The only thing worse for Ruben Amorim than all these losses is that a player in the recent loss did everything he doesn’t want from his players and ended up shining.
Manchester United’s Premier League season continues to lead to nowhere, with Man City inflicting the latest defeat at The Etihad Stadium.
Ruben Amorim’s decisions are coming under the scanner again because the structural deficiencies in the team continue to be exposed.
Amidst all the wreckage, a worrying thing emerged against City when a player did everything Amorim has asked him not to do, and looked better as a result.
Manchester City's Brazilian midfielder #26 Savinho (2R) battles with Manchester United's English midfielder #37 Kobbie Mainoo (R)
Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Kobbie Mainoo’s performance reflects poorly on Ruben Amorim
It was a contentious decision when it was made, and by the end of the game, it looked even worse.
Amorim decided to ignore Kobbie Mainoo for this game as well, instead going with a chaotic midfield of Manuel Ugarte and Bruno Fernandes.
Needless to say, Ugarte was found out on the ball, and Fernandes is just not a defensive midfielder, which somebody needs to scream into Amorim’s ears.
When that abomination of a midfield was broken up with Mainoo’s arrival, things reflected even more poorly on Amorim.
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Before the game, Amorim accused Mainoo of slowing the play down too much instead of being all-action.
It was striking to see, therefore, that Mainoo instantly improved United by doing exactly what Amorim said was preventing him from getting minutes.
Mainoo instilled calmness in possession, and his slick flicks and nutmegs got United moving up the pitch in the face of City’s intense press.
He wasn’t running around like a maniac trying to press everything and tackle everyone in both boxes, which is probably what Amorim wants.
He was just keeping it simple, beating his man off the dribble, and finding the open teammate to create chances, which Patrick Dorgu was on a mission to fluff.
If a manager continues to prefer the chaos of Ugarte-Fernandes over the control of Mainoo in a team that is clearly lacking calmness, then questions must be asked of the philosophy, never mind the system or formation.
Stubbornness will be Amorim’s undoing
The questions over the formation will continue to be asked, but even if that’s a non-negotiable for Amorim, he can at least minimise structural issues.
Not only is the system being found out, but his insistence on using square pegs for round holes is hiding his team’s strengths and exaggerating their weaknesses.
Fernandes is at his best closer to the goal, Amad is an inside-forward from the right wing, Mainoo is not a box-to-box midfielder, and Patrick Dorgu can’t be shouldering that much attacking load.
If the manager can make his system work only with a specific style of player of a certain quality at each position, then the manager’s role is irrelevant.
Empowering the best of the squad at their disposal is their job, not tailoring it perfectly to their needs and then asking for perfection to get results. The club will be here long after Amorim.