Arriving from Sporting Portugal to turn around an ailing Manchester United team, Ruben Amorim has, with his style of play and his ideas, already brought satisfaction to his supporters. Facing Arsenal, the Portuguese has a first big meeting.
“I’m a bit of a dreamer and I believe in myself”introduced Ruben Amorim when he took office. The new tactician of Manchester United left Sporting at his peak on November 11 to take over officially from Erik ten Hag, becoming the sixth permanent manager of the «Red Devils» since the departure of Alex Ferguson in 2013, the date of the last title won in the Premier League. The Dutchman, dismissed for lack of sporting results, left his place to the 39-year-old coach who came straight from the Portuguese championship (Casa Pia, Braga then Sporting). “Call me naive, but I truly believe I am the right person at the right time” he asserted. And he wasn’t wrong. Since his induction, he has already transformed his new team. Before traveling to the Emirates Stadium this Wednesday to face Arsenal, solid second in the Premier League, the meeting is no longer that unbalanced.
Successful debut at Old Trafford
Beyond a lackluster first match against Ipswich Town, one of the weakest teams in the Premier League where the Mancuniens conceded a draw (1-1), the Portuguese coach was fully successful in his debut at home. In the legendary Old Trafford stadium, Manchester United first relaunched in the Europa League. 15th before the arrival of their coach, trailing 1-2, the locals found resources to win (3-2) against Bodo Glimt. A major success which took them to 12th place in the ranking. Three days later, in the league against Everton, they did it again with a big 4-0 success. Good results but above all a changed mentality, when certain individuals were criticized at the start of the season for not playing for the collective and not making defensive efforts, today it is a very different image that their Mancunian team delivers .
Amorim adopted by its new supporters
The fans are already delighted, in just three games on the bench, United’s new coach already has a song to his glory. His CV spoke for him, before taking office he had a surprise success in the Champions League with Sporting against MU’s rival: Manchester City (4-1). From his first minutes on the bench against Ipswich Town (1-1) on November 24, the supporters welcomed him by singing his name to the tune of the hit “Give it Up” of the group KC and the Sunshine Band. A song repeated on Sunday during the big victory against Everton (4-0). Adopted but embarrassed, the tactician remains lucid: “I am really honored, I feel a connection with the supporters, but we know that we need results to maintain this.” specifying that he was “a little embarrassed, because I’m the coach, they have to sing for the players and for the club. So this is not a good thing for me. I understand and really appreciate the connection with the fans, but I want them to support the team and the players because they are on the pitch and I am off the pitch.
Lee Smith / REUTERS
A changed team
Who says new coach means change and with Ruben Amorim the biggest upheaval concerns the defensive organization. With its 3-4-2-1 system, physical intensity is essential, which is why certain indisputable tenured executives under the Dutch’s orders have gradually lost their place. Jonny Evans (36 years old), Christian Eriksen (32 years old) and Casemiro (32 years old) are having difficulty adapting. If they were aligned by default during the first meeting with their new coach, they quickly found themselves in physical difficulty. At the end of the match, the Reds Devils had only run 102 km (one of the lowest totals of the season in England), on average a team of this standard runs between 110 and 111 km per match.
To remedy this lack of running, Amorim did not hesitate to give a chance to the criticized Manuel Ugarte, whom he knew at Sporting and refocused Noussair Mazraoui (usually established in the right lane of defense). Up front, it’s an open secret, Amorim dreams of bringing back his former center forward Viktor Gyökeres to Old Trafford, enough to motivate his high-priced strikers Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund (€42.5 million for the Batavian , €75 million for the Dane). In difficulty since the start of the season, under the orders of the Portuguese they have scored two goals in three matches respectively. A man who changes a team, since his departure from Sporting, the Greens and Whites now coached by Joao Pereira remain with two consecutive defeats at home (against Arsenal 1-5 and Santa Clara 0-1).
