Ruben Amorim got up and down the technical area in what should feel like a recurring nightmare. For him, an eighth defeat in the last 12 Premier League matches was to fire themselves before his eyes when a patched Manchester United team went to Tottenham on Sunday.
Behind him was a bank full of teenagers he felt on this occasion were too young and inexperienced to make the difference.
While the dust settled on the latest setback of his restless saying as head coach, Amorim stemmed from the 1-0 loss of United in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but still unpleasant. “What you see and discuss every week, I see too,” he said. “I have many problems. My work is so difficult here – but I stay with my beliefs. I understand my situation, but I have faith in my work. '
Amorim's message remained clear: he will not compromise his football principles, even confronted with the worst record of United after 25 games of a competition season since the club in 1974 was relegated.
Although he refuses to shrink, some players are starting to lose confidence in the Amorim system, because the results and performance continue to suffer. The 40-year-old may still have their support, but faith in his methods inevitably starts to ebb.
It is understanding that the dissatisfied group believes that even when United wins, it is largely due to individual moments of quality or happiness instead of a tactical triumph.
“The feeling is:” We got away with a way, but we may not be lucky next time, “says a source of a dressing room of Mail Sport.
That was especially the case after the FA Cup -similar play against Leicester City earlier this month, when the offside winner of Harry Maguire sent against his old club in stop time United.
It came on the back of the late goals in five of Amorim's nine wins such as United Boss against Viktoria Plzen, Manchester City, Southampton, Rangers and Fulham. Even he couldn't bring himself to celebrate after the Leicester game.
To be honest with Amorim, he never claimed to have squatted it since Erik ten Hag follows. In fact in fact. He approaches what is left of a miserable season with the help of words such as 'survival' and 'suffering'.
On Spurs on Sunday he spoke about 'closing the season and starting again'.
Let's not forget it, this is a coach who would rather have waited until the summer to join United from Sporting Lisbon – and there must have been occasions that he wish he could have done that exactly.
In the meantime, the debate will continue whether Amorim could be more flexible in his system to help the players. The feeling among some is that it just doesn't suit the current team, and a compromise is the only answer.
It was a point of Micah Richards when he analyzed Amorim's dedication to a back-three match of the day 2.
“It is very difficult to adapt if you play in a four to go to a three, but as a manager you also have to be able to adjust,” said the former defender of England. 'Sometimes you have your way of playing, but can you adjust small things to make players more comfortable?
“He has to keep up with his principles and tactics and take it with him next season, but it is united and we are now expecting results.”
Richards also emphasized the disconnection in midfield that left huge holes between Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro and so disgusting Sky Sports Pundit Gary Neville about Amorim's tactics. 'It breaks all football rules, it is absolute madness,' Fumed former United Captain Neville. “The structure of the team is terrible, you wouldn't see this in football under 9s.”
There is no suggestion at all that United hesitates in their support from Amorim, but the big test will come at the end of the season when they have to support him on the transfer market.
After he had handed £ 200 million last summer, the club then fired him and sports director Dan Ashworth. The transfer expenditure and compensation payments have a pressure on the limited budget of United that still has a knock-on effect in the field of cost-saving and further staff.
It meant that Amorim was limited to signing Patrick Dorgu in the January window, but there will be a little more leeway in the summer, despite his recognition that he must sell before he can buy.
United has cut a substantial amount of the wage account by sending Marcus Rashford and Antony on loan, and hope to continue that trend with £ 375,000 a week highest earner Casemiro-Haarhwel said in an interview in Spain yesterday that he did not Hurry to leave Old Trafford. “I have a year and a half about my contract and I would like to fulfill it here in Manchester,” he said. 'I feel at ease here and my family too.
'I am very grateful to the fans of Old Trafford and the club. I am happy. I am young and I still have a lot of life left.
'I have to keep doing what I do. Of course I would like to play more. I don't know any player who doesn't want to play and help. I want to help the club right now. '
Assuming that United Faith holds in Amorim, do they trust him with their transfer kitty to rebuild the team and sign players who fit better with his specific system if there is always a risk that they will have to change direction again in the future?
“They are miles,” Jamie Redknapp told Sky Sports. “They need seven or eight players to change.”
Until then, United will continue with the same path of survival and suffering in the hope that better times are around the corner. Amorim is not to turn.
Comments