Ruben Amorim Is Right; Manchester United Need To Suffer
It became quite evident early on today that Manchester United were unlikely to come away from the game against Brighton with anything more than a point. These types of United performances have become a recurring theme over the past ten years, akin to a cruel, repetitive game that torments the supporters until they finally lose their patience. Those cutaway shots of the managers looking on in despair at an individual error they cannot believe has just transpired, the away fans jumping in jubilation at the prospect of possibly getting one over on England’s biggest club, and the players trudging back to the halfway line, devoid of any confidence, suffocated by the pressure of the iconic institution that continues to fail.
Ruben Amorim is right; this is the worst Manchester United team of all time, but it’s not because of him, and it’s certainly not because of the players on the pitch either. Individually, these are all talented footballers. It’s disingenuous to suggest otherwise. The issue is how they perform together as a collective. The partnerships all over the pitch are all off. The synergy is nonexistent. The disparity between the young and experienced members of the current Manchester United squad is significant, and the previous ownership has left a disjointed mess that the current ownership must quickly rectify.
Amorim Honest In United Assessment
INEOS decision to sack Erik ten Hag midseason should be criticised, but mistakes were bound to happen. The true judgement is seeing if they can fully recover from that decision and give Ruben Amorim the true backing he deserves in the transfer market and in their reaction to the upcoming results. The choice to sack Ten Hag and bring in a manager midseason that deployed a different system is backfiring massively now, but the decision to revert to something Ruben Amorim does not believe in for the sake of a couple of cheap points now would do him more damage in the long run than the current run of results is doing now.
Amorim is a clear and concise communicator. He is aware of the situation. He is under no illusions that Manchester United are currently close to being where they need to be, but he does seem to have a clear idea of how to get them there and the previous credentials to showcase that he can return a sleeping giant to their former glory. Sporting are not as big a club as Manchester United, of course, but Amorim faced difficulties winning the club their first league title in 19 years, albeit under an ownership and structure that understood him very well. Hugo Viana was a huge part of the success of Amorim, and vice versa, and INEOS will need to replicate that partnership over the coming months to change the shape of things on the pitch.
Fan Toxicity
What can’t happen or continue is the toxic nature of the Manchester United fanbase. The booing of Josh Zirkzee two weeks ago was a sign of the expected things to come, but what are the expectations of the fans for this sort of behavior? If a friend told you they were low on confidence, you wouldn’t make fun of them to try and make them feel better, so how do you think booing professional footballers who are quite clearly lower on confidence than they have ever been is going to make them perform to an optimal level? It doesn’t make sense. The argument of how much money they are on is laughable, as if money all of a sudden allows you to treat someone as any less than a human being. These players deserve respect. Emotions are a human thing. Everybody feels them. It doesn’t matter if you are a millionaire or John Doe in the local shop; everyone feels the same emotions
Ruben Deserves Time
Amorim needs time. Amorim deserves time. The results will get worse before they get better. A storm looks ugly while it’s happening but what happens after a storm comes? You reconstruct the foundations from the beginning. You acknowledge the damage that has come before but you use it as fuel to push towards something better, or at least something similar to what came before.
This manager has been fed to the wolves but he’s handling it admirably. The way he speaks, the way he addresses the media and knows their motives—this is a Manchester United manager. A clearout is needed, and not because again these players are not worthy of playing for the club, but mostly because the squad partnerships just do not fit together. These players care. I’ve spoken to some people close to the players in recent weeks and I know from speaking to them just how much the current situation at the football club has affected them. Many felt Marcus Rashford did not care about Manchester United; I can categorically confirm that is false. And the accusations are false for many of the players that some of the fanbase who claim to be fans attempt to insinuate don’t care about the club.
It’s time for togetherness at United. I write this with the passion of a fan and the professionalism of a journalist. The media are going to be unforgivable towards United in the coming weeks. This is their bread and butter. This is pancake Tuesday for these journalists who prey on the downfall of this football club, sprinkling their honey on top of these stories, fabricated or otherwise, to try and profit monetarily as much as they please.
Recruitment needs to be spot on; sales need to be made, which will benefit these players as much as it will the club. Scott McTominay’s sale is proving that much. Lambasted by a fanbase who undervalued his worth six months ago, ripping it up with the league leaders in Italy now, having his name sung in that wonderful Italian tongue by thousands of ravenous Napoli fans on a weekly basis. The good life. Away from negativity, away from scrutiny.
Eye Of The Storm
There is a bigger picture at stake here than a 3-1 defeat to Brighton on a Sunday afternoon, just as their was a bigger picture at stake with the Manchester derby win or the victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup just last week. The rebuild will take time. The pain is unavoidable. You have to suffer. Amorim is correct in his assessments; nothing worthwhile in life has come without suffering. Manchester United fans are so used to success they have forgotten the type of struggles that came before they were born.
Alex Ferguson’s seven years without a trophy on the brink of the sack, just after the Ron Atkinson era in which United did not finish outside the top four and won two major trophies in the shape of the FA Cup. Before that period came the relegation from the first division under Tommy Docherty, and just after that before Atkinson was Dave Sexton, who finished eighth the season before Ron took over. Suffering. It’s always been evident at Manchester United. We’ve never been immune, and just because many of you weren’t born to witness it does not mean you can throw your toys out of the pram now that it’s inevitably happening again.
Football is transitional. Fans have to suffer; that’s what makes the jubilation worthwhile. Manchester United have suffered before, and they will suffer again. But if they stick with the current suffering under Ruben Amorim, they have a much better chance of reaching the promised land of elation in the coming years than they do with anyone else.
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