Paul Ince has admitted that he does not “feel sorry” for Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim after a turbulent 2024-25 Premier League season at Old Trafford.
Ruben Amorim arrived at Old Trafford last November after he left Sporting CP and replaced Erik ten Hag at the Premier League club as Manchester United manager.
Erik ten Hag’s reign as United manager ended last October after a poor start to the season and the former Ajax boss was sacked by the Premier League club.
Amorim has faced an uphill task at the Red Devils and the former Sporting CP boss watched on from the touchline as United’s form continued to regress in the league.
United finished in a disastrous 15th place in the Premier League table, which was the club’s worst standing since the formation of the top-flight league in 1992.
The Red Devils only managed 11 Premier League wins from 38 matches in the 2024-25 campaign and United suffered a whopping 18 defeats alone in the league.
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Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
Photo by Robin Jones/Getty Images
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Paul Ince now drops his telling assessment on Ruben Amorim’s tactical system at Man Utd
Ruben Amorim’s tactical system for Manchester United yielded mixed results for the 40-year-old former Sporting CP manager at Old Trafford last season.
The Red Devils struggled to bounce back in the Premier League campaign, but United impressed in their Europa League run to the final under Amorim.
Amorim has stuck by his philosophy and tactical system at United, despite the criticism aimed towards the Portuguese coach over his formation.
Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, former United star Paul Ince has insisted that the “balance doesn’t look right” in Amorim’s system so far for the Red Devils.
“We had the best manager in the world in Sir Alex Ferguson, who laid the foundation for the club to be as great as it was,” he said.
“Since he left, United have had numerous different managers, which has shown that they can’t get it quite right.
“Amorim’s had these players since he came in and there has been no improvement whatsoever.
“We’re not talking about bad players here – we’re talking about players who can’t play in a system that Amorim wants to play.
“He’s said he’s not going to change his system of three at the back and that he believes in it, but the balance doesn’t look right.”
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Paul Ince’s verdict on Ruben Amorim’s choice of Man Utd players for the 2025 Europa League final defeat vs Tottenham
United reached the 2025 Europa League final in Bilbao and the Red Devils faced fellow Premier League side Tottenham in an all-English showdown.
However, the Red Devils fell short on the night at the San Mames Stadium and Tottenham defeated United 1-0 and clinched the Europa League trophy.
Ince admitted that he is baffled by Amorim’s decision to drop Alejandro Garnacho to the bench and play both Luke Shaw and Mason Mount for United in the final.
The 57-year-old was also shocked at how Manuel Ugarte was left on the bench and didn’t feature at all in United’s Europa League loss to Tottenham in May.
“As a manager, you play with the players you’ve got and in a system that suits them,” Ince said.
“Garnacho had played all season in the Europa League, but was on the bench for the final and for some reason Amorim started two players [Shaw and Mount] who have barely played for God knows how long.
“They spent over £40 million on Manuel Ugarte and he couldn’t even get on the pitch in Bilbao!
“People say, ‘I feel sorry for Amorim’, but I don’t feel sorry for anybody – he’s [the] manager of Manchester United and it’s the greatest job in the world.
“The fans are patient with him, as are the board, because they can’t be in a position where they’re chopping and changing managers because that won’t get them anywhere.”
United missed out on securing a Champions League place via the Europa League and the Red Devils will be without European football for the 2025-26 season.