Manchester United legend Gary Neville has told Ruben Amorim three things he must improve to change the Red Devils’ “underdog” mentality.

Amorim has been confirmed as Erik ten Hag’s replacement after the Dutchman was sacked last Monday.

The Man Utd hierarchy extended Ten Hag’s contract by 12 months in the summer, overlooking the club’s worst finish in Premier League history following the FA Cup final victory against Manchester City.

Amorim swiftly emerged as the frontrunner for the Red Devils job and will not take over until November 11 due to a notice period in his Sporting contract.

That means assistant manager Ruud van Nistelrooy will be in charge against PAOK in the Europa League and Leicester City in the Premier League this week.

The Dutchman – who was brought back to Old Trafford by Ten Hag in the summer – managed Man Utd against Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday after overseeing a convincing 5-2 Carabao Cup win over Leicester.

The Red Devils drew 1-1 against Chelsea in a game severely lacking quality.

Amorim has his work cut out for him but he will be delighted to have been passed on some tactical advice from former Valencia manager Neville.

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The club’s former right-back – who won three of 16 La Liga matches at Valencia – has three things he believes Amorim needs to improve, starting with the backline playing further up the pitch as the current mentality makes Man Utd “play like the underdog in games”.

“If you want to push your defence up the pitch, which is what I think every team looks to do nowadays, Amorim has got to start with that because Manchester United quite often have to travel 70, 80 yards to score a goal because they’re so deep and they play like the underdog in games,” Neville said on his podcast.

“The other metric was possession one in the final third.

“So possession won high up the pitch: first was Manchester City, second was Tottenham, third was Arsenal and fourth was Liverpool. Manchester United are ninth.

“The final one I asked for was the highest turnovers.

“City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Arsenal made up the top four while Manchester United were ninth. These three things are critical to performance levels.

“Man Utd played like a team that is sat behind the ball. ‘Let’s try and get them on the counter or score from a set piece’. That’s got to change.

“You’ve got to be a team of dominance. And I mean dominance. I mean dominating the ball in the final third, dominating your forwards and staying high up the pitch.”

👉 READ MORE: Nine-tackle Liverpool man joins Van Dijk in Premier League XI of the season so far

Scoring goals has been a real issue for Man Utd this season but interim boss Van Nistelrooy is adamant “the goals will come”.

He said: “[I think] today we are slightly disappointed because we didn’t score the second with the opportunities we had, that is the feeling for me personally and also in the dressing room,” began Ruud in his post-match media duties.

“In the last [few games] that we [have] played, we lost some points that we didn’t convert our chances. The good thing always is, and the way I think, when you create a lot all through the season so far, so in that sense I am not too worried.

“When the players are going to get in the flow of things are results coming, confidence growing, the goals will come.”

One of our favourite of all the things. Points won from losing positions. A cast-iron guarantee of a team’s levels of fun. The very best teams generally don’t need to come from behind that often; the drabbest are unable to do so. In the middle you have your sweet spot teams – daft enough to regularly fall behind, capable enough to quite often overcome that setback. It’s no coincidence that Spurs are normally fairly prominent here.

We have loads of Premier League tables for you here.

And come this way for the Premier League who have spaffed the most points from winning positions.

20) Southampton – 0pts
8 deficits, 8 defeats

They could have had a better start to the season, we will admit. Only behind for a very short amount of time against Leicester, though, weren’t they? Does that help at all? We don’t think it really helps. Now the only team not to salvage even a single, solitary point from a losing position.

19) Fulham – 1pt
4 deficits, 1 draw, 3 defeats

It’s been a very decent start to the season for Fulham, the Premier League’s most reliably mid-table team in recent years. Defeat to Aston Villa having taken an early lead will sting, though.

18) Nottingham Forest – 1pt
2 deficits, 1 draw, 1 defeat

Finally lost their unbeaten start with defeat to Fulham but it’s been a fine opening to the season for Forest, with the lack of scrambling they’ve even had to attempt a clear pointer. Nobody can match their mere two deficits.

16=) West Ham – 2pts
7 deficits, 2 draws, 5 defeats

Equalised against both Aston Villa and Man City before their bubbles were eventually burst for good in a pair of London Stadium defeats. Made their equaliser against Fulham stick by shrewdly not scoring it until the 95th minute, but never looked like getting back in the game when mauled by Chelsea but did recover a point from a first-minute deficit against Brentford. Within eight minutes of falling behind at Spurs they were three goals down, and obviously there is absolutely no way to even conceive of West Ham ever getting anything from three goals down at Tottenham. And that is actually true of a three-goal deficit at Forest. A tough start for Julen Lopetegui. Time to give Moyes a third spin?

16=) Ipswich – 2pts
7 deficits, 2 draws, 5 defeats

The increasingly apparent good news for newly promoted Ipswich is that not every team is Liverpool or Man City, and a point snaffled at the last against Southampton could prove a big one. Led and trailed in a 2-2 draw against Villa in what was by then a four-match unbeaten run for Ipswich, if you were of a glass-half-full persuasion. Chastening defeats either side of the break at West Ham and at home to Everton, mind, while the defeat at Brentford was wild and failing to close out the first-win deal against Leicester is irritating.

15) Wolves – 3pt
10 deficits, 3 draws, 7 defeats

Lost without shame at Arsenal, lost with plenty at home to Chelsea but did at least hit back to claim a point at Forest. Led for a long time against Newcastle before ending up with nothing, then did exactly the same against Villa. Scored three at Brentford, which is nice. It’s just a shame they conceded five. They are the only team left to have trailed in every game they’ve played, even if against City it was only for those confused yet vital final seconds. Have at least managed to emerge with something from their most recent pair of deficits since the City silliness.

14) Crystal Palace – 3pts
8 deficits, 3 draws, 5 defeats

The point salvaged in the second half at Chelsea would have been creditable enough even had it not come on the back of an alarming pair of defeats to sap the life from a season that started so full of promise after the fast finish to 23/24. Came back from 2-0 down to draw with Leicester but would be slightly perturbed that it was necessary to come back from 2-0 down to draw against Leicester. Trailed in every one of their first four Premier League games but at least snapped that run in the goalless draw with Manchester United. Allowing the previously winless Everton to come from behind and take all three points against them isn’t ideal either, but Dr Tottenham delivered a medicinal first win for the Eagles. Led and trailed in a wild 2-2 draw at Wolves in which all four goals came in the space of 17 minutes.

12=) Brentford – 3pts
5 deficits, 1 win, 4 defeats

The four defeats came at Anfield, the Etihad, White Hart Lane 2.0 and Old Trafford which means none is really a disaster. The deficit they did overturn came in that very silly game against Ipswich in which they were 2-0 down after 31 minutes, level by half-time, ahead just after the break and yet needing a 96th-minute winner to actually get the job done.

12=) Manchester United – 3pts
5 deficits, 1 win, 4 defeats

Came very close to rescuing one or even three points at Brighton before emerging with absolutely nothing, but never looked like recovering anything at all in deeply unpleasant 3-0 home defeats to first Liverpool and then Spurs before grimly holding on at all costs for an inevitable-delaying point at Aston Villa. First points from behind came in a desperately needed comeback against Brentford, while the defeat at West Ham that finally did for Ten Hag was genuinely unlucky.

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11) Everton – 4pts
7 deficits, 1 win, 1 draw, 5 defeats

After four deficits and four defeats in their first four games, Everton managed not to go behind at all in claiming a point at Leicester and the upward trajectory continued with not only a win at last but a win from behind against Palace. Nabbed a late, late point against Fulham but couldn’t repeat the trick against Southampton.

10) Arsenal – 4pts
4 deficits, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats

A draw from a goal down doesn’t really tell the full story of the Etihad madness, but it was ultimately another example of our favourite result: a 2-2 draw in which both teams trail and lead. That it completed a Super Sunday double after Brighton and Forest offered up exactly the same outcome in slightly less potentially-season-defining fashion made it the best day of the season bar none. Decided to start playing after going 1-0 down at home to Southampton and ended up winning 3-1, but paid a heavy price for yet another red card at Bournemouth and then went down at Newcastle too. Defeat at Chelsea next week and it’s CRISIS.

9) Liverpool – 4pts
3 deficits, 1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat

Only going behind in three games out of 10 is obviously quite good anyway, and we admire the neatness of already ticking off all possible outcomes from such a position. The defeat came against Nottingham Forest, which seems slightly less weird now than it did at the time but still quite weird, the draw after trailing twice at Arsenal and the victory against Brighton on a red-letter weekend for Arne Slot’s side that also featured defeats for City, Arsenal and Villa.

7=) Bournemouth – 5pts
6 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats

The early leaders after that astonishing mugging at Everton in which a 2-0 85th-minute deficit was transformed into an absurd 3-2 win 10 minutes later via means that can only be explained by the word ‘Everton’. Having also come from a goal down to take a point at Nottingham Forest on the opening day, the Cherries made a strong start here. Completed the full set of possible outcomes after falling behind in swift fashion when going down narrowly to Chelsea in game four, but were swept aside by Liverpool, and gave Leicester their first win of the season. And then, obviously, handed both Arsenal and City their first league defeats of the season while also grabbing a point from behind against Villa.

7=) Newcastle – 5pts
6 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats

Perhaps slightly fortunate to leave Bournemouth with that rescued point in the bag after the controversy around the Cherries’ disallowed late ‘winner’ before scoring twice in the last 15 minutes to take all three points at Wolves. Lost at Fulham but responded well to going a goal down against Man City and duly rescued a point in that one. Will wonder how they didn’t do at least that against Brighton. Found one equaliser at Liverpool but couldn’t locate a second.

5=) Brighton – 5pts
5 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 2 defeats

Hit back to take a point at 10-man Arsenal, and a point at the Emirates is rarely a bad effort, but the goalless home draw against Ipswich to follow feels like something of a comedown. The point salvaged from 1-0 down at home to Forest also feels a bit meh given they got themselves 2-1 up and spent the closing minutes playing aginst 10 men. while the defeat at Chelsea was a bruising one. Bantered Spurs entirely and completely off with a stirring Mitoma-inspired – and admittedly Spursy-assisted – comeback from a 2-0 half-time deficit to record a 3-2 victory that could in the end have been even more convincing, albeit not much funnier. Led against Liverpool before coming undone in the second half themselves.

5=) Chelsea – 5pts
5 deficits, 1 win, 2 draws, 2 defeats

Defeats came against Man City and Liverpool, which isn’t so bad, while an early deficit against Brighton was swiftly Cole Palmered into oblivion. Couldn’t completely repeat that trick after falling behind to Nottingham Forest, even after the visitors were reduced to 10 men in a spicy game, and hit back from a second-half deficit to take a point home with them from Old Trafford.

4) Leicester – 6pts
8 deficits, 1 win, 3 draws, 4 deficits

The time-defying combination of Red Bull and housery allowed Jamie Vardy to banter off his favourite opponents Spurs on the opening Monday night of the season, while Everton were also pegged back because frankly that’s what happens to Everton. Came within minutes of snatching another and vastly more impressive point from behind after somehow clawing back a 2-0 deficit at Arsenal before being undone at the last but did a number on Southampton from 2-0 down at half-time, with the finishing touch coming in the eighth minute of added time. Those three points could mean so much in the final reckoning, as could a point snaffled deep into injury time at Ipswich.

3) Tottenham – 9pts
7 deficits, 3 wins, 4 defeats

Found one equaliser but couldn’t locate a second in what really does look like a careless and potentially in the long term quite costly defeat to a Newcastle side who appeared to be there for the taking for long periods, then fell into an obvious trap from which they never really looked like escaping against Arsenal.

Had the good sense to fall behind in the first minute against Brentford, thus maximising the scope for a rescue act which was duly committed with really quite surprising elan. Did at lot of things at Old Trafford, but falling behind was absolutely not one of them. Did a lot of things at Brighton, and falling behind was somehow one of them.

Fell behind again early on against West Ham but sorted that out in fine style after half-time to provide yet more evidence of exactly what kind of team they are, then produced even more compelling evidence by doing exactly the same against Aston Villa while also donating Crystal Palace a first win of the season. Feels somehow revealing that they’ve lost four games by the odd goal this season and yet their five wins have been 4-0, 3-1, 3-0, 4-1 and 4-1. Their good days are very good indeed, but they get absolutely nothing on their (frequent) bad ones.

2) Aston Villa – 10pts
6 deficits, 3 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats

Fell behind against Arsenal in a game they probably should have taken the lead in. Ollie Watkins and David Raya had other ideas. Then went 2-0 down to Everton purely it seems to ensure they inflicted maximum misery on the poor bastards when they duly completed the inevitable 3-2 comeback against a club that currently seems to exist purely as the butt of all the jokes.

Were second best for long periods against Wolves in a game they trailed 1-0 until another late turnaround saw them run out 3-1 winners. The point gained from behind at Ipswich probably feels more like a couple squandered given the 2-1 lead they also held there, but the 3-1 win at Fulham was very nicely done after Raul Jimenez’s fifth-minute opener. Swept away in the second half by Spurs in a game they led at half-time.

1) Manchester City – 13pts
6 deficits, 4 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat

Wins from behind are generally quite thrilling and unexpected. Manchester City’s successes against Ipswich especially but also Brentford and Fulham are notable only for the surprise at them falling behind and, in the case of the Brentford and Fulham games, Erling Haaland inexplicably failing to score a hat-trick in the comeback.

Then came John Stones’ 98th-minute intervention against Arsenal in a game City led 1-0 before trailing 2-1 and then spending the entirety of the second half smacking their heads against a 10-man brick wall until the very last moments of an absurd game. And then he did it all again to turn a frustrating draw at Wolves into one of the season’s most important wins given it came the day after Arsenal shat the bed at Bournemouth.

City’s own luck with having to keep coming back from deficits would itself run out the same way, though, with their own bed-shatting at the Vitality.

Man Utd staff ‘cant wait to leave every day’ as a ‘poisonous’ mood sweeps the Premier League club, according to an Old Trafford insider.

The Red Devils decided to sack Erik ten Hag on Monday before acting quickly to bring in his successor in the form of Sporting Lisbon head coach Ruben Amorim.

Man Utd have made a terrible start to the Premier League season with the Red Devils sitting in 13th position after their 1-1 draw against Chelsea on Sunday.

Amorim will inherit a side who have won just three of their ten matches in the Premier League this season with only newly-promoted Southampton and Crystal Palace scoring fewer goals than them this season.

INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s investment in the club had been seen as the turning point as Man Utd look to get back to challenging for Premier League titles and Champions Leagues.

However, after being given control of football operations, INEOS made the mistake of keeping Ten Hag at the club over the summer and spending another £200m on players who he wanted.

Chief executive Omar Berrada, technical director Jason Wilcox and sporting director Dan Ashworth have been recruited as INEOS and Ratcliffe have overhauled their recruitment model.

Earlier this year, there were mass redundancies at Man Utd, and Ratcliffe recently caused a stir by taking away Sir Alex Ferguson’s global ambassador role.

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And now Football Insider claim that the mood inside Man Utd is ‘poisonous’ and ‘at an all-time low’ with the ‘club’s staff are still reeling after the huge cost-cutting overseen by the INEOS regime’.

The report adds:

‘One surviving employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, revealed that the atmosphere at Old Trafford among ordinary staff is currently “terrible”, “poisonous” and “at an all-time low”.

‘The employee explained they “could not wait to leave every day” and any time spent working to the club outside of its offices and training ground is said to be far preferable.

‘Staff at United are unhappy at the departure of longstanding colleagues and friends as the club looks to save money with a swathe of unpopular moves.

‘United also decided to cut Sir Alex Ferguson’s multi-million ambassadorial contract, which has added to the tension among staff at the club.’

Former Tottenham midfielder Jamie O’Hara recently hit out at Ratcliffe and claimed the Man Utd co-owner has “been a joke” since arriving at Old Trafford.

O’Hara said: “He’s a disgrace, Ratcliffe. He came in, gave it the big spuds, he’s this billionaire and he’s gonna do this and do that… he’s been a joke!

“All he’s done is get rid of 200 people, they’ve got to bring their own food in now, now he’s trying to penny pinch on a jet for his Ballon d’Or nominees.

“Come on mate. Give us a rest, will you? Don’t tell me you’re a billionaire and you’re going to do this and that. It’s a massive loserville, that one.”

Ruben Amorim has ‘rinsed’ Bruno Fernandes so it’s a surprise that he is not among the eight that Man Utd must lose this summer…

Headline of the day
‘Manchester Utd’s Ruben Amorim will fail for one reason, predicts woman with two vaginas’ – Daily Star.

Insert your own ‘too many c***s’ joke here.

Rinse cycle
The nature of the football content beast in 2024 is that a well-researched long-form piece can be quickly dissected into bite-sized clickbait but we are in genuine awe at the speed of the Express in picking up this from the Athletic.

Around 70 paragraphs into a very, very long piece about Ruben Amorim which involved multiple sources, Charlotte Harpur wrote this:

‘As a pundit with Portuguese channel TVI in 2019, he was always up for a joke, even at the expense of Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.

‘In 2019, Fernandes attended the Estoril Open tennis tournament in Lisbon, but the then Sporting captain was refused entry because his denim shorts did not adhere to the dress code. Eventually, he found a pair of trousers, but on the next programme, the pundits, including Amorim, all wore shorts in a nod to Fernandes’ blunder.’

Within an hour, the Express had this headline: ‘Ruben Amorim rinsed Bruno Fernandes on live TV as duo prepare for Man Utd link-up’.

That ‘as’ stretches this story well over five years. But honestly, all we can do is applaud.

MORE ON MAN UTD FROM F365:
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Back him by sacking them
‘Manchester United have to back Ruben Amorim by getting rid of eight players’ is the headline on Samuel Luckhurst’s latest piece in the Manchester Evening News.

This might be a crazy idea but is it worth waiting to see which players Amorim actually wants before ‘backing’ him by getting rid of Victor Lindelof, Joshua Zirkzee, Tyrell Malacia, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount, Antony and Christian Eriksen?

The eagle-eyed among you might have spotted that Luckhurst only advocates ‘getting rid’ of seven players (though we are fetching popcorn for any attempts to sell Antony). Maybe Amorim gets to decide whether he wants to keep Jonny Evans…he might need him at left-back.

Clever boy
Elsewhere on the MEN, if you can read the headline ‘I spotted Manchester United star’s reaction vs Chelsea – it highlighted a problem for Ruben Amorim’ without saying ‘whoopy-do for you’ then you are more mature than Mediawatch.

Please Sir, can we have some more quotes?
Sir Jim Ratcliffe says very little about Manchester United, so when he speaks – however loosely – it makes big headlines.

‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes brutal comment about Man United squad days after Erik ten Hag sacked’ – talkSPORT.

‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe provides damning assessment of Man United’s squad ahead of Ruben Amorim’s arrival’ – MailOnline.

‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe makes brutal comments about the Man Utd squad during interview and fans are in disbelief’ – SportBible.

‘Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s subtle dig at Man Utd players sheds more light on Ruben Amorim decision’ – Mirror.

We thought that only Mrs Mediawatch could be both ‘subtle’ and ‘brutal’ with one comment, but it seems Sir Jim Ratcliffe also has the knack.

The ever-so-slight flaw in pitching this as a ‘days after Ten Hag sack’ or ‘ahead of Ruben Amorim’s arrival’ sensation?

The quotes are from last month. Way before Erik ten Hag was sacked and way before Amorim was even approached.

He’s right about the squad though; it is a bit sh*t.

Chaos theory
Bombastic headline on MailOnline: ‘Man United need coaching, structure, identity and something other than unpredictability and fallibility – now Ruben Amorim must sort through Erik ten Hag’s chaos quickly, writes IAN LADYMAN’

What Ladyman (sorry, LADYMAN) actually writes on the game v Chelsea: ‘United created some decent chances, carried a threat on the counter and, crucially, were free of the chaos that did sadly characterise Ten Hag’s team in the Dutch manager’s latter days.’

So Manchester United were ‘free of the chaos’ during a deserved 1-1 draw against a very good Chelsea team and yet Ruben Amorim ‘must sort through Ten Hag’s chaos quickly’?

Did somebody just see the word ‘chaos’ and get giddy? Because of course United being mildly improved and claiming a decent-enough draw really will not do…

Ifs and buts = pots and pans
Martin Samuel is on one of his hobby horses in The Times: ‘Nottingham Forest are third. Now imagine where they might have been had they not been forced to sell Brennan Johnson to Tottenham Hotspur? Higher? Top, even? We’ll never know.’

We have a fair idea, Martin.

Man Utd players want Ruud van Nistelrooy to remain in some capacity when Ruben Amorim takes over at Old Trafford, according to reports.

The Red Devils sacked Erik ten Hag last Monday as INEOS decided to go in a new direction after results and performances disappointed.

Man Utd have been terrible in the Premier League this term with the Red Devils 13th after winning just three of their opening ten Premier League matches.

Van Nistelrooy took charge of his second match as interim boss on Sunday with Man Utd largely disappointing as they drew 1-1 against Chelsea after the Dutchman had guided the Red Devils to a 5-2 win over Leicester City in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

Amorim will take over as the new Man Utd boss on November 11, leaving Van Nistelrooy matches against PAOK in the Europa League and Leicester in the Premier League to navigate before handing over the reins.

But Sky Sports claim that the Man Utd squad are keen to see Van Nistelrooy ‘remain’ at Old Trafford and act as a ‘connector’ after ‘appreciating the way he has communicated with them’.

The report adds:

‘Sky Sports News can reveal there is a swell of support to keep the 48-year-old at Carrington in some capacity after his period as interim manager ends.

‘Van Nistelrooy is esteemed by United’s leadership group for the way he carries himself, along with all the staff that serve first-team operations.

‘No concrete decisions have been taken on the make up of Amorim’s backroom team yet, but the incoming head coach does want to bring in five of his colleagues from Sporting, including his long-time assistants Carlos Fernandes and Adelio Candido, as well as the experienced Emanuel Ferro who operates in that role.

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👉 16 Conclusions on Manchester United 1-1 Chelsea: Garnacho, Caicedo, pathetic Martinez and more
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👉 Man Utd staff ‘can’t wait to leave every day’ as ‘poisonous’ mood sweeps the club

‘If they are to join, it is hard to see how Van Nistelrooy, who has an assistant manager contract, can still fill that position.

‘Some tweaking of his responsibilities would be required to keep him at United, but the club legend has stressed his openness to helping in a different way. He has also thrown his support behind Amorim, and has said on more than one occasion that he would love to speak to him.’

And Van Nistelrooy has reiterated his desire to remain as part of the backroom staff once Amorim arrives at Man Utd next week.

Van Nistelrooy said: “Before I came to United I was looking to manage, no doubt about that.

“When United came in with this opportunity, for me, it was a fantastic opportunity. I wanted to be here and I put that [management ambitions] aside. For me, that was a deliberate decision to come here and help out.

“I just want to stay and do the same thing and, for me, that’s my focus for the moment.”

The yin to our favourite stat’s yang. Or the other way round, we don’t know.

We all love seeing who’s got the most points from losing positions, but it’s quite literally impossible to look at those numbers without having to also see which silly sods have spaffed away the most points when leading.

It was a relatively slow start, but we’re in full lead-spaffing swing now, with Liverpool and Newcastle the only teams left not to have bungled a lead in any way and over half the league having now lost at least one game in which they’ve led.

20) Ipswich – 12pts dropped
5 leads, 3 draws, 2 defeats

It’s a lot of points dropped at this very early stage but the flipside is that taking the lead in five games is also quite encouraging when you consider the odds Ipswich are up against. Could really, really, really do with holding one of these leads, mind. Interesting game coming up for them this weekend at Spurs, who keep going behind at home but still winning but are also of course entirely capable of getting a team without the win off the mark…

19) Wolves – 11pts
4 leads, 1 draw, 3 defeats

Starting to look like it could be a long old season for Wolves as they became the latest side to be left scratching their heads and wondering how after a defeat to Newcastle, while they were very good for a long time at Villa before once again coming away with nothing despite holding a 1-0 lead for a good long while. Produced an admirable 95-minute effort against Man City in which they scored a lovely early goal and were seconds away from a fantastic second point of the season before John Stones broke their hearts.

But the bald numbers are now stark. Nine points dropped from winning positions and not a point to show for it for a team who did very well by this metric last season. They have already lost more games from ahead this season than last.

18) Brentford – 11pts
8 leads, 4 wins, 1 draw, 3 defeats

Deserved home winners against Palace and Southampton either side of a predictably comfy defeat from a trip to Anfield, one in which they didn’t do anything so silly as take the lead. A plan they immediately and bafflingly abandoned at the Etihad, of all places. Did you learn nothing from Ipswich, guys? Come on.

Have now apparently committed themselves to committing the cardinal sin of point spaffers everywhere: taking a first-minute lead. We are working on a theory that teams who take a first-minute lead never ever actually go on to win. Brentford certainly didn’t against Spurs or West Ham, anyway. And a lead taken on the stroke of half-time at Old Trafford soon went the same way.

They’ve frequently looked a pretty decent side this season, have Brentford, but there’s no escaping the fact that is an alarming number of points spaffed at this early stage, with more very nearly fumbled against Ipswich.

17) Fulham – 10pts
7 leads, 3 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats

Saw off Leicester safely enough but were pegged back in the dying moments by West Ham. A previously unbeaten Newcastle were dealt with pretty impressively, mind, while Nottingham Forest’s own unbeaten record also fell to the Cottagers, who then lost for the first time after leading, at Manchester City, and promptly did it again at home to Aston Villa. Couldn’t hold on at Everton, either.

16) Brighton – 10pts
8 leads, 4 wins, 2 draws, 2 defeats

Gave Everton what is now starting to look like a fairly standard Everton beating before just about emerging without any dropped points against Manchester United. Didn’t lead at the Emirates but did draw, and that is a very decent outcome for anyone there these days. Goalless draw with Ipswich a first real blip, before trailing and leading before eventually drawing 2-2 with Forest.

The early lead taken at Chelsea was swept away in dizzyingly quick-fire style by Cole Palmer, while they turned the tables when silly Spurs rocked up at the Amex at their daft best. Failing to hold their own 2-0 lead in the closing minutes against Wolves was also daft, while seeing a 1-0 lead turn into a 2-1 defeat against Liverpool is more easily explained away.

15) Southampton – 8pts
4 leads, 1 win, 1 draw, 2 defeats

Finally went in front at the fifth time of asking, and immediately discovered how painful it can be as Ipswich found a 95th-minute equaliser to kick them squarely in the pods. Foolishly took the lead at Arsenal, who reacted very well to win 3-1, and even more foolishly went 2-0 up against Leicester before unravelling to lose 3-2 in the second half. Finally made a lead stick against Everton.

14) Everton – 8pts
5 leads, 2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats

Oh mates. To lose one Premier League game 3-2 after leading 2-0 might be considered unlucky, to lose two consecutive Premier League games 3-2 after leading 2-0 is etc. and so forth. We remain in gobsmacked, bewildered awe that Everton managed to start the season by losing 3-0 to Brighton and 4-0 to Spurs yet still contrived to have things get much, much worse from there.  A point at Leicester was something, but even that involved spaffing two more.

Hurrah, then, for the Palace game. A lead defended and a deficit overturned. What a time.

13) Nottingham Forest – 8pts
9 leads, 5 wins, 4 draws

They spaffed loads of points last season too but while concerns may still exist you’d imagine Forest won’t be too glum at this stage given the points they’ve kept. A lot of the theoretically spaffed points feel like earned ones, but it’s nevertheless mad to think they sit third in the Premier League and can still legitimately engage in some what-iffery.

12) Aston Villa – 7pts
8 leads, 5 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat

Were absolutely brilliant by this metric last season – a vital factor in securing fourth place, in fact – so leaking a couple of points from 2-1 up at newly promoted Ipswich and late on at home to Bournemouth was already a bit grating before spaffing all three at Spurs. With two draws and a defeat, they’ve now already matched their total dropped points from last season’s 23 leads.

11) Arsenal – 6pts
8 leads, 5 wins, 3 draws

Declan Rice’s red card set Arsenal down a path to their first dropped points of the season in a damaging draw with Brighton. Never looked in any real danger of being pegged back by Spurs in the NLD after scoring the most predictable goal in the history of all goals, while the Etihad madness neatly incorporated both daft red cards and predictable goals in its madcap recipe.

Came alarmingly close to what would have been a couple of the dafter dropped points you could find against Leicester but pulled themselves back from that particular brink in the end, but were pegged back twice by Liverpool in a slightly frustrating 2-2 draw. Couldn’t get in front at all in defeats to Bournemouth and Newcastle that have dealt their title hopes such a hefty early blow.

10) Tottenham – 5pts
7 leads, 5 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat

Never looked likely to take anything but all three points against Everton and should really have been out of sight at Leicester before Jamie Vardy rustled them so. Successive defeats to Newcastle and Arsenal left them teetering on the crisis club precipice, but they extricated themselves from some early unpleasantness against Brentford adroitly enough. Romped to victory in hilarious fashion at Old Trafford, collapsed to defeat from 2-0 up in even funnier style at Brighton, overcame early deficits to thrash West Ham and Aston Villa either side of going down tamely at Palace. They remain forever compellingly, irredeemably Spurs. Feels very on-brand that they have led in seven games and trailed in seven games this season.

9) Manchester City – 4pts
9 leads, 7 wins, 2 draws

Pegged back in successive games by Arsenal and Newcastle to lend an air of heady danger to the title race. Defeat at Bournemouth not only saw the last unbeaten record of the Premier League season come to an end but also saw off their status as the only team to have led in every game this season.

8) Crystal Palace – 3pts
3 leads, 1 win, 1 draw, 1 defeat

Finally took the lead at the sixth time of asking and immediately showed why they hadn’t previously bothered by conspiring to lose to Everton of all teams. Held a lead against Spurs because of course they did, then led and trailed in the 2-2 draw at Wolves.

7) West Ham – 3pts
4 leads, 3 wins, 1 defeat

Finally took the lead in a home game and ended up winning 4-1. The 2-0 win at Crystal Palace was another impressive gem, the less said about what happened after going 1-0 up at Spurs the better, while the victory over Manchester United via that late penalty was certainly… something.

6) Leicester – 2pts
3 leads, 2 wins, 1 draw

Might well come to rue failing to close out a 2-0 lead at Crystal Palace, a lead that was cut to 2-1 almost immediately after their second goal before a cruelly late equaliser. Turned the tables on Southampton in truly dramatic style in one of the season’s finest six-pointers so far.

5) Manchester United – 2pts
4 leads, 3 wins, 1 draw

Sack Erik Ten Hag, immediately drop points from a winning position for the first time all season. Maybe he wasn’t so bad, hmm?

4) Bournemouth – 2pts
5 leads, 4 wins, 1 draw

Pegged back by Newcastle and denied a dramatic late winner by VAR at its most irritatingly, buzz-killingly fussy, but took care to avoid any such disappointment against Everton by very shrewdly only taking the lead in the 96th minute. Also clever to not take the lead against Arsenal until after one of their players had done something stupid to take them down to 10 men. Again. And going 2-0 up against City was definitely a shrewd move too. Solid record, this, you have to say, given the calibre of the teams beaten and how unlucky the two points they have dropped were.

3) Chelsea – 2pts
6 leads, 5 wins, 1 draw

Gave Wolves a kicking in the end despite conceding not one but two equalisers along the way but couldn’t find a similar response when pegged back by Palace. Didn’t give Bournemouth much time to get back at them, which Everton will confirm was a sensible move, and overwhelmed West Ham and Brighton too. Good win over Newcastle was followed by a hard-fought draw at Man United.

2) Newcastle – 0pts
4 leads, 4 wins

Wins against Southampton and Spurs at St James’ Park to go with the come-from behind success against Wolves and a 1-0 home win over Arsenal. It’s a very decent record when leading, with the only issue the fact they haven’t led more often.

1) Liverpool – 0pts
8 leads, 8 wins

Ipswich were ground down, Brentford airily dismissed and Man United torn to pieces. And then Forest happened, to the astonishment of all. A routine win over Bournemouth returned the world to its rightful axis. Wolves proved a tougher nut to crack than might have been expected, but job done in the end there, and Crystal Palace were disposed of with alarming ease. Chelsea pegged Liverpool back briefly, but only briefly, while a 1-0 deficit against Brighton was overturned with alacrity. Arne Slot’s team are doing an awful lot right.

New Man Utd boss Ruben Amorim has vetoed the planned signing of Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong, according to reports.

The Red Devils sacked Erik ten Hag last Monday after Man Utd made a terrible start to the new campaign with three wins from their first ten matches in the Premier League.

Man Utd moved quickly to appoint Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim – who had been linked with a number of other Premier League clubs – with the Portuguese coach joining on November 11.

Ten Hag was known for buying a number of players who had played under him at Ajax with Andre Onana, Matthijs De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Noussair Mazraoui all signing.

Netherlands internationals Joshua Zirkzee and Tyrell Malacia were also signed by Ten Hag and there were rumours throughout his tenure that he wanted to sign another compatriot in the form of Barcelona midfielder De Jong.

However, a move for De Jong never materialised because the Dutchman made it clear that he wanted to remain at the Camp Nou with Man Utd struggling to attract the top players to Old Trafford.

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And now reports in Spain claim that Ten Hag had lined up a deal for De Jong over the next couple of transfer windows but that the appointment of Amorim has ‘brought with it an unexpected change of plans in the transfer market’.

Amorim has ‘already made it clear that he does not consider the Dutch international in his project’ and the ‘decision upsets the plans of Barca, who saw United as one of the main candidates to secure De Jong’s services next summer and obtain a significant financial injection.’

It is understood that the new Man Utd boss still wants a midfielder but that he ‘is betting on a different type of player for the midfield, and Frenkie does not fit into his style of play’.

A transfer to Man Utd ‘was seen as a clear and almost closed route, as Ten Hag had insisted on several occasions on the importance of having De Jong’ at Old Trafford.

Man Utd ‘will look to strengthen in other positions and with another midfield profile’ and Amorim ‘has in mind a more physical and vertical style of play’.

Current Man Utd interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy has given his thoughts on the Amorim appointment, he said: “I look forward to getting to know him better. He has done well over a longer spell in Portugal, we wait to meet him soon.”

“It’s like a cold shoulder to your English fans,” said Gary Cotterill as Ruben Amorim politely declined the Sky Sports reporter’s request to answer his question in English.

It is precisely because he wants to avoid giving fans the cold shoulder that Amorim opted against bowing to Cotterill’s ludicrous demand and wasn’t moved by his cringey, nonsensical attempt to bully him into changing his mind.

Just imagine the furore if Amorim had been on the verge of moving from Manchester United to Sporting and answered a question ahead of the Red Devils’ biggest game of the season in Portuguese.

The club, players and fans would have been furious, and rightly so, and Cotterill – a man famed for his outspoken and unapologetically brash approach to sports reporting – would almost certainly be chief among those peddling his lack of respect to the club he still manages.

Here’s the excruciating exchange in full:

Cotterill: “You could be a hero even before you get on a plane to Manchester. Has that crossed your mind?…… In English please.”

Amorim: “Mmm sorry, I cannot speak in English now.”

Cotterill: “Why?”

Amorim: “Sorry.”

Cotterill: “Why?”

Amorim (gesturing to the other reporters): “They will miss in Portuguese so I have to speak in Portuguese.”

Cotterill: “They’ve had about 25 minutes in Portuguese. We want ten seconds in English.”

Sporting media representative: “We’ll proceed in Portuguese. Next week you can hear him talking in English.”

Cotterill: “It’s like a cold shoulder to your English fans.”

Amorim (laughing nervously): “Sorry.”

We got our native Portuguese speaker here at Football365 to translate Amorim’s answer – we’ve got bilinguists on retainer to cover all the European leagues for occasions like this when foreign players or coaches refuse to speak The Queen’s – and he gave an interesting response, explaining that he knows he will be judged by many solely on this game before making a tongue-in-cheek quip about links being inextricably made with Sir Alex Ferguson if his Sporting side claim victory over Manchester City.

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He provided two lines worthy of headlines in a few sentences. As journalists frequently let down by dry press conferences and humdrum responses, we couldn’t ask for anything more and rather than reprimanding him for not speaking English, Cotterill should be thanking Amorim for providing him with an answer at all.

The Sporting manager – because he’s the manager of Sporting and not Manchester United – would have been well within his rights simply to state his pure focus on the job at hand. Less amenable managers would have said nothing.

Amorim asked if it was possible to delay his move to Old Trafford until the summer, when he had told the Sporting chiefs he would be leaving in any case, but it was “now or never” for United. He’s made a big deal about leaving the club where he’s made his name in “the right way”; allowing the club time to source a replacement and giving that replacement time to settle during the international break.

By all accounts he’s a man of morals and is in a very unusual and difficult position where he knows his bread will shortly be buttered on the other side.

Despite the attempts of a shameless reporter who should have had his microphone and accreditation removed the moment he lip-synced to ‘Call Me Maybe’ with the Crystal Palace cheerleaders over a decade ago to push him to flout those moral standards, Amorim played it perfectly, giving something for his “English fans” while showing courtesy to those who will be cheering for his team on Tuesday.

Well done, Ruben Amorim, and shame on you, Gary Cotterill. It’s that sort of Premier League-centric, Little Englander nonsense that gives the rest of us a bad name. How about you ask him a question in Portuguese instead?