Ruben Amorim is turning things around at Manchester United, with the mood around the club comfortably the best it’s been since he was announced as the new manager, and the manager’s landmark decision for their clash with Nottingham Forest shows why the Red Devils should see Champions League qualification as a very real target this season.
The trip to Forest on Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of Amorim’s appointment at Man Utd and the Portuguese boss admitted in the build-up that he doubted whether he would survive this long at Old Trafford.
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Sir Jim Ratcliffe recently moved to quell talk of his sacking, claiming he needed three years to prove he’s a “great” coach, and Amorim accepts there were days when he wondered if he would even get to complete his first year.
“I had some moments that I struggled a lot and I was thinking that maybe it’s not meant to be,” he said. “Today is the opposite. Today I feel that, and I know that, that was the best decision in my life, and I want to be here.”
Amorim has now led United to three Premier League wins on the bounce and into sixth in the table, remarkably above Liverpool, having played their part in plunging the Reds into crisis with their first victory at Anfield in almost a decade.
A clash with Forest, who are currently 18th having dismissed both Nuno Espirito Santo and Ange Poetecoglou this term and are now under the leadership of Sean Dyche, offers a great opportunity to make it four wins from four for United and lift them into the coveted Champions League places.
And Amorim celebrated his one-year anniversary by naming an unchanged XI in the Premier League for the very first time in his tenure, in a clear sign of progress which shows why they have a very good chance of qualifying for Europe’s showcase competition.
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Manchester United XI: Lammens, Yoro, De Ligt, Shaw, Amad, Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Dalot, Mbeumo, Cunha, Sesko.
Substitutes: Bayindir, Mazraoui, Maguire, Mount, Zirkzee, Dorgu, Ugarte, Heaven, Mainoo.
No midweek football thanks to the Europa League final and Grimsby Town defeats, while meaning scant chances for backups like Kobbie Mainoo, offers Amorim this opportunity to keep picking players who are performing well, and as things stand, that’s all of them.
It also means the Red Devils boss is afforded plenty of time on the training ground with the players to hone ideas and implement a philosophy which – on the basis of the results, performances and general vibe at the club – they now appear to be buying into and finally getting to grips with.