Man Utd: Amorim 'must avoid three things'; 'unremarkable' 24

The Mailbox reckons Ruben Amorim ‘must avoid three things’ to become a success at Manchester United. Plus, there are some choice words for Gary Neville…

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How good are Man Utd?

I have been reflecting on Ed Ern’s email in the Friday morning mailbox – with it’s “tough message for your own good” about how United’s fans need to be realistic given United have the 7/8th best squad in the league and how the longer their exile from the Champion’s league goes on, the more their fan base will dwindle…

It got me reflecting on just how good United are.

We’ll start with the second charge – United haven’t spent more than, checks notes, one consecutive season outside the Champions League in decades. Just the one. This year, that admittedly does have the biggest chance of extending to two in quite some time (though maybe they’ll pull a Jose and win the Europa). Even then, despite what is being dubbed a disastrous start to the season, and being 13th, they’re only 4 points off Arsenal in 4th place. A real challenge given just how many other good teams are hovering around the same area, but finishing in the top four this season with 27 games left to play isn’t exactly outlandish. Plus, United’s worrying one year absence isn’t exactly comparable to Arsenal’s very recent six years or Liverpool’s one appearance in six years before Klopp arrived – I can admit that it didn’t seem to do either of those teams any harm.

Now, trying to rank squads on quality like that is a fools game, but I do think United’s is better than the eight best in the league (albeit with its issues). If they only have the eight best squad, and Ten Hag got them to eighth plus last year with a cup win despite being absolutely crippled by injuries, will history remember United’s 2023-24 season as a managerial masterclass of managing to maintain par and win a trophy in the face of overwhelming odds. Is Erik a better manager than Klopp, who took probably the second best, though admittedly injury hit, squad in the league and only got them to 5th in 22/23? No, no it really doesn’t. As rival fans will gleefully point out, United should’ve done better last season and this, because of the quality of their squad…

United have had a poor start to the season but, to be honest, ten Hag lost his job during a relatively tricky run of domestic games that he admittedly handled badly and underperformed in (the Europa performances on the other hand…). Since that run has eased up and United have quietly closed the point gap to the pack above them.

While I can see that it’s funny for other teams seeing United in 13th, the truth is that it really isn’t all that bad when you look at the table. Enjoy it while you can as I think the smart money is on United overhauling a lot of the teams between them and the Champions League places between now and the end of the season, possibly even qualifying (though I acknowledge even now given the number of other good teams in the mix, that may not happen. The truth is that if United make a five point swing against the team in 4th with 81 still in play… that would be pretty unremarkable.

Andy(MUFC)

READ: Fight, fight, fight! A bone of contention for every Premier League club

Amorim must avoid these three things to succeed…

With the arrival of every new Manager/Head Coach, we, the United fans, have been filled with excitement.

Subsequent Managers/Head Coaches, since the departure of Sir Alex, have all failed to maintain the said excitement for various reasons. We find ourselves once again in the middle of huge excitement and hype following the arrival of Ruben Amorim.

Football clubs succeed if players perform well on the pitch and players perform well where they are happy and willing to go the extra mile for the team. Team selection, formation and tactics all contribute to the performance on the pitch.

However, three key factors directly and indirectly dictate the attitude, commitment and, thus, performance of individual members of the team.

Amorim will most likely succeed at United if he refrains from arrogance and strict authoritarianism, disrespect of players and bad rapport with individual players. He can have full control of the squad without exhibiting any of the said three behavioural practices. We cannot entertain another period of disappointment. Let’s go United.

Professor (Dr) David Achanfuo Yeboah

Amorim and Postecoglou comparison..

An interesting read of the mailbox and a thought it has brought to my mind…

The moaning about Big Ange…

Originally loved, great charisma, great with the media, exciting front foot football, came from a ‘poor’ league with 1 or 2 ‘decent’ teams that his was winning in …

But then the moans after 18 months or less…

No plan B, Sticks religiously to his system cannot / will not change the way he plays. Subsequently, he is denigrated and after some fun times is now being touted as a next sack candidate because of his stick to the plan inflexibility and ‘spursiness’ of results.

Ruben Amorim

Is being touted as the right man BECAUSE he has an identity, religiously sticks to 1 tactical plan, plays his way and no other way, is coming from an ‘inferior’ league where he has won a couple of times in 4yrs, but is great with the media, has great charisma and can command that dressing room…

Subsequently is lorded by the masses for being the next coming of Fergie or Pep and will have Man Utd in the top 4 this year and back to winning ways in a season or so.

Football media is funny isn’t it..

Al – LFC – Nice quiet unfussy 2-0 v Soton please. No banana skin complacency.

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Gary Neville

Whoops Gary, 3000 miles out, the point being Rashford doesn’t deserve any break, even Blackpool. Neville joins the nauseating serial whingers like Scholes and Ferdinand whose managerial experience is… collectively risible.

Still rash is living off one good season in five which achieved his present contract. Ram is going to be screaming at Rash whose workmate along with Garnacho has led to enormous pressure on the defence, although Garnacho has seven goals to four.

Ipswich will be very annoying and will harass the 343. It would not be a surprise to find a fit Maguire between De Ligt and Martinez, but the ram players up front are Mount and Fernando’s, where are the goals coming from, especially without Amad and Garnacho? Could be a long day, one thing is certain those that lose possession and do not bust an intestine to get it back are on the Boxing Day list.

Lastly, why on earth do you pay any attention to Keane who exists in a sad anal mythical clough universe. Neville is now becoming personal without the rainman’s wonky.

Dominic

In praise of Harry…

Harry Kane is subject to a lot of criticism, some justified, the majority not. When he signed for Bayern, i read a number of posts suggesting he was, “No Lewandowski”. Which seemed a bit harsh and a particularly high bar.

With his hat trick on Friday he became the fastest player to score 50 goals in the Bundesliga, a feat achieved in a ridiculously few, 43 games.

Credit where credit is due. He might not be the player he was, and it’s still hilarious that he hasn’t won anything*, but he’s incredibly effective. An outstanding player.

Rob (Liverpool – still in a state of disbelief at this season)

*Kane may well win the league this season, which would ruin that.

Glory of Six

Following Will Ford’s article – I thought some of the choices were interesting to say the least for the other 5’s failings during Pep’s reign and of the “indictments” named against them, there were some strong mitigating retorts:

Arsenal – only one Champions League knockout tie in that time, sure, but that was last year, and pre-Pep? They hadn’t won a single Champions League knockout tie in 7 years prior to Pep’s arrival – so it’s really just “more of the same, with some “in the right direction” stuff thrown in.

Chelsea – won 28 fewer points than City per season in the last 8 seasons? How the mighty have fallen! What’s that? Their average points per season has actually only dropped 5 points in the Pep era, versus the 8 years prior? That’s a drop sure, and definitely not great – but using the yard stick as “City’s points under Pep” a team that have consistently hit 90 points and beyond and who’s average in the 8 seasons of Pep versus the 8 seasons since, has jumped 15 pps. A team who make up a huge portion of the top-10 highest Premier League points totals, no less, is slightly disingenuous, non?

Tottenham – this is slightly spurious, I will grant you, but I’m going to go ahead and say that a) Tottenham having 36 knockout wins, to City’s 85, is not all that shocking and b) guess that if I could be bothered to do the hard stat yards, Tottenham’s 36 knockout wins will represent about the 5th, 6th or 7th best for that period in the English pyramid. Befitting the size of the club they are (no offence, Spurs)

United: This one is slightly damning, and it’s hard to deny that United spending 1.32bil in 8 years for the return of 2 FA Cups, 2 League Cups and a Europa League is chonky but, to mitigate this, United have had 4 permanent managers in that time and everyone knows a new manager’s spend tends to be higher and also – and this is the important bit – for all of City’s spending… they have spent SO well, and there are no clubs that sit favourably next to them on, pound for pound spending.

Liverpool: Is being the closest challenger for the majority of the time, really an “indictment”? No, no I am not so sure it is.

In all, it just really does be very hard to look at Pep’s success at City as anything less than an absolutely deafening 8 years of dominance that comparing others in that era, is like comparing Hill and Schumacher in the 90s (rubbish sport, look it up). Even throwing “dodgy balance sheet” at them hardly works because they’ve even done the spending thing better than previous cheque-book projects.

Harold Ernesto Hooler – Yep, even on a Friday/Saturday (whenever this publishes, IF it publishes), I’m hard at work

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Liverpool vs Man City is not quite so one-sided…

You’re article about how much better than everyone else was a triumph of narrative. I agree that Pep is great but fair is fair- you’ve spoken of a one-sided rivalry with Liverpool – where were you hiding when Liverpool knocked them out of the Champions League?

You may like to pretend Liverpool only had one moment against City but there is that as well- a 5-1 drubbing over two legs. Followed by losing the league by one point while winning the Champions League.

Being unbiased as you are would you consider Liverpool to have been actually the better of the two that season. Or maybe you’d consider winning the league at a canter the following season while Man City failed to win any major title.

So at that point would you consider that Liverpool were a better team than City? No? Perhaps they had been lucky in amassing about twenty points more than City and winning a European cup over that two year stretch.

A couple of years later Liverpool almost won the quadruple while chasing down city and losing by a point, making their third European cup final in the process. They did all this while spending a fraction of what Pep had at his disposal ( I include this because you used it as a stick to beat Man United but oddly never mentioned it in relation to City outspending anyone else)a nd are currently giving them quite a run for their considerable money with a new manager.

So I know it doesn’t fit your ‘hasn’t Pep just made idiots of you all narrative but please don’t include Liverpool as if we haven’t just watched a great team of our own for ten years. City went up against Liverpool many times in Pep’s era and came off worse many times. Pep acknowledges this at every opportunity- why won’t you?

Michael

Sometimes I find myself fascinated by the interactions in this mailbox. Dan’s response to Dixon Hunt is a wonderful example of ‘okay, but what’s your actual point?’.

Dan writes that Dixon is “basing an opinion on a fan base” from a single letter. But that isn’t what happened. Dixon replied to a specific individual, then asked a question of Spurs fans broadly.

Dan then states that the match-going Spurs fans he knows (because the “in general” is doing a lot of work, unless Dan spends time chatting with 60k people at half time) believe that the club is “more than just okay”. He then proceeds to write a list of gripes and grievances that don’t feel like the thoughts and feelings of someone feeling okay, let alone more than okay.

I have absolutely no idea what Dan’s actual point was. But I do know Dan seems to think that how he approaches his own job somehow negatively reflects on how a different human does a completely unrelated job.

Dan, you know you could have just answered the questions, right? You’re coming across as someone going through things and finding it hard to place his own thoughts into any kind of context.

Personally, as one human being with only my own opinions, albeit opinions that are influenced and moulded by the world around me, I do find the ‘Spurs fans are…’ or ‘Spurs fans want…’ stuff tiresome. If you’re writing in to respond to stuff read on twitter, maybe just respond to the actual person on twitter? But that’s absolutely not what happened here. One person responded to another and asked a broader question. Dan came in, bloodshot sweaty eyes, pocket damp with sodden tissues, told everyone he was fine actually, and then proceeded to have a minor breakdown.

It’ll be okay Dan. It’ll be okay.

But if you want general vibes, it’s simple to the point of painful fury and predictability. Fun manager is only fun until it stops being fun because trophy trophy trophy, why can’t we just defend, I’d take a season full of dull one nils. Fun manager is sacked. Dour manager comes in. One nils abound. It is ugly and unwatchable but clean sheets eh, good defence, trophy trophy trophy? No. No trophy. Oh what I would do to enjoy football again. I don’t care about winning I just want to enjoy watching Spurs again. Dour manager is sacked. Fun manager makes us smile. We get overexcited and over-optimistic and we dream too big and then we get hurt. Because fun manager is only fun until…

Thayden

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