The Portuguese head coach sensationally claimed his side were the “better team” after their Europa League final defeat to Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday night.
We asked three of our football writers if he should lose his job, and how much blame he deserves for their wretched season as a whole.
Alejandro Garnacho has publicly criticised Amorim’s decision to drop him (Photo: Getty)
Were Amorim’s tenure at Old Trafford a laboratory experiment requiring further funding, the answer would be no. Even Amorim admits future investment in him requires faith since the evidence to support his retention isn’t there.
Okay, United have made some errors in recruitment. But this cannot be all on the players, on formations, not running at the right time or in the right spaces, not being fit enough. These are all measurable, technical features that can be addressed. Amorim has been in his post since November, that is six months according to my maths, long enough to get things moving.
That first season Emery won 15 of 25 league games, bettered only by Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and, yes, you guessed it, United, in the same period. The following season he qualified for Europe and this term the Champions League, a feat he might repeat with victory at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Under Ineos, United are supposed to be data led. In that case, let the data lead, and Amorim go.
‘It feels like Amorim was the shiny new thing’
I am reluctant to call for managers to be sacked, especially when they have had as little time as Amorim.
United have been that bad, have got that much worse under his coaching and guidance, playing his tactics, his personnel. This will be remembered as one of the worst seasons in the club’s history, and that is still on him.
But he did take the job mid-season. They might not be his players, but it’s still a squad worth hundreds of millions of pounds. He has still seen valuable players, such as Antony and Marcus Rashford, leave and improve on his watch.
"I'm really confident in myself, and I'll continue to do my job if the board wants me"
Ruben Amorim analyses how his Man Utd team lost tonight, and his future and his thoughts on what's next.
@dannyjamieson | @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/tfYAosBxeO
It feels like Amorim was the shiny new thing and Ratcliffe and his minions were blinded by it.
“I will not change nothing in how I do things,” he said after the final.
Pete Hall, freelance football writer
Amorim deserves to be under the utmost scrutiny, having amassed a lower points-per game ratio in the English top flight than Paul Jewell during Derby County’s infamous 2007-08 campaign.
Amorim should never have been put in this position in the first place. With that customary arrogance only they do best, United forced a coach who was adamant he did not want to take the job mid-season to take charge in November, with the club’s dizzying spiral in full swing.
He felt he needed time with his players away from the Premier League’s unrelenting schedule to implement his ideas. By saying to Amorim it was now or never, United’s blundering, haughty hierarchy wrote off yet another season, ensuring the club took several further giant leaps back in the opposite direction.
Your next read
square FOOTBALLHow Arsenal Women built the most vibrant fan culture in English football
square FOOTBALLWill Postecoglou leave Spurs? What he’s said and everything we know
square FOOTBALLHow much could Newcastle spend on a single transfer this summer?
square FOOTBALLEverton add £30m to transfer kitty after decision on Chelsea loan flop’s future
Granted, finishing 16th and losing more games in one season than at any point in the last 51 years is not how Ineos imagined things would pan out, with Amorim’s reluctance to change his ideals – he does not have the players to play his way, that much is now clear – playing a huge part in that agony.
Then, having been given some better players to try to instigate lasting change, if things stay as they are, then the head must be on the chopping block. But not until then.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Should Man Utd sack Ruben Amorim? The i Paper experts’ verdict )
Also on site :