Amorim blames ‘evolution of the game’ as reason for Man Utd's struggles | OneFootball

Ruben Amorim has offered a surprising explanation for Manchester United’s poor form, suggesting the club’s inability to adapt to modern football is behind their ongoing problems.

Since replacing Erik ten Hag in November, Amorim has led United through 30 matches, yet the team remains 13th in the Premier League. They’ve won only two of their last eight games, with the Europa League now their only realistic chance at success this season.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Amorim pointed to tactical shifts in the sport as a major factor:

“The game is completely different and you have to be so good in your base and then that individual aspect and the freedom and the fluidity of the game is going to appear. But, for that, I think we need time.”

“There was an evolution, you can like it or not, but there was an evolution because you have all the games from the opponent’s detail, from your departments, so you can understand better the movements that they make.”

“In that evolution, you have to be better tactically. Sometimes I talk to [Darren] Fletcher, about how he prepared the games with Sir Alex Ferguson, it’s completely different.”

Amorim added that United can no longer rely on individual brilliance alone:

“There was more a feeling, that aspect of the individual talent. I think today is not enough and you can see some of the best teams, especially if you remember the years of Galacticos, they had maybe the best players in the world, but you need to have a connection.”

“We cannot win the games just like I said with the individual aspect and let the players do whatever they feel. I don’t see the game like that. I see the game in a different way and again, nowadays, they know everything about our players. The way [Alejandro] Garnacho will use the right foot on the left side, every detail the opponent knows.”

“So we need to have an idea of how to play as a team and then expect the individual part to help us. Because in the end, that is the crucial point to make a difference in the game. Sometimes we lack that creativity in the last third, sometimes the quality. And when I talk about the quality, it’s not just the individual quality, it’s the understanding of the game in the final third.”

“So I want to see both because I want to entertain people, but I also like to see my team defending like they defend in this game.”

United now travel to Lyon for the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final before facing Newcastle at the weekend.

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