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ManU’s Ruben Amorim is latest Portuguese manager in EPL, how will him perform?

Admin 6 hours ago

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RUBEN AMORIM is preparing to take charge of Man Utd for the first time this season.

The former Sporting Lisbon boss will take his Red Devils side to Portman Road to take on Ipswich Town.

It promises to be an exciting atmosphere for Amorim, who will have to quickly come to terms with the format of the Premier League.

The 39-year-old tactician is the seventh Portuguese boss to lead on our coast.

But will he be a success like Jose Mourinho or a turkey like Andre Villas-Boas?

This is how the coaches from Portugal compare.

Jose Mourinho

A pioneer for Portuguese coaches, the iconic Mourinho was the first from his homeland to coach on our shores.

He conquered Europe with Porto and then took charge of Chelsea. He won two Premier League titles in a row from 2004 to 2006.

He added trophies to his CV with the Blues, including an FA Cup in 2016 and two League Cups in 2005 and 2007.

After successful spells at Inter Milan and Real Madrid, he returned to Stamford Bridge in 2015 and won another Premier League title, as well as a League Cup in the same year.

During his time at Man Utd from 2016 to 2018, he won the Europa League.

However, he was trophyless at Tottenham for a 17-month spell and was sacked days before the 2021 League Cup final against Man City.

André Villas-Boas

Incredibly, Villas-Boas succeeded at the same clubs as Mourinho: Chelsea and Spurs.

However, there are contrasting differences.

Villas-Boas was a disaster for Chelsea from the start, upsetting club captain John Terry by trying to get him on a plane to a pre-season tour while the youth were in the first division.

He was sacked after just eight months in charge, with Chelsea slipping out of the top four under his watch.

Villas-Boas would then resurface in London and take over from Harry Redknapp at Tottenham.

That ended seventeen months later, when he left the club by mutual consent after a 6-0 defeat to Man City and a 5-0 home draw against Liverpool.

Marco Silva

Silva is currently enjoying his most successful spell as a coach in England and is quietly guiding Fulham beyond expectations.

Before winning over the fans at Craven Cottage, he lost some at Everton.

In his first season at Goodison Park, the Toffees finished in eighth place in the Prem.

However, he was unable to repeat those heroics in his second season, and after a 5–2 defeat to rivals Liverpool, he was sacked with the club languishing in 18th place.

Before that, there was a difficult time at Watford, for which Everton had to pay compensation after a public lawsuit against Silva.

That period started well, until Watford flirted dangerously with relegation due to that possible distraction.

Silva's first appointment to the Prem came all the way back in 2017, when he was hired to save the club from relegation.

Despite winning his last four home games, it was not enough to save the Yorkshire club, who were at rock bottom when he took charge.

Nuno Espirito Santo

Like Silva, Espírito Santo is a seasoned professional on our coast.

After taking over Wolves in 2017, he led the team to the Premier League as they won the Championship in his first season.

Two consecutive seventh places and a good Europa League run to the quarter-finals in 2020 secured his legacy.

He left the club by mutual consent at the end of the 2020–21 season and joined Tottenham that summer.

However, he was sacked after just four months in charge, following a 3–0 home defeat to Man Utd, which was their fifth defeat in seven games and left them in ninth place in the league.

Espírito Santo is currently doing first-class work at Nottingham Forest, which he joined in 2023.

After saving them from relegation last season, they are now flying high in the top seven.

Bruno Lage

Lage came to the Prem in 2021 with a Portuguese title winner's medal in his pocket.

But it counted for nothing during his 16-month tenure at Wolves.

He tore apart what had been so successful under Espírito Santo by changing the team's formation.

They finished in tenth place in his first season, after a disappointing end to the campaign, subsequently going winless in seven games, as Lage insisted on pushing his own style into his side.

The following summer he secured a support fee of over £100 million, breaking the club's transfer record with the signing of Matheus Nunes for £38 million.

After a defeat to West Ham just three months into the 2022-2023 season, Lage and his team were sacked.

He said afterwards that his team “never lost a match with a striker in the original line-up, [and] will certainly improve when strikers become available.”