“That’s a funny one”: club icon can’t understand why Ruben Amorim regularly makes”weird” decision with his defence

Manchester United icon Lee Sharpe is puzzled by a regular action performed by the club’s head coach, Ruben Amorim. In an exclusive interview with The Peoples Person hosted by Adventure Gamers, Sharpe was discussing Amorim’s habit of making unnecessary changes to his defence. Amorim’s strange substitutions “There is a funny situation with the manager, the way he keeps bringing defenders off every game,” Sharpe told us. “He changes most games, which most clubs and managers don’t do. “The back four and the goalie is something that stays stable and consistent and we seem to change that every week, which is a funny decision for a manager to make and I’m not really sure why he does that because I think Lenny Yoro has been fantastic. “I don’t know whether he takes him off because he’s young and possibly mentally can tend to make mistakes later on in the game, so he brings him off as he’s tiring a little bit? But I’m not sure. That’s a funny one.” The conversation continued with reference to Luke Shaw’s substitution in then 65th minute, when United were 3-0 up against Brighton. The Seagulls took advantage of the changes to the home team’s defence and quickly pulled two goals back, before Bryan Mbeumo put out the fire with a 97th minute finish. “It’s a weird one because when you’re bringing off defenders with 10, 15 minutes to go, it generally takes you a couple of minutes to get up to speed when coming off the bench. “And as defenders, once they’ve been playing 70, 75 minutes, they understand where people are running, what positions to be in, when to cover…” Sharpe acknowledged that there might be occasions – and players – where this kind of substitution makes sense. Maguire the exception “I understand bringing a Harry Maguire on, because he can go and get you a goal,” the former teen sensation said. “He can come and nick you a goal and he can sort of shore things up a little bit in the fact that he’s experienced and he’s a leader and he can talk a lot. “Taking players off like Luke Shaw, unless he’s getting tired and has asked to come off and you’re trying to protect him [doesn’t make sense], because he’s one of our best centre-backs, both distribution-wise and defensively. “I don’t get it. Maybe someone should ask Amorim about it.” Catch the first part of our Lee Sharpe interview here and the second part here. Featured image by Justin Setterfield via Getty Images The Peoples Person has been one of the world’s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social Red Billy Red Billy is the managing editor of The Peoples Person, author of three books and two magazines and totally obsessed with football’s transfer market. Billy first saw United live in 1971, watching George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, before becoming a League Match ticket book holder from 1975/76 and a writer since 1995. Billy still insists Matteo Darmian and Alex Telles could have made it at United given half a chance.