Manager Ruben Amorim must have been hoping the international break following a string of home wins would spare him a few days of speculation about his future, but Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s insistence that he remains the Premier League’s most outspoken owner has once again put his job security in doubt.
Appearing on The Times’ business podcast, Ratcliffe said the Portuguese needed to prove he was a “great manager in three years” even if he “didn’t have his best season”, and said while the patience shown by owners is a welcome change in modern football, there was little to suggest Amorim would guarantee such loyalty.
To put this into context, if Amorim had stayed at United for three years, he would have been the fifth longest-serving manager in the Premier League, behind Unai Emery. And the current Aston Villa manager has shown that in the modern game you cannot reach three years without real progress.
Emery took Aston Villa to Europe after it looked like Steven Gerrard might beat them. Eddie Howe did something similar at Newcastle. Marco Silva guided Fulham out of the Championship and into a stable team in the Premier League.
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Ratcliffe described Arteta’s first few years at Arsenal as “miserable”, no doubt “affected” by successive eighth-place finishes, but crucially there were early signs of progress.
Emery’s tenure at Arsenal was characterized by taking leads and giving away goals to opponents. Arteta’s 18 clean sheets in his first 50 games show where he has improved Arsenal the most.
When Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool, they too had gaps in defense. When Brendan Rodgers was sacked following the 1-1 draw at Goodison, Liverpool’s goal difference was -2, conceding 1.25 goals per game. In Klopp’s first 50 games, he lowered it to 1.02 and maintained that figure throughout his time at Liverpool.
Both Arsenal and Liverpool showed clear signs of progress in terms of their playing style, and the results started to follow quickly. Arteta may have finished eighth in both of his opening seasons, but he picked up five more points in his second, and Ratcliffe’s “miserable” assessment ignores the 2020 FA Cup win.
In the 2021/22 season, the Gunners rose to fifth place, and in the 2022/23 season, they reached second place in Arteta’s third year as manager, making a huge leap forward. Liverpool also finished eighth in Klopp’s first season as manager, rising to fourth the following year.
Manchester United, on the other hand, show little sign of progress, either in terms of points or style of play.
Amorim’s predecessor, Erik ten Hag, averaged 1.84 points per game, 1.83 goals against and 1.41 goals against. Amorim, on the other hand, may have a better scoring record at 1.94 points per game, but he also concedes far more goals at 1.9 points per game. He also scored 1.38 points per game, 0.46 fewer than Ten Hag. And it was “disastrous.”
The former Sporting manager may not have been able to spend a full season with the team, but Amorim helped them move from 14th place down one place to 15th.
Then there is also tactical reluctance. His commitment to the 3-4-2-1 was so unwavering that not even the Pope could have convinced him otherwise, and in his 50 games with United, his side were not in that line-up only five times. It was still 3-4-3.
Dedication to philosophy is nothing new, and it’s not inherently a bad thing for a football manager, but look at how Josep Guardiola has changed his system over the years to accommodate changing trends.
When he joined City in 2016, there were only three players over 1.9m tall, two of whom were goalkeepers. Currently, that number is six. Over the years we have seen changes such as Guardiola’s inversion of the full-backs, moving from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-2-2 when in possession of the ball. His first season was said to be unable to cope with English football after a few blowouts, but mid-season adjustments saw him unbeaten in the final eight games of the year.
Of course Guardiola has been helped by City’s spending, but that doesn’t mean United haven’t splurged. The main difference is that City’s signings have fixed glaring holes in the team, while United still have big gaps, mainly in midfield.
Amorim dug his own grave, and Ratcliffe probably pinned his colors to the mast of a sunken ship.
United’s head of football operations often prefers to portray himself as a fan standing on the terrace rather than a typical Premier League owner, and this desire for patience may be reminiscent of the past, but rooting for a dead horse for 11 months or even three years doesn’t make that horse win the race.
Amorim might work out and United might start winning titles again, but there’s little evidence to suggest that, and for now Ratcliffe’s commitment looks more based on hope than the reality of what’s happening in front of him.
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