Manchester United secured a much-needed win at the weekend with a convincing 2-0 win over newly-promoted Sunderland.
The match was Ruben Amorim’s 50th in charge of the Red Devils, and by winning it he did what no other United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson has been able to do.
However, the Portuguese’s tenure at Old Trafford has been troubled, with serious questions being asked just six games into the season as to whether he is the right man for the job.
Bad start after a bad season
Amorim took over from Erik ten Hag in November last year and immediately set about trying to implement his much-maligned 3-4-2-1 system.
The squad struggled to adapt and he led United to a historically bad 15th-place Premier League finish.
Despite some gruesome results and poor performances, Amorim was afforded the benefit of the doubt under the assumption that the following season would be better.
With over £200m spent in the summer and some problem players shipped out there was a feelgood factor at Old Trafford going into this campaign, but it quickly evaporated after a sloppy start which included a humiliating Carabao Cup defeat to Grimsby Town.
Job safe for now
Saturday’s clash with Sunderland felt like a must-win for the head coach, who was under immense pressure following the disappointing 3-1 defeat to Brentford.
Rumours swirled of top managers being lined up should his team fail to deliver, but according to Fabrizio Romano his job was never dependent on the result of the Sunderland game.
Speaking on his YouTube channel he explained that the victory “closed all the speculation, at least for the next few weeks, for Ruben Amorim” and that United “head into the international break way more relaxed”.
He continued that the club had not intention of sacking Amorim “even if Man Utd were going to lose the game against Sunderland. Even in that case, he was not going to be fired.
“That was the plan of Man Utd unless completely crazy things happened like losing, I don’t know, 3, 4 or 5-0. But, for example, losing the game 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, something like that – Amorim was not going to be fired.”
United’s position is clear
The respected football journalist noted that: “Man Utd’s message was quite clear and they never contacted other managers.
“I spent basically the last 10 days telling you that Gareth Southgate was in the media, but there was never a concrete negotiation between Man Utd and Southgate or his representatives.
“There is a very good relationship between Southgate and INEOS, but never a negotiation. And Man United wanted to show their support to Amorim.”
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
