Ruben Amorim has been at the good end of many big calls at Manchester United so far, which is why it’s puzzling that he’s willing to undo it all with a bad one.
There are no prizes for guessing that Ruben Amorim not rating Kobbie Mainoo enough to give him minutes at Man Utd is the stance that has befuddled many.
What started as zero minutes in two league games has now snowballed into a situation where Mainoo is ready to leave Man Utd, and the club don’t seem too bothered by it.
It’s confusing to see Amorim refuse to take the easiest win right now by giving Mainoo a fair shot, only because he took one as soon as he came in with a sensational attacker. It paid dividends.
Ruben Amorim and Amad Diallo departing the pitch after Manchester United lose to Chelsea.
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Ruben Amorim took the easy win with Amad
It feels like a lifetime ago, but Amad found himself in a similar situation under Erik ten Hag as Mainoo does now under Ruben Amorim.
For Ten Hag, Antony became his blind spot, which meant Amad, regardless of how much he impressed in his cameos, or how badly Antony performed, always fought a losing battle at Old Trafford.
Ruud van Nistelrooy set him back on track, and Amorim trusted him from the first game under his management.
By the end of the season, Amad had signed a new contract and become Amorim’s best player in multiple positions.
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Man Utd fans were crying out for Amad’s inclusion in the team, and Amorim doing it as soon as he came in immediately gave him an easy win.
The fans were on his side with that one no-brainer call, and the player never looked back, making Amorim look even better in hindsight.
Unfortunately, less than a year from taking his easiest win, he’s risking undoing it all by taking his biggest loss.
Amorim’s take on Kobbie Mainoo is worrying
In many ways, Mainoo seems to have become for Amorim what Amad was for Ten Hag – a mercurial player who can’t get a game because the manager would rather die by his principles rather than thrive by being flexible.
Having belief in your own principles is a necessity to succeed at the top level, but so is the ability to adapt and empower the players.
Needing a specific type of player for each position for your system to succeed makes the manager’s role irrelevant, and Amorim’s handling of Mainoo is worrying for precisely that reason.
Mainoo has previously shone in a back-three system with England, broke out in a back-four system at United, and has proven himself under multiple managers despite playing in struggling teams.
Even if Mainoo is Bruno Fernandes’ backup, which is a weak argument on its own, the fact that Fernandes didn’t get subbed off against Fulham in his worst moment further weakens that logic.
It is increasingly looking like a case of the manager simply not rating the player and constantly shifting the goalposts to make sense of his calls.
When the concerned player is Mainoo, then it reflects worse on the manager than the player.