Man Utd have reached the point of no return with Ruben Amorim after Saturday's 3-1 defeat at Brentford and must now accept their gamble with him has not paid off.
Ruben Amorim.
Ruben Amorim.(Image: Photo by Vince Mignott/MB Media/Getty Images))
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If Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Manchester United hierarchy are not devising a succession plan for Ruben Amorim, then they are burying their heads in the sand and doing the club a disservice.
In simple terms, the gamble on Amorim has failed spectacularly and the time has come to accept that reality, however uncomfortable and embarrassing, end his ill-fated tenure and appoint a replacement head coach who can steer the club out of their current crisis.
Amorim's nine wins from 33 Premier League games and an equally lamentable haul of 34 points from a possible 99 is indefensible and there are no clear signs that the situation is improving, as evidenced by Saturday's meek 3-1 capitulation at Brentford.
United have seven points from 18 this season and have lost three times already – Erik ten Hag was sacked after four defeats in nine last term, and Amorim is heading the same way.
Amorim has failed to win back-to-back league games after nearly a year in charge, something even the doomed David Moyes managed in his ill-fated spell in charge, and United have regressed under the 40-year-old Portuguese head coach.
Players are starting to lose faith in Amorim and his methods, in particular his intransigence over his controversial 3-4-3 system, even when it is patently clear to see that the personnel he has at his disposal are ill-suited to it and cannot get to grips with it.
Amorim's insistence on playing skipper Bruno Fernandes in a deeper midfield role, rather than in a more advanced attacking position where he is more comfortable and effective, is an act of self-sabotage, with United's talisman having scored just once from open play this season.
The failure to qualify for Europe last season – only the second time in 35 years United have suffered that fate - was framed as a blessing in disguise by Amorim, the free weeks meaning it would give him and his staff more time to work with the players on the system and philosophy.
But that theory has been blown apart by United's miserable start to the season, as has the bold rhetoric from United that a full pre-season under Amorim, coupled with £236million worth of new signings, would make the team stronger from the get-go. United are currently languishing in 14th spot, one place above where they finished last season, with a goal difference of minus four, while their humiliating EFL Cup exit to League Two Grimsby Town means they now have even fewer games in which to address their shortcomings, as well as seeing one route to a trophy closed off.
Amorim is failing to get the best out of United captain Fernandes by playing him in midfield
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It is not just the defeats that are doing for Amorim – even their two league wins have been unconvincing. Against Burnley, they should have been out of sight by half-time, but were twice pegged back before needing a 97th-minute penalty to seal a 3-2 win. It was a similar story against 10-man Chelsea, leading 2-0 before Casemiro's dismissal saw them cling on for a narrow 2-1 win.
Amorim's charisma and candour is refreshing, but cannot mask United's clear regression under him. There is a desperation within United for Amorim to turn things around, not least from chief executive Omar Berrada, who put his reputation on the line by personally driving his appointment, but there is no shame in admitting that was a mistake and moving decisively and swiftly to rectify it, in the face of such overwhelming evidence.
United did so with former sporting director Dan Ashworth, jettisoning him after just five months, and must now do the same with Amorim, before the crisis deepens, leaving the team facing an ugly relegation battle – a genuine possibility given their current precarious position.