Manchester United Thread 25/26 - Teamtalk/Transfers/Gossip Mod Note in OP 12.02.26

Dalot really is brain dead..we see it at least once per game. Shouldve been following it

Leeds play pool Thursday then us Sinday. Seems a tight time frame for them

What are we doing with Amorim. He's statistically the worst manager we've ever had and the eye test backs it up. Watching them or going to games feels like a chore because it's so boring - there's no confidence and everything suggests Amorim simply does not get it. We've lost more than we've won this calendar year with results against Spurs in the EL final and that Grimsby game. Originally, I felt I'd get behind him if we were losing or drawing games while being entertaining, you know the type where there's more to come.

We're going 1 up against Wolves and trying to close it out. The games we've won are arguably against much weaker opposition. Sunderland, Brighton and Liverpool the only good wins I can think of.

He's in limbo, winning to keep himself above water but not losing so he doesn't get sacked.

Genuinely what are we waiting for. Just get rid and line up the next man in the meantime.

Quality vs Quality, our 6 is a bigger miss because of they are just better players. Still no excuse though.

Leeds will be a more open game which suits us as we struggle against teams who are happy to sit deep in a low block like Wolves did tonight.

But I don’t trust this team or manager so I can’t see us coming away with 3 points. Fingers crossed Mount’s injury isn’t serious and he is back this weekend

Heres what happened, we played the worst team in the League, at home and we spent most of the game playing second fiddle to them and most of the second half hanging on, at home, hoping not to lose.

We played at walking pace, showed no ambition , were second to almost every breakdown, and were lucky not to lose.

Other than that we played well!!!

Its always one step forward and two back. I don't understand why Ineos are not making a change.

For the record, I'm Amorim out, and have been for a while. I thought he should have gone at the end of last season, I just couldn't fathom how badly we played against decent opposition (and poor opposition), that we had a lot of luck in the Europa League run, but I wasn't too opposed to him being given another year and a full pre-season if he could hit the ground running this season. That's for the record on where I stand before this rant.

In my opinion, the main reason why most fans want Amorim staying in the job is simply because they don't want to be the club that sacks managers all the the time and rinse and repeat, and think that sticking with one man will break that self-defeating cycle.

I can fully understand that perspective.

Bouncing from manager to manager, and buying players for ridiculous money for that manager's vision and then booting him (Ten Hag being the worst example), has simply not worked, and has brought the club to this point. And Amorim is not to blame for that. And the idea of sticking with one man until he comes good or is there long enough to get things right in the background, even through poor results, well it's as valid a philosophy as changing manager as often as a supermodel changes outfits. So I can definitely understand sticking with the manager.

But equally, and with perhaps more validity, there's more than ample evidence to suggest that United will not go anywhere under Amorim.

He's been backed by the club after the worst PL season in our history. He's been backed by the club for essentially writing off a PL season and focusing on Europe, despite being a club that not only expects but demands a manager that can handle such a season. Backed by the club after getting knocked out at home in the FA cup to Fulham where they were the better team. Backed after the Europa League Final debacle. He's been in the job 14 months, and the club have spent €260m (money they said we struggle to have) in that 14 months on his vision, so he's been backed financially in a big, big way. He's been backed unconditionally (and rightly so) against trouble in the dressing room. He's been consistently been backed after poor result after poor result after poor result. He's been backed despite only putting consecutive league wins together once in 14 months. He was backed by the club after the nadir of being beaten by Grimsby.

In all honesty, the club have backed Ruben Amorim in every possible way they could have since he came into the club. There is literally nothing more the club can do for him other than give him a billion quid a season and give him the total running of the club without consequence.

Has he improved some things? Absolutely he has. We are much, much better at going forward than we were under Ten Hag. Whatever about their performances, the players clearly want to play for him and the club. He's tackled the attitude in the dressing room in a big way. Attacking set-pieces have finally much improved where we're arguably the most dangerous in the league at them.

But have some things gotten worse? Yep, they have. Too much. Lack of tactical nous. Lack of tactical setup. Playing a formation that doesn't suit the talent. Lack of direction. Confusion amongst players. Poor substitutions. As much as attacking has improved, defending has gotten worse. Due to the tactical approach, the CF is basically a bystander in most games, essentially having us play with 10 men most games. And for all the talk of the players or the lack of strength in the squad, we are comfortably on paper a top 6 side, we have more than enough quality in the squad to challenge for top 4, and he has not gotten anywhere near the best out of them. Constant pops in the media at the players. We don't get hammered as much, there's no 7-0 happening under Amorim, but we're still way too open and it costs us too often, and hasn't been really addressed.

And let's be honest, the argument thrown out that we're better than last year holds no water whatsoever, because if you can't be better than your worst season in living memory then you're at nothing anyway. If you're hanging your hat on this season being an improvement on last season as reason to support the manager staying, you have to acknowledge that most of last season was down to him and he's only gotten us back to where we were when he took over, if even to that level.

And in all honesty, the best results we've gotten under Amorim is now the same level of results and inconsistent performance as the worst set of results under Ten Hag. He's miles of Ten Hag's first season, and hovering at the level of the second disastrous season (and let's not forget, Ten Hag brought us to 3 cup finals, winning 2).

I can get not wanting to get rid of Amorim so we don't become the club that bounces from manager to manager. I can get giving him time, and money, and backing in the hopes he comes good. I get 14 months is a short time in the grand scheme of things. And I get that he came with a good reputation from taking a club in the dumps and driving them upwards, and that patience was a part of that. I get it. We've made the mistake of bouncing from manager to manager, sticking with one through thick and thin and backing him in the hopes he comes good is as valid a plan.

He's got his backing, his signings, his much vaunted pre-season, his time between matches to work with players he said he didn't have last year. And the thing is, after 14 months, we're not really seeing it on the field. Maybe it's a half every three games (usually against teams around relegation), a 20 minutes here, a 10 minutes there, or a Liverpool like game where we're not really dangerous but absolutely grind out the win based on the opposition missing a boatload and ourselves playing like demons. But it's rare that we see it, still.

If it was any other top club he would have been sacked at the end of last season. If it was any other top club based on this season alone, he'd probably have been sacked at Christmas. United have given him incredible leeway, all things considered. He has been backed to the hilt in every way by the club.

And it's long passed the time he has started delivering decent, confident, dominant, consistent football, and more importantly given his backing, consistent results.

We can't be a club that bounces from manager to manager, but we can't be a club either under a manager that's not up to the job. And after 14 months in charge, I think on the balance of things it's not just clear but very obvious the club is not going to move upwards with Ruben Amorim in charge.

Don't spend money for his vision or formation in January (if we have to spend, make sure it's for a quality midfielder), give him until the end of the season, have a successor in mind to take over the day after the season ends, and work with his successor and the football department in the club to target players for the club going forward.

But on the current state of things, Ruben Amorim can't be in charge of United going into next season, unless there's a miracle of all miracles turnaround, the club will simply be wasting another season and another couple of hundred million quid on a man who's very clearly not up to the job.

As to who can do the job, I don't know. And it's a quandary that United have to face, but taking a risk on a manager (whoever he is) that might work out is better than persisting with a manager that isn't up to it at all. We may not want to be the club that bounces from manager to manager, but we do need to be a club that bounces a manager when he's not up to the job, and the lad we have ain't up to it.