It’s a work in progress, but Ruben Amorim is showing some signs that the foundations are already being built at Manchester United.
In his sixth game in charge since arriving from Sporting in November, the Portuguese added a third win, this time against Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League.
Amorim was frustrated on the touchline, and admitted that feeling will last
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Amorim was frustrated on the touchline, and admitted that feeling will lastCredit: Getty
An opener from former Burnley man Matej Vydra after another Andrea Onana error was wiped out by a double from Rasmus Hojlund away in tricky conditions in Czechia, that even saw a bust up at the end.
The victory kept Amorim from the first three-game losing run of his career, following Premier League defeats to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.
Not only did he avoid an unwanted statistic, but thanks to Hojlund he also picked up a mighty impressive one.
In winning his first two games as United manager, he joins an exclusive three-man shortlist that includes Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby.
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So is Sir Ruben on its way? Well, not quite yet.
Taking over from Erik ten Hag’s depressed and underperforming squad, Amorim is doing it his way, and it’s not an easy way either.
Forcing square pegs into round holes, the 39-year-old coaching sensation is sticking to his 3-4-2-1 formation, and not changing from the famously stubborn figure that made history with two league titles in Portugal.
In doing that there will be teething problems, and even Amorim has now admitted that he’s impatient.
“I’m always frustrated and I think I’m going to be like that for a while,” he candidly admitted with a laugh post-match.
“It’s normal, you want to see better things but then you remember we didn’t have so much time to work on these kind of plays.
Amorim could only laugh when discussing his impatience
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Amorim could only laugh when discussing his impatience
“We clearly had a lack of pace in the first half and we were controlling the game but we lacked some runs to push the opponent back.
“They left us one-on-one with their defenders and we have to be so much better and so much more decisive in these kind of plays, so that’s it.
“I’m always frustrated because I always want to see more, like all of us, that’s why they were fighting at the end of the game.
“We want to improve, we want to improve really fast, but it was a win and they changed they game during the game so that was good sign.”
The fighting Amorim was referring to was between Hojlund and Amad Diallo at full time, with the pair squabbling over some moments of selfishness at the end of the match which could have easily been avoided and converted into a goal for a 3-1 win.
That, though, is exactly the kind of foundation he’s been looking for.
An up and down white has seen more positives than negatives for Amorim
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An up and down white has seen more positives than negatives for Amorim
“For me it’s perfect,” he said. “We need to feel something, at the moment we need to feel something.
“If we need to fight each other it’s like a family, for me it’s a very, very good sign, that’s clear, when you don’t care you do nothing, when you do care you fight your brother, your mother, your father, so for me it’s a very good sign.
“I think it’s a normal thing, a healthy thing, so I let the players and the captain calm it down, if I think it’s too much I will go inside the dressing room, but it’s their space, they have to talk and fight, and for me that’s a very important thing.”
The bust-up was perhaps even more easy to stomach, given that it was between the two best performers so far under Amorim.
Hojlund (five goals and one assist) and Diallo (four assists) are exactly the kind of players that Amorim will be looking to build upon as he overturns years of poor spending in the transfer market.
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And let’s not forget, this comes after three points that put United fifth in the league phase of the competition, and virtually into the next round.
Nicky Butt says Ruben Amorim already has more character than Erik ten Hag
Or as Amorim puts it: “I’m happy that we won the game and still fight with each other, that’s a very good sign.”