After their 17th loss of the season to West Ham United at Old Trafford, the pressure has surely intensified for Manchester United’s Portuguese coach, Ruben Amorim. United currently sit in 16th place with 39 points, and are guaranteed to record their worst Premier League finish. This position was only beaten by the 1973/74 season which saw United suffer relegation.
With a record low in the Premier League now confirmed, a flipside unfolded in United’s Europa League stint this year, a recent double over Athletic Bilbao was enough to ensure United’s place in the Final, where they will face Tottenham Hotspur.
If United succeed in beating Tottenham to the Europa League trophy, it will remove some of the sour taste left in fans’ mouths after the season in England, however it appears that this goodwill can only go so far, as the pressure from the fanbase and media ramps up.
Amorim still believes the task at hand is enormous, and that United need to be ruthless in their squad-building decisions next season.
“We proved this year that we need a better squad if we want to win European games and then be really competitive in the Premier League,” Amorim said while speaking to the media last week. “That is going to be tough. My feeling is that.”
“It is going to be really tough and the patience of the fans and you guys [the media] next year, if we don’t win it is going to be on the limit,” Amorim added.
It could be argued that Amorim does indeed deserve more time at United, with the summer transfer window now looming large. The 40 year old coach is keen to bring the players in that he believes will suit his style of play more efficiently than those that he has right now.
Amorim stepped into this club mid season, despite not actually wanting the job this early on. Amorim was on track to win the Portuguese league title with Sporting Lisbon until INEOS offered him a ‘take it or leave it’ role at United, with the job likely to be occupied in the summer.
In Amorim’s defence, he stepped into an entirely new club and culture, a brand new country, and a new league that he was very much unaccustomed to. Not to mention, the squad and player pool available were largely unfamiliar to Amorim, the squad built largely by Erik Ten Hag. Amorim knew he would have to wait in order to bring in players who can fit the system he wants to play, which won’t come until the summer of 2025 at the very earliest, should United’s financial situation allow it.
On the opposite side of the coin however, football is simply a results driven game. Failure to yield results and deliver a solid league place finish is something that will put a manager under the microscope, fast. Amorim has witnessed that in Manchester, him and the squad guaranteeing the club’s worst finish of the Premier League era, and adding extra pressure to deliver in the starting months of next season’s campaign.
A win in the Europa League final, when silverware could be added to the cabinet for the third year running, may still not be enough to win back the fans and relieve some pressure, and it certainly won’t seem to make up for the Premier League campaign. That luxury hopefully lies within the 2025/26 season.
Featured image Carl Recine via Getty Images
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