Why Manchester United Fans Shouldn’t Be Calling for Ruben Amorim’s Sacking | OneFootball

It’s genuinely staggering how quickly memories fade at Manchester United. Just twelve months ago, the club made a decision that still lingers over Old Trafford like a bad smell. Erik ten Hag, having won the FA Cup, was kept on, not because of consistent performances or a clear tactical vision, but because of a solitary piece of silverware and a fan petition. Fast forward to October and he was gone. By that point, the squad had been shaped around his ideas, the budget spent, the rebuild restarted, all undone in a few short, miserable months.

Now, here we are again. A different manager, the same short-term thinking, the same noise from the fanbase, and the same trigger-happy impulse from some corners of the club. Ruben Amorim hasn’t even been in charge for a full season. He walked into a broken dressing room in November, inherited a squad designed for a completely different system, and has had just one window, in which he signed a single player. Yet somehow, there are loud voices already calling for his head.

It’s not just short-sighted. It’s madness. The fact that some United fans are talking about sacking Amorim when we’re barely six months into his tenure shows just how trapped we are in this cycle of chaos. There’s no appetite for process. No patience for structural change. Just knee-jerk reactions to a run of results, as if the problems start and end with whoever wears the manager’s tracksuit.

Amorim’s United are struggling, yes. Sixteenth in the league isn’t remotely acceptable. But the bigger issue here is that the club’s leadership, and a large portion of the fanbase, still hasn’t grasped the lessons from last season. Sacking Ten Hag was painful, but arguably necessary after the performances completely nosedived. But retaining him for the wrong reasons, a cup win masking the rot, is what caused the real damage. If United are about to repeat that same cycle with Amorim, they’d better look hard in the mirror. And if the manager does go, those who appointed him, gave him no tools, and watched him work with a paper-thin squad, should follow him out the door.

Because until accountability stretches beyond the manager, nothing is going to change.

Understanding the Context: Amorim’s Inheritance

Ruben Amorim didn’t walk into Manchester United with a clean slate. He walked into a salvage job. The team was already spiralling ten Hag was sacked, they sitting in 14th place, fresh off a 2-1 defeat to West Ham that finally ended Erik ten Hag’s tenure. That was the tipping point. United had won just one of their previous eight games under Ten Hag, the performances were nosediving, and they had started their Europa League campaign with three limp draws against Twente, Fenerbahce and Porto. At that point, they were 21st out of 36 in the Europa League table. They were sinking, fast.

Let’s not pretend Amorim inherited anything close to a functioning side. The £200 million spent the previous summer had gone on players built for Ten Hag’s tightly choreographed system. Amorim arrived with a very different idea of how football should be played. He prefers a 3-4-3 shape with aggressive wing-backs, high pressing, and quick, vertical transitions. But what he got was a squad that had been drilled to play safe, structured, possession-heavy football. There was always going to be friction.

January brought a new opportunity, but the club kept its powder dry. Only two players came in, Patrick Dorgu and Ayden Heaven, and neither was remotely ready to start every week in the Premier League. When asked about the lack of additions, Amorim didn’t sugar-coat it.

He also made it clear the club was still carrying the scars of past mistakes.

Those past mistakes included over-investing in ill-fitting players and mismanaging outgoings. This time, the club offloaded Marcus Rashford and Antony, decisions Amorim had to live with, even if he didn’t agree with them. Rashford’s exit, in particular, looked like a financial decision more than a tactical one, even if he publicly said he would rather start his 63 year old goalkeeping coach instead of him. I choose not to believe it after seeing Rashford score twice against Everton. And when Amad Diallo then got injured, the attack was paper thin. Zirkzee soon joined him on the injury list, leaving Rasmus Højlund, a 22-year-old still learning his craft, and horrendously short of confidence, as the only fit striker.

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Amorim had no choice but to turn to the youth ranks. Ayden Heaven, Harry Amass, Tyler Fredricson and Chido Obi were all handed starts. Around them, names like Jack Fletcher, Bendito Mantato, Jack Moorhouse, Kukonki, Hubert Graczyk and Jayden Kamason were all either named on the bench or very close to it. It’s a positive reflection on the academy, sure, but it also highlights the sheer lack of senior depth in this squad. This wasn’t part of a strategic long term plan, it was forced.

And still, Amorim has led United to a European final. In the middle of all this chaos, with a team that lacks cohesion, tactical familiarity, or firepower, he has kept the season alive through Europe. That shouldn’t be ignored just because the league form has been dreadful.

None of this, though, means Amorim should be immune from criticism. He’s been stubborn at times, refusing to adjust his system to fit the players available. Some of his in-game decisions have raised eyebrows. But he hasn’t even started building his team yet. He’s still clearing rubble.

The Underlying Data: Signs of Progress

It’s easy to glance at the league table, see Manchester United stuck in 16th, and dismiss the idea that anything has improved under Ruben Amorim. But football isn’t just about results, especially not in the middle of a rebuild. When you dig into the numbers, a more balanced picture begins to emerge. It’s not where it needs to be, but it is better than what came before.

Let’s start with the basics. Under Erik ten Hag, United’s defence was a sieve. Across his 85 Premier League games in charge, the team faced 1,253 shots, averaging 14.74 shots against per game. That is an astonishing figure for a club that once prided itself on control. Only four teams faced more shots in the same period. And in the 2023/24 season alone, United conceded 667 shots in the league, more than any Manchester United side in history.

The numbers don’t lie. That version of United couldn’t defend space, didn’t press properly, and constantly left the back line exposed. They conceded an average of 1.32 goals per game under Ten Hag, second only to Ralf Rangnick’s 1.38, which came during a chaotic interim stint. There was no structure, no defensive identity, just a lot of scrambling and a heavy reliance on individual brilliance to mask systemic flaws.

Under Amorim, things are far from fixed, but there are green shoots. United have faced 10.92 shots per game in the Premier League this season. That is a full 3.82 fewer per game than under Ten Hag. Of those, only 3.92 are on target. It’s still too many, but it’s a noticeable drop. The expected goals against (xGA) figure across 36 games sits at 52.4. That is a significant improvement on last season’s 68.9. This doesn’t mean the team is defensively solid, but it does suggest that Amorim has made the side more compact and less vulnerable.

The structure is starting to hold. United press higher and with more cohesion. The gaps between midfield and defence have shrunk. And although the personnel still aren’t quite right for Amorim’s system, the framework is clearly being put in place. It is now about consistency and reinforcement, not complete reinvention.

Results are still poor, there’s no hiding from that. Since 11 November 2024, United have picked up just 24 points from 25 league games. But according to Understat, based on expected goals, they should have taken 31.73. That still isn’t Champions League form, but it reflects a team that is underperforming rather than getting outplayed every week. It also factors in the club’s Europa League run, which has demanded heavy rotation and forced Amorim to start teenagers like Ayden Heaven, Harry Amass, and Chido Obi in key matches.

There are no trophies for underlying data, but this isn’t about lowering the bar. It’s about understanding the full picture. Last season’s team overperformed their expected points by nearly 18 points. This year’s is underperforming. That might seem like a small detail, but it is the difference between false hope and honest evaluation. Ten Hag’s team were carried by moments. Amorim’s team, despite the table, are at least trying to play with structure.

If Amorim is going to be judged fairly, it should be with a summer window behind him and a squad built to reflect his identity. Not one patched together from the remains of a failed era.

Learning from the Past: The Ten Hag Precedent

Manchester United’s decision-making around Erik ten Hag should have sparked a cultural reset. Instead, it exposed just how easily footballing strategy can be swayed by short-term emotion. In the aftermath of last season’s FA Cup final, a significant portion of the United fanbase rallied online in defence of Ten Hag. Petitions were signed. Hashtags trended. The mood turned emotional. And the club listened. INEOS had serious reservations about keeping him on, but the groundswell of support following that win changed minds.

The intention behind that support was understandable. It had been a miserable season and beating Manchester City at Wembley felt like something to cling to. But decisions at the top of a football club cannot be based on how good something feels in the moment. The performances across the year were poor. The team had overperformed their expected points by a staggering margin. The data was clear, and so was the eye test. United were being dragged through games by individual moments, not structured patterns of play. Yet because one afternoon at Wembley brought some silverware, the wider issues were ignored.

The price of that emotional call was paid just a few months later. Ten Hag was backed with a £200 million summer window, but the issues that had plagued the team never went away. By the end of October, after a 2-1 defeat to West Ham, United were in 14th and sliding out of Europe. The system was still flawed, the defence still porous, and the results had finally caught up with the underlying performances. So he was sacked, and the cycle had to start again, this time with a squad built for someone else.

Now, there is a real risk of repeating that same cycle in reverse. Amorim is not being kept because of a feel-good moment. In fact, some fans are already calling for him to go, even if we do win the Europa League. The difference is that this time, the performances have shown more structure. The data suggests underperformance rather than overachievement. And the manager is operating with none of the support Ten Hag was given.

It cannot work both ways. If the fanbase wants to have a say in what comes next, it also has to accept responsibility when it gets caught up in the moment. The Ten Hag decision was emotional. It was driven by loyalty, defiance, and nostalgia. But it ended with a sack and a write-off of an entire transfer window. That mistake should not be made again, especially when the manager currently in charge has not even been given the chance to fail on his own terms.

The Road Ahead: A Call for Stability

Manchester United are not just at a crossroads with Ruben Amorim. They are at a defining point in what has been described as a long-term footballing rebuild under INEOS. This is the first real test of whether that rebuild is serious, or simply a fresh coat of paint on the same broken model. Because right now, United look directionless in the league, unsure off the pitch, and led by a manager who seems dangerously close to walking away on his own terms.

Amorim’s time in charge has been turbulent, and he has not shied away from saying so. After the most recent defeat to West Ham, a team that had not won in eight games, he questioned the entire foundation the club is standing on.

That wasn’t frustration talking. That was clarity. For months, Amorim has tried to implement a system that demands intensity and structure. What he’s found instead is a dressing room that, in his words, lacks urgency and basic competitive hunger. “In the Europa League, we don’t play quite well but we have a little bit of that urgency… In these games in the Premier League, sometimes we are not focused. It’s hard to explain that. There is a lack of urgency in everything we do. It’s a big concern.”

Amorim didn’t just question the team’s concentration. He questioned whether the club, as a whole, still carries the weight of its own name.

He knows the numbers are appalling. United are on course for their worst points total in the top flight since 1931, have lost 17 league games, and suffered more home defeats than any season in the Premier League era. Since January, their only league wins have come against already-relegated Ipswich and Leicester. They have fallen behind 1-0 at home 12 times this season. Yet Amorim insists the results are just a symptom. The real issue, he says, is the culture.

And that’s why this summer matters more than any Europa League final. “We need to be really strong in the summer and to be brave because we will not have a next season like this,” he said. “If we start like this, if the feeling is still here, we should give the space to different people.” In other words, he’s not begging for time. He is warning the club that if the structure doesn’t change, he’s not staying for the sake of it. That shifts the narrative. The question is no longer whether United should sack him. It’s whether they’re capable of giving him a project worth staying for.

This is the line in the sand. United can either choose stability, back a manager who has diagnosed the club’s deepest problems, and give him a squad suited to his system, or they can carry on reacting to the table every six months and wondering why they keep ending up in the same place. If Amorim is serious about change and the club is not, then he will walk. And for once, it will not be a failure of results. It will be a failure of vision.

Patience as a Virtue

Manchester United’s problems have never been solved by firing managers. That might feel like action, but it has rarely been a solution. The issues at this club run far deeper than the man standing on the touchline, and unless the people in charge show the resolve to see a project through, nothing meaningful will change. Ruben Amorim has not even had a full season, let alone the chance to shape the squad in his image. Judging him now is like tearing down scaffolding before the building has even gone up.

What makes the situation more frustrating is that the signs of progress are already there for anyone willing to look properly. Defensively, the team is more organised. Structurally, it is more compact. The performances, while inconsistent, are no longer reliant on last-minute goals or individual miracles. The data shows improvement, even if the results do not. But progress takes time, especially when you are dealing with years of poor recruitment, tactical mismatches, and an unbalanced squad that has been pulled in three different directions over the last five years.

There is no guarantee that Amorim will be the manager to take United all the way back. But sacking him now would guarantee something worse, more wasted money, more short-term fixes, more of the same. The club cannot keep preaching patience and then acting out of panic. If this new era is supposed to mean anything, then it has to start by trusting the process, even when it hurts. Especially when it hurts. That is what real rebuilds require. That is what United have never had the stomach for. Now is the time to prove that has changed. If INEOS sack Amorim before he has even begun, they are not fixing the problem. They are becoming it.