Ruben Amorim’s First 10 Days
Ruben Amorim has had his first 10 days as Manchester United manager, and already won the hearts of the fans … without a ball even being kicked.
In the first 10 days of his tenure, Amorim has completed less than a handful of training sessions, and been missing the majority of his side who have been on international duty, however his media duties and initial training reports from inside the squad have been more than positive.
With Amorim winning against Manchester City in the Champions League in the last round of games, fans have already been won over with a potential for attacking and clear setup to the team. Although we don’t know quite how this will translate over to United, fans are willing to back the new managers system from the start as fans grew tired under Ten Hag of the unclear patterns and unpredictability of performances.
There will of course be plenty more to discuss in the coming days and weeks, but for now things are seemingly positive, and to get the fans on side prior to kick-off on Sunday is perhaps an easier job, but Amorim currently is doing and saying all the right things.
In this post we will cover some details of the opening 10 days of the Amorim-era, discussing the media output, training reports and international round-ups from a Manchester United perspective of the last 10 days. If you have anything to add, or have any thoughts of the Amorim appointment get in touch with us on all the usual social media platforms.
11th November
Monday 11th November officially saw the first day for Ruben Amorim as Manchester United manager (work visa pending), and on arrival there was a small amount of media duties to complete, and while Amorim’s plane was the most tracked flight in the world at the time, his touchdown arrival at Carrington saw an embrace between Amorim, Berrada, Ashworth and Wilcox. What followed was fairly minimal in what we could see, as he greeted many of the staff working around the club on the afternoon, before what we can assume were some behind the scenes conversations with the club hierarchy before the work really begins in the next week or so. While it wasn’t much for fans to celebrate as an opening day, the next few weeks will provide enough drama and interest that fans will have plenty to be braced for as the Amorim-era begins.
12th November
With work visa’s pending for proper work to start, plus half of the squad being on international duty and the other half enjoying their breaks, there wasn’t too much coming from inside the club on the Tuesday after the new manager arrived.
We were given a few quotes however from club captain and Portuguese compatriot Bruno Fernandes, who praised Amorim and given Fernandes’ Sporting links spoke about the improvements he made to the club and how this would hopefully translate to Old Trafford. With a link between captain and manager, it seems like Fernandes and we assume the squad will be excited to embrace some new methods and setups after the Ten Hag period.
The other talking point on Tuesday came from the EFL Trophy where, although United were beaten by Huddersfield, there was some promising news as Tyrell Malacia returned to footballing action for the first time in over a year with several big injuries plaguing his United career. With a shortness in defensive options on the left side, it’s great to have a player like Malacia returning to potential fitness enough to be in contention for first team action.
13th November
On Wednesday, the club put out the visit of Amorim to Old Trafford where he took part in a tour, met with some fans and was given a glimpse of what life will be like in the dugout under the floodlights of the historic stadium.
Having spoken with staff during the tour, he was keen to take in the history and legacies built around the team, and will surely be looking to add to the expansive trophy cabinet along with the extensive history of the club.
The highlight of the video was surely seeing Amorim interact with fans who were taking part on a stadium tour themselves, joking around and taking endless selfies with a real positivity and charisma that the end of Ten Hag’s spell was perhaps lacking.
While his interactions in the changing rooms, tunnel and dugout may turn out a bit differently when faced with an underperforming side who need a quick turnaround in performance, Amorim looks well-suited to the environment and will hopefully settle in nicely to his new surroundings.
14th November
Thursday saw the start of most international fixtures, and while this took the attention away from Old Trafford, we had the reaction to Wednesday’s tour of Old Trafford video released by the in-house media.
Amorim’s tour of Old Trafford showed his charismatic side as he interacted with staff and fans, making jokes and showing a clear intent to embed himself in the history of the club, and the fans have shown support for this. While a lot of the early media is quite tame and vague, seeing the manager walk around Old Trafford has given fans a taste of how it will feel when he first takes to the dugout in his 2nd game on Thursday 28th November in the Europa League.
In the first set of international fixtures around Europe and world football, Garnacho made a second half appearance for Argentina in their defeat against Paraguay and Onana kept a clean sheet in Cameroon’s draw with Namibia.
15th November
Friday saw the release of the exclusive interview given by Ruben Amorim to United’s in-house media team. The new manager had been photographed earlier in the week at Old Trafford and on visits and meeting with staff around the club, but this was the first we heard direct from the new boss.
Amorim opened by saying he felt a “connection with the club” and praised the history of the club as “Manchester United is the engine of the Premier League in my opinion”. When pressed on the setup of the side under his management he played down the noise of formation as “a lot of people now talk about the 3-4-3 and the 4-3-3 and all that stuff. But when I think as a player or as a team-mate of Manchester United, it is not a system or formation, it’s like the character of the players, the way they see the club”.
Concluding the interview when moving onto Sunday’s game with Ipswich, Amorim told fans “I think you will see an idea. You could like it or not, I don’t know, but you will see an idea. You will see a positioning. You will see something that we want to reach that kind of level. You will feel that. But we have to know that it’s like two trainings before the first match. This is the best league in the world. But if I have to say something to you, you will see an idea. This I can guarantee.”
The whole interview showed a relaxed manager who was unfazed by the daunting challenge of managing one of the biggest clubs in the world and under the immense pressure of turning around their fortunes. He was charismatic in a way that perhaps Ten Hag and some previous managers had lacked with the media, and although of course trained in this from his time as a player and managing in Portugal, it still somehow felt authentic and genuine in a time when most interviews with people around football can be filled with cliché and vague ideas.
Fans have responded well to the key quotes and Amorim has little convincing to do as the recent Sporting results have been well documented and followed, giving fans all the convincing they might need. With a potential for long term change, a tactical overhaul and a clear system to be implemented, having a charismatic and charming personality is simply the icing on the cake for the opening week of his time at the club. All that remains for Amorim at this point is winning games and trophies … simple right?
On the pitch, the international games continued as Fernandes was in top form with a goal for Portugal, with Dalot playing the full 90 also. Meanwhile, Hojlund and Eriksen fell to a strong Spain side on Denmark duty and Ugarte was involved in the Friday night/Saturday morning win over Colombia.
16th November
On Saturday, the headlines surrounded Ruben Amorim’s Friday interview which had been received warmly by the fanbase who have given their full support to the new manager. Despite a question potentially over his age and experience in a managerial role, the last few weeks at Sporting including the win over rivals Manchester City gave fans huge optimism, and the interview seemingly stoked the fire of fans even further.
Saturday also brought some extra headlines as we finally had confirmation of the backroom staff Amorim would be working with at Old Trafford. After the previous announcement of Ruud’s departure, we had the announcement of 5 new coaches, each of which coming with a background of working with the new manager:
Carlos Fernandes (Assistant Head Coach) – Coming from Sporting to Old Trafford, Amorim will be bringing his previous assistant to support him through the time at United. The 29 year old has also worked with Amorim at Braga and Casa Pia in previous roles.
Jorge Vital (Goalkeeper Coach) – The former colleagues at Braga in Amorim’s playing days, Vital has worked with the manager at Sporting since 2020 and will come in to lead the goalkeeping staff.
Adelio Candido (First Team Coach) – Similar to Fernandes, Candido has been consistently by Amorim’s side at Casa Pia, Braga and Sporting.
Emanuel Ferro (First Team Coach) – Having worked at Benfica when Amorim was a player in the late 2000s, Ferro has spent the last 9 years at Sporting where he has played a part in supporting the new manager.
Paulo Barreira (Physical Performance Coach) – Former Arsenal and Liverpool coach Barreira has been at Sporting since 2020 and will be the final piece of Amorim’s setup from Lisbon to Manchester.
The new coaches will get to work (visa permitting) in the next few days as training gets up and running, with the current staff of Darren Fletcher, Andreas Georgson and Craig Mawson also to blend the past with the future at the club.
Saturday also saw some international action as Ugarte scored a 101th minute winner for Uruguay overnight, De Ligt watched the Netherland’s cruise to victory over Hungary and Lindelof was withdrawn in the first half for Sweden with an injury which hopefully won’t prove to be too extended.
17th November
Sunday brought about the end of Amorim’s first week, and although he had been in planning and preparation mode with no training session, game and less than half a squad in Manchester ahead of the first few training sessions, he’s completed a lot of the off-field duties that comes from joining a force like Manchester United.
With little to report on from inside the club, it was the international games that took most headlines, however there was nothing from a United perspective to be reporting on as no first team players took part in the international games on Sunday. Instead the only United news came from the Women’s side who claimed a much needed 2-0 win over Leicester to remain unbeaten but end their worrying run of draws.
18th November
Monday saw us enter the week of the ‘first game’ under Amorim, and with Monday-Saturday to prepare for Sunday’s trip down to Ipswich, Amorim got the week started with his first training session.
Many were still on international duty, including the likes of Dalot who had a cameo appearance in the draw with Croatia for Portugal, and Eriksen and Hojlund who featured for Denmark in their draw with Serbia. Despite this partial squad remaining at Carrington, the first training session brought positive headlines for the new manager, with the media team putting out smiling faces and a positive feeling around the new manager’s training methods. Even the players themselves were keen on putting out social media posts of themselves enjoying life under Amorim and sending a strong message of their willingness to work hard under the new coach.
In the session itself, we saw Casemiro and Rashford among those first team players returning from short breaks to the US, the previously injured Yoro, Malacia, Mainoo and Shaw all took part showing some positive signs for availability in the coming weeks. Although Martinez and Lindelof were at the training ground, this was for injury assessments following their recent knocks.
There were only 10 first team players involved in the session, meaning several academy prospects were also handed a huge opportunity to train under the new manager including the 16 year old talent Godwill Kukonki who fans had been excited about due to playing in a role which United have been lacking in recent months. While we can’t read too much into this just yet and shouldn’t be expecting Amorim to throw any young prospects into the first team for Sunday, it does show intent for the new manager to stick with United tradition of utilising and embracing the academy setup.
19th November
Training continued on Tuesday, with still most of the squad out on international duty, it left Amorim with a mixed selection of players to try and implement his new approach on. We had the images coming from the training ground on Monday, but Tuesday just remained down to speculation over formation, style and selection of the players available on the training ground.
Around the world, United’s players featured in their respective international games, as Zirkzee managed 77 minutes in the Netherland’s draw with Bosnia & Herzegovina, while De Ligt played the full 90 with both showing underwhelming impact. Altay Bayindir was an unused sub in Türkiye’s loss to Montenegro and Onana played the full 90 in Cameroon’s win over Zimbabwe. In another big performance, Amorim’s former star man Gyokeres bagged 4 in Sweden’s win over Azerbaijan, further extending his incredible start to the season for club and country, and stoke the rumour mill further with speculation over a move for the striker to re-join his former manager.
20th November
Wednesday continued the build up to Amorim’s first outing as United manager against Ipswich on Sunday, as his squad of players not on international duty continued to train with their new boss, with quotes from inside the club claiming the players have been ‘blown away’ by Amorim’s training sessions, including afterwards where he has shown ‘energy, approach and confidence’. Now there’s a very positive way to look at that, and also the sceptical view that most players if asked are going to be saying the best as they don’t want to risk losing out on contention to start before a ball has even been kicked, and for most of the players at the club not on international duty, a run of games in the starting XI would help their career’s massively, so it’s likely to result in a lot of positive reports.
It is interesting however to hear these quotes from inside the club, as those are not particularly the words used to describe Ten Hag’s training methods and approach to management, seen as more strict, demanding and sometimes a little defensive against the media and any challenge to his leadership. Of course some of that will still remain, but the descriptions used are likely to help in produce a cohesive and positive camp for the players to develop and learn under their new coach.
Elsewhere in the media, a lot of links have continued to come from Amorim’s comparisons to Jose Mourinho, with the nickname of ‘Mourinho 2.0’ being used around the boss. Given his admiration for his fellow Portuguese leader, he will surely take a similar approach to things, but include his own twist on playing style and approach to the media.
Finally on Wednesday, we properly rounded off the international break as the final games took place across the globe. There were overnight games in South America where Garnacho didn’t leave the bench in Argentina’s win over Peru, while Ugarte played the full 90 in Uruguay’s draw with Brazil to round off a successful few days on international duty for Amorim’s former and now current central midfielder. With players likely to get a day or so to travel and return to training at Carrington, it remains to be seen if any of these players who have travelled far this week will be involved in any training sessions with the new coach before Sunday, and this may create an altered selection for Amorim in his opening bout as manager.
21st November
On day 10 of Amorim’s tenure, Thursday was the calm before the storm, as media duties were scheduled in for Amorim across Friday with huge interest worldwide ahead of their opening fixture with Ipswich on Sunday. With the pre match conference to be held, along with other sit down interviews, fans were left to speculate further on any potential clues they may get of the new system.
At Carrington, there was no real news coming out of the training ground as Amorim had to wait on the return of some of his international stars, while those who travelled further may have made their way in to meet and greet their new boss.
With 10 days done, just about 4 days of training and a fair amount of media completed, Amorim is still some time away from having his feet under the desk, but with his charismatic personality, strong determined approach to his ideas and hitting the right notes with the fans, he has made a near-perfect start, which will only really be shown when the whistle blows on Sunday afternoon. Whatever happens though, the response from fans online and in discussions has been overwhelmingly in support of the new manager, and fans cannot wait to see if he can restore the club to the top in the coming years.
Future
Looking ahead to the next few days and weeks, Amorim will be settling into the chaotic nature of English football, with 9 games coming before the end of 2024. We will be expecting to hear direct from Amorim on Friday’s press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Ipswich when I’m sure a huge focus will be around formation, selection and expectations, but really all the talking will stop and we can get to see exactly what Amorim wants from this side, as he expressed in his opening interview about putting his ideas in place instantly at Old Trafford.
For the first 10 days, without a ball being kicked and just a few days of training, we can’t read too much into Amorim’s methods or ideas, but with regards to giving fans the belief of a turnaround in their fortunes, it’s fair to say he’s hit all the right notes thus far, and fans are united in their optimism and support for the new manager.
We will be continuing to cover the club’s performance this season on the site, with Ipswich’s match report coming early next week and any big talking points to follow. As always you can also check out our social media output on all the usual platforms where we will be discussing Amorim’s first few weeks in detail, so do keep checking back with us and maybe get involved if you have anything you want to add on what you’ve seen in the opening weeks.