Manchester United’s bleak start to the season continued with defeat at Brentford today.
The 3-1 loss made it three defeats in the first six Premier League matches for Ruben Amorim’s side, with the manager coming under intense pressure once again.
The weight of the shirt
Speaking on TNT Sports after the match, pundit Joe Cole stated that the issues at Old Trafford run deep, and the weight of expectation makes it difficult to succeed.
He said: “To pull a Manchester United shirt on now, it’s the heaviest shirt in world football because of how poor it’s been and because of the history of the club, the expectations of the club.”
He identified that the “culture” at the club is a major problem, and noted that a painful reality of players succeeding elsewhere just feeds the narrative: “what doesn’t help is every player that leaves Man United going and hitting the ground running wherever they go, that tells me there’s something in the harmony of the whole club.”
Amorim to blame
For Cole, “the manager’s job first and foremost is to bring harmony and rejuvenate the culture,” and he was emphatic that Amorim is not delivering on that duty.
He noted that United are “a million miles away” from their “beautiful past” and that right now the mission should just be steadying the ship, but questioned whether the Portuguese is the man for the job.
“Whoever comes in has to find a way to galvanise first of all the players, because we know there’s some good players here, [and] the club, the board, the owner, the fans.”
The former Chelsea and Liverpool man also took a slight dig at United supporters, stating that they “need to lower their expectations” as they need “a different direction” at the club.
When asked if that different direction meant a change of manager, Cole said: “Yes, and I don’t like saying that. I think for him [Amorim] as well, he was the bright young spark, people were talking about him like he was the messiah coming in to Manchester United and he was going to sort everything out.
“That’s how high his stock was when he left Lisbon, so he’s clearly a good manager as well. But there’s the mix and the blend of the whole situation, I think it needs a culture change.”
Southgate would be “perfect”
As more and more fans start to lose faith in Amorim the obvious question is who would take over from him in the United hot seat should he be sacked.
Cole shared his thoughts on who United should have picked to replace Erik ten Hag and suggested he is still a good pick now – it’s not a view likely to sit well with many supporters.
“I thought Gareth Southgate was the perfect man for the job,” he said, adding that the former England manager would have been good “in terms of building culture, understanding the club, understanding the league, understanding the players, working with Jim Ratcliffe and people like that.”
Ultimately they went with Amorim and “it doesn’t look like it’s working.”
Featured image Justin Setterfield via Getty Images
Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social
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.
