Ruben Amorim finds himself in a position where he does not have to deal with the deep criticism that Roy Keane dropped on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United reign.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s spell as Manchester United manager came to an end in 2021 after the 52-year-old was sacked amid the 2021-22 Premier League season.
The Norwegian had first succeeded Jose Mourinho as caretaker manager at United before a scintillating run earned him the managerial role permanently in 2019.
Solskjaer, much like his former United managerial predecessors, struggled to lead the Red Devils to the Premier League title in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.
The United legend matched Jose Mourinho’s feat in the aftermath of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement by leading the club to second in the Premier League table.
Solskjaer ended his time at Old Trafford without any major silverware to his name as Red Devils manager, with United falling short in the 2021 Europa League final.
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Manchester United legend and Sky Sports pundit Roy Keane during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in 2024 in Manchester.
Photo by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images
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Roy Keane’s scathing criticism of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Man Utd squad should be a constant reminder for Ruben Amorim
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is now the Besiktas manager after the Manchester United legend ended his exodus from football management after a four-year period.
The former United manager saw both the highs and lows during his time at Old Trafford, including fellow legend Roy Keane pulling no punches towards his squad.
Solskjaer’s men hosted Arsenal at Old Trafford in November 2020 and the Red Devils lost 1-0, which left United languishing in 15th place at the time on seven points.
Keane, who played alongside Solskjaer under Sir Alex Ferguson, ruthlessly dropped a brutal rant on the United players about the lack of real “leaders” among the ranks.
“I’m just not convinced with these players,” he said on Sky Sports, as per Goal in 2020.
“We often talk about characters with Manchester United – I just don’t see enough of them.
“These are high-profile players. We give them a big build-up before the match. I tend to judge players by their actions and the actions I see from this team are nowhere near good enough.
“You roll your sleeves up at Manchester United. When things aren’t going your way that’s when you look at your leaders, your characters – and I don’t see any leaders out there, right through the whole team. It’s a real, real worry for United now.”
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Ruben Amorim can continue to build on the Man Utd foundation since Roy Keane’s remarks about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s players
Fast-forward from Solskjaer’s time in the Old Trafford dugout as United manager and Ruben Amorim has a current United first-team squad that does have ‘leaders.’
Amorim inherited his United squad from Erik ten Hag last November and the former Ajax boss did have leadership-quality players among his ranks at Old Trafford.
Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui both impressed in their debut season at United and have the ‘character’ that Keane desired from Solskjaer’s players.
Bruno Fernandes has continued to cement his role as United captain, despite what Keane might have said about the 30-year-old Portugal midfielder’s leadership skills.
Lisandro Martinez has been the vice-captain under Bruno Fernandes and has been widely admired for his leadership skills and presence in the backline for United.
Amorim still has a lot of work to do at Old Trafford and there is already a strong foundation in place for the United manager to build on what Solskjaer lacked.