Tag: Ruben Amorim

Manchester United supporters had mixed feelings on Monday after the club fired Ruben Amorim, with some mentioning relief having grown weary of rigid tactics, strange team selections and confusing press conferences.

Others voiced anger over yet another managerial change in the club’s more than decade-long attempt to find the right person to restore their team to the glory days they enjoyed under Alex Ferguson.

“A lot of fans are not happy with his substitutions,” a supporter outside Old Trafford said on Monday. “The actual team selection and his formation and the way he’s been speaking lately … he’s a very, very stubborn manager. And he will not take criticism. And it’s either my way or, you know, no way.”

Another fan suggested Amorim’s defiant outburst after the team’s 1-1 draw with Leeds United on Sunday was the final straw.

“That was the beginning of the end,” the supporter said. “It isn’t the United Way, if you know what I mean, to put your dirty laundry out for the media.

“I don’t know if he was like losing a bit of what he was trying to say in translation. But I think he was feeling the pressure. You could see it in him. And I think he wanted out, to be honest with you mate. I think it’s time for Jose Mourinho to come back.”

Another fan was frustrated by the managerial turnover. Portuguese Amorim was the 10^th  United manager – either interim or permanent – since Ferguson retired in 2013.

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“Yeah, not massively happy about it, to be honest,” he said. “Regardless of what you think of Amorim as a person or professionally, I think if we just keep recycling managers over and over again, we’re going to have the same result.”

“I think (the club) should have at least given him to the end of the season. I think we’re never going to see progress if we don’t stick with one manager and stick with that way of playing. So yeah, I’m not happy to see him gone.”

One supporter pointed out the timing of the sacking while United are missing several key players either to injury or international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.

“He made progress,” the fan said. “I’ve seen some good football and he had key players out. AFCON, Bruno Fernandes is out. But I think the clash with the board, with (United’s Director of Football) Jason Wilcox was the final straw for him.”

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim says he protects himself and his family from social media abuse by not reading it.

A BBC investigation found that more than 2,000 extremely abusive social media posts or messages, including death and rape threats, were made about managers and players in the Premier League and Women’s Super League in a weekend last month.

Amorim, Liverpool manager Arne Slot and Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe were the most common targets of abuse in the men’s top flight.

“It’s normal in any profession when you are exposed to it,” said Amorim. “I don’t read it; I protect myself. I don’t watch TV when they are talking about Manchester United, not because I don’t agree – most of the times I do – but it’s a way of me being healthy.

“My feeling as a coach is enough. I don’t need other feelings. The only way – there is no other way – is to protect myself.”

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The analysis in BBC’s investigation was conducted with data science company Signify.

It looked at posts made during 10 Premier League matches and six WSL matches on 8 and 9 November, and found messages including racist slurs, homophobia and threats of violence.

Managers were targeted more than players, while 82% of abusive posts were posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Of all the abusive messages, 61% were sent from accounts in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Data suggests the overall number is on the rise.

“I lose money from sponsors,” said Amorim. “On Instagram I could earn a lot of money (but) for my protection of my family and living a normal life it is not worth some more dollars or pounds.”

“Nobody can be tougher than me when we lose and when we don’t play well.

“Nowadays, it’s really normal to have that abuse, so it’s the only way to survive in this world.”

United finished 15^th  in the table last season, their lowest finish since being relegated in 1973-74.

They were beaten by Tottenham in the final of the Europa League as they missed out on a place in Europe.

This season they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by League Two side Grimsby Town and are seventh in the Premier League before  today’s home game against West Ham.

A furious Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim said “something has to change” within the team after the pressure mounted on him following a humiliating League Cup loss to Grimsby.

In arguably their worst result since legendary boss Alex Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012⁄13 season, United were knocked out of an English cup competition by a fourth-tier side for the first time.

Having fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2, they lost a penalty shoot-out 12-11 on Wednesday.

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Amorim cut a disconsolate figure having hoped the nightmare of last season, when United finished a woeful 15^th  in the Premier League, was behind them.

He had been backed by the board and spent £200 million ($270 million) on the attacking talent of Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko alone.

”(I have) no more answers. I do not even have anything to say,” the 40-year-old Portuguese told the BBC after the match at Grimsby.

Amorim, who claimed his team deserved more points than just the one they have garnered in league matches with Arsenal and Fulham, conceded the performance against Grimsby rang alarm bells.

 “I think something has to change,” he said. “I think the team and the players spoke really loud today, so that’s it. (Tonight) I think the best team won, the only team that was on the pitch.

“The way we start the game without any intensity, we were completely lost.”

Amorim is the sixth permanent United manager since Ferguson retired.

Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho were among those to find the challenge of restoring the club as title contenders beyond them despite huge investment in players.

United defender Diogo Dalot said the team had lacked any fight.

 “I think we gave the game to them, clearly, straight away, exactly what they wanted. Win duels, second balls, set-plays,” Dalot told MUTV. “We fought back, but I think that was the minimum that we could show to the fans that travelled for ourselves, for the club, but clearly not good enough.”

United have yet to win after three games so far this campaign, with Amorim repeatedly criticized for tactical inflexibility given he remains wedded to a 3-4-3 formation.

The Portuguese boss has overseen more defeats (19) than wins (17) in 10 months in charge at United.

But the former Sporting Lisbon coach received support from an unlikely source in victorious Grimsby manager David Artell.

 “Ruben Amorim needs time,” he said. “He is an excellent manager and you don’t become Manchester United manager, having done what he has done in his career, if he is not good at his job.

“He has shown he can do it. Just give him time and he will get it right.

 “He is a good guy, I can see he is a good guy and he will put that club back to the top table if he does get that time.”

Amorim and United’s next challenge is a Premier League home game against Burnley, who are coming off a 2-0 win over fellow newly-promoted side Sunderland, on Saturday.

 “In this moment, we need to focus on the weekend and then we have time to think,” said Amorim.

Another loss and Amorim may not be given the time to think.

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim said his side can beat anyone in the Premier League despite beginning their season with a frustrating 1-0 defeat to Arsenal.

Riccardo Calafiori scored the only goal at Old Trafford. The Italian defender pounced on a mistake by United’s stand-in goalkeeper Altay Bayindir.

The Red Devils had 22 shots and enjoyed over 60 percent possession.

But an expensively-assembled new £200 million ($271 million) forward line of Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and substitute Benjamin Sesko failed to find a way through against the Premier League’s best defence for the past two seasons.

Only four other teams scored fewer than United’s 44 goals in 38 Premier League games last season as the English giants endured their worst campaign for 51 years, finishing 15^th  in the table.

But Amorim insisted the performance showed tangible signs of progress, even if it was not reflected in the scoreline.

“We need to win games but that was completely different to last season,” said the Portuguese coach. “We were the better team. In the end we lose the game, but really proud of the performance.

“We proved today we can win any game in the Premier League, against a great team like Arsenal.”

After finishing second for the past three seasons, the pressure is on Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to deliver the club’s first league title since 2004.

The Spaniard was left to depend on his reliable defence and goalkeeper David Raya to secure a huge three points as the visitors never got going as in attack.

“Big result,” said Arteta. “First game of the season at Old Trafford when you feel they are building something.”

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He conceded his side will have to be much better if they are to rival Liverpool and Manchester City for the title.

 “It certainly gives you momentum and confidence when you are not at your (top) standards.

“Today we weren’t, to be fair. The team has to find that resilience through nine, 10 months of the season.

“We have to improve a lot of things and that will happen very soon.”

The new arrivals have lifted the mood around Old Trafford and the majority of the 75,000 fans in attendance could at least leave encouraged by the display of Amorim’s men.

Cunha and Mbeumo unsettled Arsenal’s normally unflappable centre-back pairing of Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba early on.

United were undone by an error from Bayindir, deputising for the injured Andre Onana.

The Turkish international meekly flapped at an in-swinging Declan Rice corner on 13 minutes, allowing Calafiori to head into an unguarded net.

Patrick Dorgu came closest to a United reply before half-time with a powerful effort from distance that hit the post.

Mbeumo and Cunha saw tame efforts easily saved by Raya, while the Spaniard did brilliantly to divert another Cunha shot across the goal.

Arsenal had held interest in Sesko for well over a year before instead pursuing Viktor Gyokeres as the solution at number nine.

The Swede had a quiet Premier League debut and was replaced before the hour by Kai Havertz.

Sesko made his entrance moments later, to a hero’s welcome after rejecting the advances of Newcastle for the lure of the 20-time English champions.

United continued to enjoy the better of the play without finding the finish. Mbeumo’s powerful header was expertly clawed out by Raya.

Arsenal held firm to keep up with Liverpool and City, who both scored four goals to win on the opening weekend of the campaign.

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim has been warned he could soon be under pressure at Old Trafford if he does not start next season well. The Portuguese head coach saw the Red Devils finish 15th last season following his first months in charge. Amorim arrived in November to replace Erik ten Hag, just months after the Dutch coach signed a new deal with the club. And while under contract until 2027, the former Sporting boss will find plenty of scrutiny have failed to improve United’s form during his time at the club so far.

The 40-year-old guided United to the final of the Europa League but could not prevent them missing out on European qualification as his team struggled to put a run of wins together. But this summer will provide the first opporunity for Amorim to spend pre-season with his squad to implement his methods.

United’s spending has already proven significant with the addition of Matheus Cunha from Wolves. The club could yet land Bryan Mbeumo and another striker in the transfer market too.

And former United coach Rene Meulensteen reckons Amorim will need to hit the ground running in 2024/25. If not, the Dutch coach believes that his position may be in jeopardy before the end of the year.

“If things carry on into next season and getting towards Christmas, Ruben Amorim’s job will be on the line,” Meulensteen told InstantWithdrawalBettingSites. “The club hierarchy will have no choice but to discuss if he is the right man going forward after how badly last season went – that’s why a good start to the season is a must.”

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Meulensteen suggests that Amorim’s rigid style could yet hold the team back, even with the club’s activity in the transfer market. The current players linked do not fix all of United’s issues in the mind of Alex Ferguson’s former assistant.

“When you’re managing Manchester United the target should always be to win the title, but if Ruben Amorim said that now then people would think he is mad,” he added.

“If United somehow get to Christmas with only one or two draws and defeats then people might think the club are back, but I can’t see it happening because Amorim is stuck in his system and they are massively vulnerable.

“I think if United start the season with Andre Onana and Harry Maguire in defence then there will still be a lot of question marks in the unit and other teams will take advantage of that.

“You can strengthen with Viktor Gyokeres, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo alongside Bruno Fernandes but the midfield and the defence will still be overrun.

Ruben Amorim is not at risk of being sacked by Manchester United despite the Europa League final loss to Tottenham on Wednesday.

Amorim’s appointment at United has always, and continues, to be seen as a longer-term project and the club’s commitment to the Portuguese head coach is not contingent on one game.

Speaking immediately after the 1-0 loss to Spurs, Amorim had said he would leave United “the next day” for “no compensation” if the club’s board and fans no longer wanted him.

“If the board and the fans feel I’m not the right guy, I will go in the next day without any conversation about compensation,” said the 40-year-old.

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Brennan Johnson scored the winner in the Bilbao final to leave United with no chances of European football next season, sitting in 16th place in the Premier League table amid a mountain of problems on and off the pitch.

Amorim took over at United in November with the club 13th  in the table. They have slipped three places with Amorim knocked out of the three cup competitions in the process.

Manchester United are now facing another summer rebuild under Amorim. Captain Bruno Fernandes, speaking moments after Amorim vowed not to quit, backed the United boss to stay at Old Trafford.

“We just agreed that he’s the right man,” Fernandes said of his compatriot, who succeeded Erik ten Hag in November.”

Manchester United are better with Marcus Rashford, coach Ruben Amorim said on Wednesday, after the forward said he was ready for a new challenge when asked about his future at the Old Trafford club.

The 27-year-old England international was left out of United’s squad for Sunday’s derby against Manchester City which they went on to win 2-1 in dramatic fashion at the Etihad Stadium.

Argentina winger Alejandro Garnacho, 20, was also not part of the squad for the Premier League clash, with new boss Amorim later saying his decisions were all about holding his players to high standards.

“I don’t talk about the future, we talk about the present,” Amorim told reporters ahead of today’s League Cup quarter-final trip to Tottenham Hotspur.

“We are better with Marcus Rashford. This kind of club needs big talents – and he is a big talent.

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“We have one more training session and they (Rashford and Garnacho) are in the same situation as the other players. If they train well, we have to make a choice.”

Capped 60 times for England, Rashford has been at United since the age of seven, scoring 138 goals in 426 appearances since making his senior debut for the club in 2016.

Having won the Europa League, two FA Cups and the League Cup twice during his time at United, Rashford signed a new five-year contract last year but has been linked with a move away from the club.

He spoke on the subject on Tuesday while visiting his old school to hand out Christmas presents, saying he was ready for the next steps.

“What I want is to take the best of Marcus Rashford… I want the best from each one of them. I just want to win and help the team be better,” Amorim said.

“We are better with Marcus Rashford and it’s that simple. We will try different things to push Rashford to the best levels that he has shown me in the past.”

Manchester United are unbeaten in their first three games under Ruben Amorim and have climbed into the top half of the Premier League table but the Portuguese faces the first real test of his managerial skills at high-flying Arsenal tomorrow.

United, who are in ninth place 15 points adrift of leaders Liverpool, have struggled to score this season with 13 goals in their first 12 league matches, but the floodgates finally opened on Sunday when they thumped Everton 4-0 at Old Trafford.

However, they travel to the Emirates knowing full well the scale of the task at hand, having lost their last three meetings with Arsenal, who are in second spot, six points above United.

“It’s the best team that we have faced by far. But a test is every game. If you saw the last game (against Everton), it was really tough…,” Amorim told reporters .”It’s important to be brave (on Wednesday), when I say it’s brave it’s not pressing all the time higher. It’s not the same. You have to understand the game, the moments of the game. We need to have the ball, that is a key point.

“We want to have the ball, we want to dominate some moments of the game, because you know these matches it’s hard to control all the game. We have to be brave and play the game.”

Amorim said captain Bruno Fernandes, who was taken off in the 66^th  minute on Sunday, trained with the team and would be fit, adding: “I saw him already (on Monday) morning. He’s fit and he doesn’t need a lot of rest. He’s prepared to play.”

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Amorim also praised 19-year-old defender Leny Yoro, who was signed from Lille this year but has yet to play in a competitive fixture for United after picking up a foot injury in pre-season.

“His fitness is better. I think he’s going to be in the squad. The rest I have to see because some players are tired. We have to assess them in tomorrow’s training,” Amorim said.

“I think he (Yoro) is a special talent. We have to be careful in these first moments because we didn’t have too many training (sessions) together. He’s been training, not alone but in a small group of players.

“He’s really fast he’s a modern defender, that is good when you want to press high and you leave a lot of strikers – especially in this league – one v one. I think he can manage that. He’s very good with the ball, I’m really excited.”

Manchester United begin what they hope will be a journey back towards their former glory as new head coach Ruben Amorim takes charge for the first time away at Ipswich Town on Sunday.

As the Premier League returns after the international stoppage, United’s trip to Portman Road offers the most intriguing storyline of a packed weekend of action.

While United’s fans will travel to Suffolk with fresh hope after years of decline, Manchester City’s are perhaps still in a state of mild shock at a four-match losing streak.

Champions City, boosted by the news that manager Pep Guardiola has signed a contract extension, have fallen five points behind leaders Liverpool, but will aim to return to business as usual at home to Tottenham Hotspur  tomorrow.

Liverpool, whose own new era under Arne Slot has begun in sensational style with 15 wins from 17 in all competitions, go to bottom club Southampton on Sunday.

Arsenal, like City, also need an urgent re-boot after a haul of only two points from the last 12 on offer in the league has left them in fourth spot, nine points behind Liverpool.

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Amorim, whose Sporting side demolished Manchester City in the Champions League in what was his final home game in charge for the Lisbon club, will need to hit the ground running.

United are languishing down in 13th place with only four wins from their first 11 games, although in a tightly-packed table they are only four points off the top four.

Amorim is the sixth full-time occupant of the Old Trafford hot seat since Alex Ferguson left 11 years ago and he knows the scrutiny will be far more intense than anything he has experienced so far in his coaching career.

“You feel the history and I’m really proud to be Manchester United’s coach,” Amorim told MUTV.

“I think I am where I’m supposed to be. That’s the feeling.”

United will travel to an Ipswich side buoyed by a 2-1 victory at Tottenham before the international break — their first win since promotion back to the top flight.

City’s run of poor form coincided with the loss of several players because of injuries but they could be boosted by the return of Kevin De Bruyne for the visit of Tottenham.

The Belgian playmaker has started only four of City’s 11 league games this season, with City winning all of them. The other seven garnered only 11 points.

Tottenham have taken inconsistency to new levels this season, beating the likes of Manchester United and Aston Villa, but also losing to Crystal Palace and Ipswich.

The north London club have a track record of causing problems for City, although they will be without midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur who is serving a seven-match ban for using a racial slur against team mate Son Heung-min.

Third-placed Chelsea begin the weekend’s fixtures tomorrow with manager Enzo Maresca returning to Leicester City who he guided back to the top flight last season.

“I’m excited and thankful (to return), it was a fantastic season,” Maresca said.