Will Ruben Amorim Stay at Manchester United Longer than Erik Ten Haag?
Will Ruben Amorim Stay at Manchester United Longer than Erik Ten Haag?
Erik Ten Haag’s 850-day spell at Manchester United ended on October 28th 2024 with the Dutchman sacked following an unfortunate 2-1 defeat to West Ham at the London Stadium. Ruben Amorim, who had previously been linked with both Manchester City and Liverpool, was appointed just a few days later. However, interim boss Ruud Van Nistelrooy took charge of the subsequent two games heading into the November international break and secured a draw against Chelsea and a much-needed victory over Leicester City.
Betfair’s Odds of 17/20 are predicting a 54% chance that Ruben Amorim will last longer than his predecessor Erik Ten Haag (850 days) ::: Discover the current Odds now HERE
Who is Ruben Amorim?
Ruben Amorim is a 39-year-old Portuguese coach who has spent the last four years managing Sporting CP in Liga NOS. As a player, he spent the majority of his career at Benfica, where he played under veteran manager Jorge Jesus. During his playing career, the midfielder also featured for Portugal at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Upon retirement, Amorim started working towards his coaching badges and spent a week working under Jose Mourinho on an internship program. His first job came at third tier (now in the top flight) Casa Pia and after a tumultuous start to his campaign, a change of system resulted in the Lisbon-based side embarking upon an unbeaten run.
Amorim was appointed as head coach of Braga reserves in 2019 before succeeding Ricardo Sa Pinto as first-team coach. He guided the club to their first trophy in four years with the help of Ricardo Horta, who remains a mainstay of the starting XI to this day. He lost just two games in charge of the club, one of which came against Rangers in the Europa League.
Amorim’s upward trajectory continued with his arrival at Sporting CP. He outgoing Silas in 2020 with the club paying $10 million for his services despite his lack of top flight experience. At the end of the 2020-21 campaign, he led Sporting to their first league title in 19 years as well as securing his second successive league cup (against his former employers).
Although he was unable to guide Sporting to their second successive title, he did manage to rack up a third consecutive league cup success and made decent progress in Europe before being eliminated by Manchester City in the last 16.
Amorim guided the club to their second title triumph during the 2023-24 campaign with the help of former Coventry City striker Viktor Gyokeres, who rattled home 29 domestic goals and was awarded the Bola de Prata award. The season included a record-breaking 8-0 thrashing of his former club Casa Pia and an extra-time triumph in the Taca de Portugal.
It is believed that Amorim visited London mid-way through the campaign to explore the idea of succeeding David Moyes at West Ham United.
What is Ruben Amorim’s Preferred Style of Play?
Although Amorim has changed his approach over the last few seasons and he has proven himself to be a very adaptable and flexible operator, his teams will generally favour a possession-based attacking style. This will be welcome news to Manchester United fans.
The Portuguese is also capable of being pragmatic and has a good record with defensive recruitment in recent seasons. In attacking transitions, his side tend to play a 3-5-2 with a 5-3-2 shape being favoured when forced to defend for longer periods.
He is keen for every player to know their role both in and out-of-possession and there is a reliance on attacking wing-backs in all of his systems. He often tends to favour defensive midfielders as they help to cover the areas vacated by the attack-minded wing-backs. He also likes at least one of his attacking midfielders to drop into the pocket behind the striker.
His unwillingness to deviate from his favoured system is reportedly one of the reasons why he was not considered for the vacancy at Liverpool and it appears as though he will be given carte blanche at Old Trafford.
Is Ruben Amorim Likely to be a Success at Manchester United?
It’s hard to say at this moment in time as there are plenty of off-field distractions and unwanted noise at the club. Nevertheless, this appointment appears to be carefully thought out and if he is given the time to implement his style of play on the squad, he could easily become a success in the north west of England.
He is renowned for improving individuals and with a couple of transfer windows under his belt, many pundits are expecting the Red Devils to be backed amongst the title contenders next season.
Many believe that Erik Ten Haag was given far too much time at Manchester United and the hierarchy aren’t likely to make impulsive and panic-driven decisions, especially given the cost of recruiting Amorim.