Ruben Amorim has been told to put his ‘damned ego aside’ and sell Bruno Fernandes as Man Utd’s latest failure dominates.
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Never a good sign…
Tear it up and start again. No team with Casemiro, Ugarte, Dalot or Shaw deserves to win football.
Simon MUFC
More of the same for Man Utd
Manchester United’s trip to Craven Cottage ended in yet another comedy of errors: a 1–1 draw with Fulham that felt less “title charge” and more “mid-table muddle.”
Bruno Fernandes ballooned a penalty into orbit, Leny Yoro’s header was redirected into the net by a Fulham striker, and then Emile Smith Rowe immediately equalised before United could even finish celebrating. Fulham finished with 52% possession, more shots, and looked like the side with the better plan. United, meanwhile, managed just three efforts on target, their only real chance crafted by goalkeeper Altay Bayindir of all people. If the creative spark is coming from the guy in gloves, you know something’s gone badly wrong.
And here’s the kicker: after spending north of £200m this summer on top of last season’s 15th-place humiliation, Amorim has run out of excuses faster than Fernandes ran out of composure from the spot. This was supposed to be the reboot; instead, United already sit 16th after two matches with no wins.
The manager says the team must “grow up,” but when Fulham’s bench produces an instant impact while United’s million-pound reinforcements disappear, the joke writes itself. At this point, the only thing scarier than the league table is the thought that Amorim’s best tactical weapon might still be praying for more own goals.
Gaptoothfreak, Man. Utd., Lisbon (Amorim’s Wallet Can’t Score Goals)
READ: Amorim wastes Arsenal goodwill immediately as Manchester United sacrifice everything for nothing
…Matt Stead has nailed it.
Despite media cheerleaders like Gary Neville – always ever willing to inflate the tiniest of tiny green shoots into a rich, blossoming garden – the reality is plain to see.
All that money spent, all that precious pre-season time, and yet Amorim’s silver bullet at the end of every match is stick Harry Maguire up front and try and plonk it on his slabhead.
When Moyes and Mourinho did that with Marouane Fellaini, they were mocked to high heaven. But for some reason, the new Villas Boas gets a free pass.
Anyone with half a brain can see this is going nowhere in a hurry. Quite how long it’ll take Brexit Jim and his band of merry men to admit it though, is another thing entirely.
Andy H, Swansea
…Well there we go. Who would have guessed? (Me. I guessed.) The only change was Amad who is wasted at RM as we knew he would be.
Same midfield, same keeper, still not starting a striker when we have four available. Still no Mainoo.
Still no goal that we actually scored. Hilarious miss by Bruno who was rattled by the referee FGS.
I briefly thought the keeper might have turned a corner with an early sharp save but no. He looks as lightweight as De Gea ever did. Yet we have a CL finalist and last season’s 8th best keeper (in a team that came 15th remember) sat right there.
Please for the love of god, Amorim, put your damned ego and national allegiance aside, recognise it’s a failed experiment to move him deeper and sell Bruno. Snap their damn hands off. £100m? Hell, take £60m. Give De Ligt the captaincy but tbh anyone (except Maguire) will do it as well.
Just stop this… or just carry on until you’re rightfully sacked.
Badwolf (Sometimes it’s horrible being right)
Man Utd back yet?
Can we just take a moment to discuss that United are back!
Good lord, every single summer they think it’ll be different this season. They thought their defeat at Arsenal was a sign that things will change. How can they ignore how badly Amorim did last season? It was absolutely horrendous. I just don’t possibly see how anything changes. He will not deliver at United. 29 games and 28 points is just not acceptable.
I love how their fans will keep talking about Arteta hasn’t won anything. I’d rather finish 2nd, CL semi finals and make consistent progress than what United have been in the last 4 years. The players will down tools soon enough and they will have another manager. The next manager will banish some players and show discipline like every other manager has done. They will sell the players for peanuts and buy some of his own players for 300m and then he will fail and repeat the cycle. It’s an absolute mess and so predictable.
They will obviously do better this season than they did last season. It’s not possible to do so badly again. They have better players up front but their midfield, defenders and goalkeeper are not good. I laughed yesterday when I seen a United fan in the mailbox suggest if they beat Fulham they will win the league. Neville backing them to come 4th too is hilarious.
I expect Newcastle and Villa to be worse this year and United not being in Europe means they have a bit advantage. But it’s United. They win one game and they think they’re champions. I remember in January they drew with Liverpool and beat Arsenal on penalties in the Cup and suddenly they were back! Even though they had like one win in 10. Still expecting an Amorim bust up with someone like Cunha in the coming months so at least there’s more entertainment coming.
Dion
…And we are off and running! More points than a fingerless direction-giver.
We are back baby!
Garey Vance, MUFC
Symmetry
Jose Mourinho once famously commented that achieving second place in the league with ManYoo was his greatest achievement. It appears that Amorin’s greatest feat with the same team will be achieving second gear.
Steve McBain, Singapore
Penalty questions
I see the cheques from Old Trafford have started to successfully make their way to the refs again.
The penalty – Bassey wrestles Mount to thr ground. Immediately behind him, de Ligt rugby tackles his marker to the ground. But the would is given against Bassey because he’s playing against Man U.
United goal. Yoro with a two handed push in the back of his marker. But no problems with that, because it’s United.
Was Amorim’s best money of the summer spent in the good ol’ fashioned Red Nose way?
Aidan, EFC, Hoxton (I’d rather be at Hill Dickinson)
…For 2 weekends in a row, referees have done all in their favour to help Man United win football matches to no avail.
The penalty against Fulham was a sham. As Bassey was penalised, Luke Shaw equally wrestled a Fulham player to the ground simultaneously.
As for the ManU goal, York pushed Bassey to the ground and for the ref to claim it was an own goal borders on the absurd.
Congratulations PGMOL. You will soon allow ManU to earn their first win of the season.
Yiembe, Mombasa
Liking Gyokeres
Early doors but I like what I see regarding Gyōkeres. A nice goal pre season and a proper striker’s goal that I haven’t seen Arsenal score for a while at the weekend. He also showed Fernandes how to take a penalty i.e. put your head down and whack it on the floor into the corner!
Arsenal weren’t as disjointed as last week and it looked more positive with them not totally adjusting their style but allowing Gyökeres a little more breathing space.
One note on Isak v Gyökeres is that they both have very good domestic records but Isak correctly is rated above Gyökeres because his is in the EPL compared to the Portugese league so it’s difficult to make a comparison. However, internationally Isak, from the stats I’ve read, has scored 16 goals from 52 appearances and Gyökeres 15 from 26. Isak is valued at £150 million and Arsenal got Gyökeres for £64 million (including potential add ons).
So, perhaps Arsenal have got a better deal. We will see?
Chris, Croydon
READ: Arsenal have a pivotal early-season moment – but is it Gyokeres’ goals or Saka setback?
Not seeing the best of Gyokeres yet
There’s a moment in the second half where Nwaneri has a break on goal and fails to pass the ball to Gyokeres. This moment just perfectly sums up how much these Arsenal players are too obsessed with control and dominance.
Gyokeres is a chaos striker. He thrives in running onto/with the ball. This is a pure coaching issue. Mancity were also obsessed with control until Haaland came. He averaged 15 touches per game in the final 3rd. Obviously not interested in the passing/control part of the game. People said that City’s influence in games would suffer that season. They won the league and champions league.
Sometimes, all you need to do is release your striker and crash the box. It’s that simple. Too many times especially in the first half against Leeds, I was shouting at the TV, just give him the ball! Yes, our control will suffer and we will lose possession more often but we will score more. That’s certainly not a bad thing.
Damola, AFC Berlin
P.S Not a Manu fan but every time I watch Manu I can instantly tell you 3 things that are wrong. I’m always careful to criticise managers because at the end of the day they know more than I do but gosh, this is bad. The problem with signing a front 3 that cannot defend is exactly what you’re seeing. You only need to play vertically and through the lines to absolutely batter Manu. No pressure on the ball. Why is this manager so obsessed with 3-4-3? Appointed in November 2024 and still hasn’t cracked 30 points? How can a midfield pivot of Bruno and Casemiro ever work?