summer of 2025 sees wholesale change to the club and squad alike.
It was the then-Sporting manager’s wish to change clubs after the 2024/25 season, but United wanted Amorim through the door without delay.
INEOS avoided two things.
The first was removing the possibility of arguably the hottest managerial commodity in European football having his head turned by another club.
This was not Amorim’s first time being tempted by the bright lights of major clubs.
Were it not Manchester United, another mammoth would have eventually secured his signature. It was imperative to seize the moment.
The second was not repeating past misadventures.
After Mourinho’s sacking in December 2018, Solskjaer was appointed on an interim basis while management, overseen by Ed Woodward, searched for better-suited candidates.
The former United striker created a groundswell of support as caretaker manager which made it difficult for the boardroom to look elsewhere, even for better qualified coaches.
After 14 wins from 19 games, Solskjaer was given the full-time job and proceeded to manage 168 games for the Red Devils over three seasons altogether.
INEOS Sport, under the supervision of Sir Jim Radcliffe, could not allow Van Nistelrooy’s potential (another former United striker) to derail their plan if they believed Ruben Amorim the genuine article.
Chasing short-term success has caused too many missteps in the post-Ferguson era.
Once deeming the Portuguese their best long-term option, he had to arrive as soon as possible.
Consequently, it appears Manchester United have taken an ambitious approach to the 2024/25 season.
Barring miracles worthy of documentation in religious texts, English football’s most successful club has effectively forfeited the current campaign in preparation for one set to begin next year.
An extended preseason is how one might make sense of a less-than-ideal situation.
Amorim’s comments after Nottingham Forest reflect the only position he can take.
A mid-season appointment with a team 14th in their domestic league and months away from the summer transfer window has but few solutions: formational repetition, drilling patterns/principles of play, and intense training.
It is from these months of work Ruben Amorim can assess the players available to him in game situations, decide which are or are not suitable to his 3-4-2-1, gauge the Premier League’s quality in relation to Portugal, set or suggest transfer targets, and allow his charismatic personality to capture a fanbase desperate for hope and a return to their former station.
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